Game UX · Standard Event Pattern
Event Completion Window
A completion interface designed for a smaller seasonal event that became the standard pattern across Seafight events.
3 min read
Role
Game Designer · Game UX
Status
Shipped · Standard pattern
Tools
Figma, Confluence, Jira
At a glance
- Problem
- Players read a forum FAQ to work out what an event required. In the game there was no single place to see progress, what was left, or what finishing was worth.
- My contribution
- Player flows, Figma mockups and the written specification, followed through to launch. Bigpoint's artists set the visual style and its developers built it.
- Shipped result
- Launched in a smaller seasonal event, needed no changes after launch, and became the standard pattern across Seafight events.
Case study
One window that answered the questions players were asking elsewhere.
A specific player problem, a documented solution, and a pattern the team adopted across the events that followed.
Context and player problem
Every Seafight event has its own objectives, progression and reward package, and that information was spread across the interface. Most players relied on an FAQ on the official Seafight forum to understand what an event asked of them. It showed in player questions in community channels, in what the support and community team heard, and in Bigpoint's internal post-event reports.
My contribution and credits
I defined what the window had to tell a player at a glance, mapped the flow and its reusable states, designed the layout as Figma mockups, and wrote the Confluence specification the team built from. The shipped layout and behaviour followed my designs.
Bigpoint's artists set the final visual style, its developers built the feature and QA tested it. Other designers later added the Event Streak tab on top of the pattern; that work is theirs.
Constraints
- Fit an already dense MMO interface without adding noise.
- Support events with different structures.
- Work within existing event systems, so new events wouldn't need bespoke interface work.
Solution
One event window: an entry list on the left with a dedicated Event Completion entry, and a detail panel on the right listing tracked activities such as quests, NPC kills and item collection, each with a progress bar, above a guaranteed reward block and a countdown.
Recreated UI Mockup
Event Completion Window
A reconstructed event window based on the shipped pattern: category list on the left, active objective and rewards on the right, with progress and urgency visible at a glance.
Reconstruction: layout recreated from the live game with placeholder content, because the original design files are confidential. The shipped visual style is by Bigpoint's artists and the build by Bigpoint's developers.
General rewards
Shared event rewards
Mission chain
Primary completion path
Completion track
Selected objective panel
Bonus tasks
Optional stretch goals
Logbook
Event rules and timing
Season Event Completion
Completion track
Guaranteed:
x10,000
x5
x12
x3
x20
x1
x250
x1
What have I already completed?
The selected entry shows finished steps and remaining requirements in one place.
What is left to do?
A task list and progress bars make the next action readable without opening separate windows.
What do I get for finishing?
Guaranteed rewards are visible before commitment, so the completion value is explicit.
Can I still miss anything?
The timer and completion state clarify urgency before the event window closes.
Design decisions
- Built the pattern as reusable states and content rules, so events with different numbers and types of activities could use it without a bespoke redesign.
- Kept the layout compact, with an entry list on the left and a detail panel on the right, so it added guidance without adding noise.
- Showed the guaranteed reward before players commit, so the value of finishing is explicit.
- Specified four edge cases: partly completed tasks, the event ending before a player finishes, the state after the reward is claimed, and events with different structures.
- Borrowed from the statistics and completion pages in Rockstar Games titles, which make long progress lists readable at a glance.
Evidence and limitations
I designed it
- Evidence
- My flows, mockups and specification; the shipped layout and behaviour followed them
- Limitations:
- The original files are confidential, so this page shows a labelled reconstruction
It shipped and held up
- Evidence
- No changes were needed after launch
- Limitations:
- No alternative design was tested against it
The team valued it
- Evidence
- Adopted as the standard event pattern and extended by other designers
- Limitations:
- The later extensions were other designers' work, not mine
Players found it useful
- Evidence
- Forum and Discord feedback, Bigpoint's internal post-event reports and the community team
- Limitations:
- Qualitative, and it can't separate clearer information from the appeal of the rewards
What I'd look at next
Telemetry: whether players who open the window finish more of an event than those who don't, once reward-driven players are accounted for.
Community: whether rules questions on the forum and Discord dropped in the events after it shipped.
Playtest: where a first-time player looks first, and whether they find the Event Completion entry without help.