Fantasy esports game for Counter-Strike fans.
PowerPlay is a fantasy esports product that allows Counter-Strike fans to collect player cards, build lineups, enter tournaments, and compete based on the real performance of professional players.
Product design
UX/UI
Game Design
Esports
Interaction Design
Design System
Prototyping
Challenge
The challenge was to turn professional Counter-Strike statistics into an engaging game that remained understandable for casual players while offering enough strategic depth for experienced esports fans.
The product had to connect real match performance, card attributes, player roles, and tournament mechanics without overwhelming users with complex calculations.
My role
I worked on the product concept, core game mechanics, user flows, UX/UI, onboarding, player cards, lineup creation, tournaments, rewards, and retention mechanics.
My work focused on turning a complex fantasy system into a clear and engaging product experience.
Game foundation
Player cards
Professional Counter-Strike players were represented as collectible game cards. Each card combined player identity, statistics, rarity, role-based attributes, and gameplay value.
The card design, underlying logic, and information structure evolved throughout development to support new mechanics and make cards easier to compare, understand, and use strategically.
Roles and perks
Each lineup included five roles, with cards performing differently depending on their assigned position.
Perks added another strategic layer. Each card had a separate perk value for every role, providing additional points when the card was used in the corresponding position.
Core game experience
Lineup building
Users created a lineup by selecting player cards and assigning them to suitable roles. The interface helped them compare cards, understand team balance, and evaluate the potential value of different combinations.
The goal was to make lineup building feel strategic without turning it into a spreadsheet.
Tournaments and competition
Users entered tournaments with their lineups and competed against other participants based on the real performance of professional players.
Tournament screens had to clearly explain entry conditions, timing, scoring, progress, and potential rewards.
Scoring and performance
Real match statistics were translated into fantasy points. The interface showed how individual players and the complete lineup performed across matches and tournament rounds.
Clear score breakdowns were important because users needed to understand why their position changed.
Acquisition and onboarding
Interactive pre-landing experiences
We designed interactive pre-landing pages that introduced PowerPlay through lightweight game-like scenarios. They explained the core mechanics, demonstrated how fantasy points were calculated, and showed the prizes and rewards available for winning tournaments.
These experiences helped users understand the game and its value before registration, reducing the amount of information they needed to learn after entering the product.
Onboarding
The onboarding experience introduced the fantasy rules, player cards, roles, perks, and lineup creation step by step.
Retention mechanics were designed around recurring tournaments, rewards, collection progress, and opportunities to build stronger teams.
Engagement and progression
Rewards and card collection
Rewards supported the collection loop and encouraged users to return, improve their lineups, and participate in new tournaments.
The experience included card acquisition, reward states, collection management, and progression-related feedback.
Retention mechanics
Retention mechanics were designed around recurring tournaments, rewards, collection progress, and opportunities to build stronger teams.
The product encouraged users to return for new competitions, review results, collect rewards, and experiment with different lineup strategies.
Product result
PowerPlay was designed and launched as a complete fantasy esports experience combining collectible player cards, role-based lineup building, real match statistics, tournaments, and rewards.
The project demonstrated how complex esports data could be transformed into clear strategic choices and an engaging game loop for Counter-Strike fans.
Let’s work together
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