Sidequest: A way into the local gaming scene

I wanted to help gamers move from their online lobbies to spaces they could physically be a part of.

So I designed Sidequest to make that first step into an IRL gaming community feel less daunting. It helps gamers find what’s going on around them and feel more confident stepping into that scene.

Duration

August 2026 - Ongoing

Tools

Figma

#dashboard_ui

#b2b_saas

#ux_research

#ui_design

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Gaming communities are easy to find online. I wanted to explore what happens when you want to take them offline.

Discord, Reddit, Twitch, friends and tournament sites all help people find gaming communities, but they lead towards different things. Sidequest started as a simple map of local gaming events. After speaking with gamers, that idea felt too narrow.

I owned the design work as part of a small startup team, working closely with the founder, engineers and customer-facing team across a live B2B product.

The work was varied: some projects came from customer needs, others from gaps in the existing platform or ideas that needed shaping. My role was to make sense of those challenges, explore the right direction and carry the work through to handoff.

With priorities often changing, I also took on some product management responsibilities, helping keep the design backlog moving and making decisions as requirements evolved. This meant balancing customer needs, business priorities and technical constraints without losing sight of the overall experience.

RESEARCH

How people currently discover gaming experiences, and what makes something feel worth attending.

The more I looked at how people find gaming events, the less straightforward the problem seemed.

I spoke to five gamers with different habits. What stood out was that most people had a mixture of Discord, Instagram, friends, Reddit or tournament sites that they checked depending on what they were looking for.

This challenged some of my assumptions. A map of nearby events felt too simple, and attendee information was useful for some people but irrelevant to others.

I looked at the platforms gamers might already use to find events, communities and tournaments.

What stood out was how fragmented the experience was. Different platforms cover different parts of the gaming scene, but there isn't really one place to see what is happening around you.

I created three personas based on the different patterns that came through in the interviews, from people already involved in competitive gaming to people who are interested in getting involved but don't know where to start.

These helped me avoid designing Sidequest around one idea of a “typical” gamer.

Finding something nearby is only the beginning, since people still need to decide whether it is actually for them.

I mapped Sarah's journey from discovering an event to deciding whether to attend.

This helped highlight the questions the interface needed to answer before someone commits.

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Design around the decisions users are already making.

Event cards and detail pages should surface the information people need before committing, without overwhelming them.

Reduce uncertainty around unfamiliar events

Finding an event nearby is only the first step. Sidequest needed to give users enough context to decide whether an event matched their interests, experience level and expectations.

Help users judge, not just discover

Not everyone is looking for the same experience. Organising events around Play, Compete, Meet and Watch gives users a clearer starting point than a generic event feed.

Support different ways of engaging with gaming

Recommendations such as What’s happening nearby, Worth the trip and Your kind of thing help balance proximity with personal relevance.

Make local discovery feel relevant, not purely distance-based

Event cards and detail pages should surface the information people need before committing, without overwhelming them.

Reduce uncertainty around unfamiliar events

Finding an event nearby is only the first step. Sidequest needed to give users enough context to decide whether an event matched their interests, experience level and expectations.

Help users judge, not just discover

Not everyone is looking for the same experience. Organising events around Play, Compete, Meet and Watch gives users a clearer starting point than a generic event feed.

Support different ways of engaging with gaming

Recommendations such as What’s happening nearby, Worth the trip and Your kind of thing help balance proximity with personal relevance.

Make local discovery feel relevant, not purely distance-based

Event cards and detail pages should surface the information people need before committing, without overwhelming them.

Reduce uncertainty around unfamiliar events

Finding an event nearby is only the first step. Sidequest needed to give users enough context to decide whether an event matched their interests, experience level and expectations.

Help users judge, not just discover

Not everyone is looking for the same experience. Organising events around Play, Compete, Meet and Watch gives users a clearer starting point than a generic event feed.

Support different ways of engaging with gaming

Recommendations such as What’s happening nearby, Worth the trip and Your kind of thing help balance proximity with personal relevance.

Make local discovery feel relevant, not purely distance-based

FINAL SCREENS

Going on the Sidequest.

The final screens follow the journey from finding an event to feeling ready to turn up. Together, they show how discovery, decision-making, joining, saving and personalisation work across Sidequest.

