Each game supported by RaceNet had a deep and engaging companion service, built to drive social competition, increase retention and add value to the game's multiplayer component
Grid Autosport
Grid:Autosport was one of the most highly rated games from Codemasters, and RaceNet played a big part in its DNA. The banner-feature for this release was the highly anticipated Clubs system. This was designed to be a platform feature - scalable and extensible to all future RaceNet titles, and allowed players to form racing Clubs with their friends, to compete with each other and against other Clubs. The Game Team had limited bandwidth to support Clubs, and so all Club creation, management and moderation was performed on RaceNet istelf. Players could even design their own liveries, which were rendered in real-time on their Clubs page, and available to them next time they logged in-game. As Grid Autosport was more of a realistic driving game than previous entries in the series, there was a heavy focus on data visualization to help players improve their performance, and compete against their friends and Clubmates. RaceNet for Grid Autosport was released on Web and iOS & Android.
Year: 2014
Platform: Web, iOS & Android
Role: Digital Director
RaceNet / Digital Products Team: 2x UI Designers 1x UX Designers 1x Project Manager 2x Front-End developers 3x Back-End Developers
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F1: 2012
F1 2012 Was the first F1 game suported by RaceNet. Key features included RaceNet Events and Custom Tournaments. Our research showed that players wanted a way to connect to their games while away from their PC/Console, which was a key pillar of the RaceNet service. To support this we built a custom tournament feature that allowed players to plan, schedule and set up rules and courses for tournaments from the web, invite their friends, and then be ready and waiting for them when they next booted up the game. These features went on to become staples of the eSports and competitive racing scene, as well as being popular with more casual competitive players.
Year: 2012
Platform: Web
Role: Digital Director
RaceNet / Digital Products Team: 2x UI Designers 1x UX Designers 1x Project Manager 2x Front-End developers 3x Back-End Developers
GRID 2
GRID 2 had some of the most custom functionality of any of the RaceNet titles, and was the first RaceNet title to have its own dedicated iOS and Android app. Much of GRID 2's functionality was built around the twin concepts of Followers; a live 'currency' that fluctuated based on your in-game performance, and Rivalries; a weekly generated list of active players that you were assigned milestones to compete inagainst them. Based on the success of F1 2012 and Dirt: Showdown, this was the game where we were able to start building trust and deep relationships with the game teams. Design for many of these features was done in close partnership with the game designers, and we were able to set RaceNet up as a cost-center, highlighting the value the service brought to each product it supported.
Year: 2013
Platform: Web, iOS & Android
Role: Digital Director
RaceNet / Digital Products Team: 2x UI Designers 1x UX Designers 1x Project Manager 2x Front-End developers 3x Back-End Developers
DIRT: SHOWDOWN
Dirt: Showdown was the first game to incorporate RaceNet features. This was the test-bed for the service, and was initially built around second-screen experience. Though elements of this persisted through to subsequent game implementations, it was the features that allowed users to engage with the game asynchronously that would prove the most popular and valuable to users. Showdown was used heavily as a test-bed, providing a strong foundation of data and insight that would help inform future products.
Year: 2012
Platform: Web
Role: Digital Director
RaceNet / Digital Products Team: 2x UI Designers 1x UX Designers 1x Project Manager 2x Front-End developers 3x Back-End Developers
