Rival Stars Horse Racing
25+ Million downloads across Appstore and Google Playstore
Total Liftime Revenue: $65+ million
Role: Experienced UX Designer (Acting Lead)
Scope: Joined as the 2nd UX Designer to support the game’s rapid feature expansion, owning end-to-end UX for major social systems including Alliance Teams (Chat, Gift Sharing, and Team Events) as well as new gameplay modes like Free Roam and Steeplechase. Additionally, I led community-driven Quality-of-Life (QoL) initiatives, designing comprehensive filtering systems, horse stat panel improvements, horse selection widget etc
Cross-Functional Partners: Partnered directly with Lead Game designer, Senior PM's and Senior devs on a day to day basis for the smooth development and execution of this feature making sure there was smooth collaboration across the team.
Status: Contributed to the title through from April 2021 till May 2022, building multiple end to end features
Portfolio Disclosure & Confidentiality Notice: In accordance with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and formal team approval, this case study details one specific feature and a few Qol designed during development. All other internal production archives and proprietary features remain omitted.
About the Game
Care for and train your stable of horses, breed the perfect champion, manage a homestead ranch and race for victory!
Restore your family's legacy and become a champion! From paddock to winner's circle - race on legendary tracks from all over the world, earn your prestige and climb the leader boards. Choose your playstyle and immerse yourself as a breeder, horse trainer, race manager, jockey, and more. You’re in charge - manage a homestead and decide when to invest, upgrade facilities, or hire new staff. What will you do with your grandfather's gift?
Your horse racing derby quest starts here, with Rival Stars Horse Racing!
My responsibilities on the project
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Collaborate with the UX Manager to define and refine the project's UX strategy.
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Shape the architecture of the game’s interface, aligning it with requirements and specifications provided by Product Owners and Game Designers.
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Deliver clear, comprehensive UX flows, information architectures (IA), and prototypes to Designers and Product Owners.
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Leverage insights from playtests and player research to guide the product roadmap and enhance feature designs.
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Get the interfaces implemented into the game with the help of UI Art and Developers.
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Test the in-game interface, identifying technical issues and proposing effective solutions.
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Champion human-centered design, balancing user needs with business objectives.
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Educate stakeholders and team members on the importance of UX, advocating for the adoption of best practices within the team.
UX approach on the title
Given that this project was part of the studio's primary live service and the backbone title of the entire business my approach focused on scalable, data-backed expansion rather than ungrounded overhauls. Every feature addition had to respect the established UI design system and protect the experience of our stable, highly dedicated player base. When proposed improvements challenged or expanded the existing design framework, they were strictly validated through rigorous testing and telemetry before implementation.
To support this live-ops cadence, design resources were embedded across three dedicated feature pods: two focused on shipping major new gameplay systems, and a third managing continuous live service maintenance and Quality-of-Life (QoL) updates. As an embedded UX designer within this structure, I provided close, specialized interaction design support while ensuring cross-pod consistency with our core UI architecture.
UX Design process
Task: The game features a FREE ROAM mode, where players can ride their favorite horse and explore various environments. The team decided to enhance this mode by introducing new exotic locations, allowing players to select their preferred destination. This update required significant changes to the interface, including the addition of a UI element for location selection. We also took this opportunity to revamp the horse selector and implement several aesthetic improvements to elevate the overall user experience. This had been a long standing request from the game's community.
Existing Free Roam Screen
Requirement Analysis:
Before initiating research, we met with the designers and product mangers to clarify the objectives of the updated screen. This discussion was crucial for defining the actions that the new version needed to support, ensuring a clear and focused approach to achieving our goals.
New Actions for the Free Roam Screen:
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Select a horse of your choice.
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Choose a location to explore.
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Access additional information about the mode.
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Start the free roam ride after making your selections.
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Preview the location and read about it before entering.
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(Stretch Goal) View the horse in 3D while selecting.
