Sky Live Play brought third-party gaming into the living room. Without a shared design language, partner integrations were inconsistent and feedback was hard to action. I built the framework that changed that.
01 · Outcome
The Game Design Framework gave the team a formal, shared vocabulary to evaluate and improve third-party game experiences on Sky Live. It translated directly into partnership outcomes, with structured fortnightly syncs replacing ad-hoc feedback, and design improvements applied consistently across multiple titles and partners.
02 · Context
Over the course of a year, the team worked with partners to bring different types of games and experiences to Sky Live, with a clear business opportunity to expand the portfolio further. Sky Live Play successfully launched, and several games shipped. But a gap became clear: the way the team was giving feedback to partners and analysing game experiences needed to improve.
The design team knew UX deeply but lacked formal game design vocabulary. Partners knew their games but needed structured, credible feedback to act on. The result was inconsistent integration quality and feedback that was difficult to action at scale.
Including game design practices in the design process when consulting on or designing for video games, for a better understanding of what players expect across different genres and play styles.
Building a hybrid framework to analyse video game experiences, with a formal vocabulary that allowed the team to understand the underlying structures of game design and communicate findings precisely to partners and stakeholders.
Aligning with current video game design standards so the team could have better, more credible conversations with partners and stakeholders about how to improve the gaming experience on Sky Live.
03 · Framework
I created a Game Design for Design Thinking framework that embedded game design principles directly into the team's UX process. Built on three phases, it gave designers and partners a shared starting point for every integration, from understanding the player to delivering actionable design improvements.
04 · Team Development
Alongside the framework, I organised a series of monthly learning sessions to raise the game design knowledge of the wider design team. The goal was to give designers the foundations to apply the framework independently, and to hold more confident conversations with partners and stakeholders.
Ideas, core loops, and goals. Covering how games are conceptualised, how habit loops drive player behaviour, and how core loops form the heartbeat of any game experience.
Systems, chance, and strategy. Exploring how meta loops, randomness, and strategic depth extend engagement beyond the core loop and shape long-term player retention.
The distinction between UX design and game design, and where they intersect. How to evaluate onboarding, feedback, interface clarity, and player orientation using both UX and game design lenses.
05 · In Practice
The framework was applied in full to multiple Sky Live titles. Two examples show how it translated abstract game design concepts into concrete, actionable design recommendations.
06 · Impact
The Game Design Framework became part of the design process at Sky, applied consistently across external partners and in-house projects. Fortnightly syncs with NEX replaced ad-hoc feedback sessions, and the shared vocabulary made recommendations faster to produce and easier for partners to action.
Elevated design quality across 8 titles through gameplay loop analysis, genre mapping, and co-creation sessions. Consistent framework application strengthened integration cohesion, diversified player archetype appeal, and supported long-term retention, solidifying NEX as a high-quality platform partner.
The framework applied to Marmalade's Monopoly integration, adapting core loop analysis and UX assessment to a well-known title being brought into a camera-first, living-room platform context. Identifying risks early improved launch readiness and reduced reactive feedback cycles.
Applied to in-house Sky Live projects, demonstrating that the framework was reusable beyond the partner context and transferable to games being designed and built internally by the Sky team.
Reflections
The challenge wasn't game design itself. It was translation. The team understood UX. Partners understood games. The gap was a shared vocabulary that made feedback credible and actionable on both sides. Building the framework meant going deep enough into game design to earn that credibility, without losing sight of the platform and user context that Sky Live required.
The most valuable outcome wasn't any single recommendation to a partner. It was the process becoming repeatable. Once the framework existed, the team could onboard new partners faster, apply consistent standards, and have more strategic conversations about where games needed to go, not just what was wrong with them today.