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AltexSoft and Diamond Duels: Building a Gamification App for Baseball Fans
- Business domain
- Media & Entertainment
- Services
- UX/UI Consulting
- Technology
- Vue.jsAmazon Web Services
Background
Our client is a US-based gamification startup Diamond Duels. The idea of the project is to make baseball games more entertaining, allowing fans to test their knowledge of baseball and the ability to predict game outcomes while competing for points with each other.
The client reached out to AltexSoft with a product concept for an app. During the ballgame, spectators in a stadium and those watching a game online or on TV can download the app and participate in a duel. The duel is a contest of predictions on the results of outcomes of the game, whether it be homeruns, strikeouts, or other occurrences. Players join the duels, earn points for the right predictions, and lose points if a prediction is wrong. Duelers can use earned points for more predictions within a duel.
Challenges
Create a product UI
Build an MVP
Accelerate product development
Manage cloud environment
Value Delivered
Defining user personas to update a product workflow.
The client approached us with a ready product idea: an app concept, user journey, and wireframes. Based on the client's wireframes, an AltexSoft business analyst conducted UX research and created user personas. As a result of this analysis and discussion with the client, our team improved suggested user flow, created a product development roadmap, and considered a monetization strategy.
Creating a user-friendly interface.
Our frontend engineers developed a product interface using Vue.js UI libraries, Bulma for the app, and Muse-UI for the admin panel. Our team also created a product style guide that set the ground rules for further product development.
Building an MVP to test initial concept.
The client suggested building a progressive web app compatible with any operating system unlike native apps and has a relatively light weight. Besides that, the AltexSoft engineering team built the front- and backend of the admin panel, integrated the MySportsFeeds API to display game flow, scores, and players. Our team implemented an in-app user feedback form that would gather new ideas for the product backlog to transform the existing MVP into a final product. We used Vue.js technology for frontend, Spring Boot framework for microservices, and Spock and Jest frameworks for QA testing.
Reducing development time.
Our engineer built a Java Accelerator for setting the work environment faster, accelerating backend development. It helped the client save over 2 weeks on building the backend of both the application and admin panel.
Setting a cost-effective cloud environment.
As part of the implementation, our solution architect designed a scale plan for the application deployed on Amazon Web Services. He also managed the process of setting the cloud environment for the product.
Approach and Technical Info
The project’s scope totaled 1.3 man-years for the described scope. It was completed over the course of 5 months by a team of eight professionals: 2 business analysts, a backend engineer, 2 frontend engineers, a solution architect, a QA engineer, and a project manager.
Cooperation between the client and AltexSoft is ongoing.
Our team worked in the Scrum workflow. The technology stack included Vue.js, Spring Boot Framework, Jest Framework and Spock Framework (for QA testing), Bulma, Muse-UI (UI libraries), and Amazon Web Services.
Vue.jsAmazon Web Services