Research: Free Roam is one of the most popular modes in the game, and players frequently asked on social media when new locations would be added. To gather inspiration, we examined top car racing games like Asphalt, NFS, and Real Racing 3. These games typically allow players to select the track first, followed by the vehicle. However, we opted for a streamlined approach, combining both steps on a single screen. This decision was made because Free Roam is a casual mode, where players don't need to strategize heavily before starting. By reducing the number of screens, we simplified the decision-making process, allowing players to quickly choose their horse and location.
Process: From our research, we identified common patterns in car selection and track selection modules, focusing on the types of interactions—whether swipe-based or using arrow buttons. We then conducted a sketching session with the UI team to rapidly explore various layout ideas, enabling us to refine the best approach for the updated Free Roam screen.
Once we had generated a variety of ideas, we evaluated each one by discussing its pros and cons. Ultimately, we chose the option marked with a green tick, as it struck the right balance, met all the screen's requirements, and fit within the sprint's scope. Although we considered showcasing a 3D horse, we decided to postpone it due to the additional work it would entail, which fell outside the current sprint's scope. We plan to revisit this feature in the future to get in all the nice to have improvements that were tracked in our backlog.
New Free Roam Wireframe
Further this mock was hooked with the rest of the screens in the FREE ROAM UI flow to create a prototype which was tested internally with members in the office outside of the game's production team. The feedback and comments collected from the same were conveyed back to the team.
Some of the feedback shared was as follows:
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Players tried to tap on the location select scroll list instead of swiping them to switch selection
Solution: We implemented both swipe and tap gestures for the player to switch between locations
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Players did not notice the carousel indicators below the location select images
Solution: We made the carousel indicators bold and obvious visually
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The green patch on the horse to indicate the selected state of a horse was overlooked by the player
Solution: We decided to ignore this feedback as a few other players in another round of tests were able to successfully identify that the green patch suggested the selected state of the horse.
Prototype wireframes and flow
I worked closely with the UI Artists to address the feedback gathered from user testing and supported them in developing the final art version of the mockup. During this process, I ensured that the visuals, colors, and treatments applied to each UI element reinforced a clear visual hierarchy. This included carefully considering how players would perceive the screen at first glance and how their eye would naturally move across it while taking in each component.
By refining these elements, we created a layout that not only met the functional goals of the redesign but also enhanced readability, usability, and overall player engagement.
Final Art UI Mock
I collaborated closely with UI artists, animators, the sound team, and developers to ensure the redesign’s vision was fully understood and accurately represented in the final implementation. Throughout development, I regularly play-tested internal builds, offering early and actionable feedback to catch usability issues, refine interactions, and maintain the intended player experience. When needed, I helped guide the team through course corrections to keep the feature aligned with design goals while still meeting delivery timelines.
Below is a video showcasing the final implementation of the redesigned screen. Player feedback has been notably positive, with many responding well to the improved clarity, accessibility, and the additional options introduced as part of the update.
Analytics & KPI Improvements
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Integration of the Free Roam feature with new environments and mechanics has increased session length (+4.8%) and exploration engagement.
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By turning Free Roam into both a practice and an immersive progression environment (rather than just a casual side mode), the update improved day-1 retention (+1.2%) for players curious about exploration and freedom.
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The richer Free Roam experience helped deepen player attachment to the game world, leading to a higher lifetime value (LTV) and improved conversion to paid features.
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The mode also supports ongoing live‐ops by creating a stable “sandbox” where players spend time between competitive races, boosting dwell time (+3.6%) and opening more monetization touch-points.
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Players are demanding for more scenic locations to be added into the mode which are available in the later chapters of the storymode.
After successfully delivering this feature, I went on to help the team develop a range of more complex systems, including Alliances, Tournaments, Cross Country mode, improved Stable Management and Horse Training, enhanced Breeding, and expanded Horse Customization. I followed the same process described above for each of these initiatives maintaining consistent alignment between stakeholders and the feature team, negotiating when needed, championing user needs, and, most importantly, advocating for a high-quality user experience throughout the game.
Ingame screenshots
Few of the in-game screenshots from the latest updated game