Start with what’s happening nearby.

My research showed that finding an in-person gaming community often meant searching across several platforms and piecing the details together.

The Lobby gives players an immediate place to start, organised around four intentions: Play, Compete, Meet, or Watch. “Worth the Trip” also surfaces events further away without pushing local results aside.

Local events appear first
Location can be detected or entered manually
Players can explore without completing a long setup

People needed more than a title and a pin on a map.

An event title and map pin were not enough to make people feel comfortable attending. Players wanted to know what the event would be like and whether they would fit in.

I brought the most useful details into one place, including the format, atmosphere, attendance, organiser, venue, and travel information.

Clear expectations before committing
Social cues such as attendance and group details
Practical venue and travel information

Joining turns an event into a plan.

Joining an event creates new questions. Players need to know what happens next, whether payment is involved, and how they can prepare.

A confirmation step explains this before anything is final. Once joined, Quest Chat becomes available for questions and coordination between attendees. Directions and event details also move forward in the interface as the event gets closer.

Expectations confirmed before joining
Quest Chat limited to attendees
Directions, reminders, and payment details kept together

Search needed to reflect what people actually cared about.

People were not only searching by game or event type. They were also considering their availability, travel distance, interests, and whether the event felt worth the effort.

Scout turns those considerations into useful filters. Important details remain visible in the results, making events easier to compare without opening every page.

Filters based on real attendance decisions
Interest, schedule, and travel preferences
Key details visible while comparing results

Saving an event didn’t mean someone was ready to go.

Saving an event did not necessarily mean someone was ready to attend. Treating saved and joined events as the same thing made that distinction unclear.

The Stash holds events a player is still considering, while My Sidequests contains confirmed plans. Upcoming and past events are separated, and accidental removals can be undone.

Stash for possible plans
My Sidequests for joined events
Undo provides a safety net for accidental removal

Preferences should guide discovery, not narrow it.

Players can use their Profile to share their favourite games, preferred event types, travel distance, and whether they want solo-friendly recommendations.

These preferences improve the suggestions they see, but do not hide the rest of the community. They can also be updated as someone’s interests, routine, or confidence changes.

Favourite games and event types
Travel distance and solo-friendly preferences
Flexible reminder and notification controls

Start with what’s happening nearby.

My research showed that finding an in-person gaming community often meant searching across several platforms and piecing the details together.

Local events appear first
Location can be detected or entered manually
Players can explore without completing a long setup

People needed more than a title and a pin on a map.

An event title and map pin were not enough to make people feel comfortable attending. Players wanted to know what the event would be like and whether they would fit in.

I brought the most useful details into one place, including the format, atmosphere, attendance, organiser, venue, and travel information.

Clear expectations before committing
Social cues such as attendance and group details
Practical venue and travel information

Joining turns an event into a plan.

Joining an event creates new questions. Players need to know what happens next, whether payment is involved, and how they can prepare.

Expectations confirmed before joining
Quest Chat limited to attendees
Directions, reminders, and payment details kept together

Search needed to reflect what people actually cared about.

People were not only searching by game or event type. They were also considering their availability, travel distance, interests, and whether the event felt worth the effort.

Scout turns those considerations into useful filters. Important details remain visible in the results, making events easier to compare without opening every page.

Filters based on real attendance decisions
Interest, schedule, and travel preferences
Key details visible while comparing results

Saving an event didn’t mean someone was ready to go.

Saving an event did not necessarily mean someone was ready to attend. Treating saved and joined events as the same thing made that distinction unclear.

The Stash holds events a player is still considering, while My Sidequests contains confirmed plans. Upcoming and past events are separated, and accidental removals can be undone.

Stash for possible plans
My Sidequests for joined events
Undo provides a safety net for accidental removal

Preferences should guide discovery, not narrow it.

Players can use their Profile to share their favourite games, preferred event types, travel distance, and whether they want solo-friendly recommendations.

These preferences improve the suggestions they see, but do not hide the rest of the community. They can also be updated as someone’s interests, routine, or confidence changes.

Favourite games and event types
Travel distance and solo-friendly preferences
Flexible reminder and notification controls

Start with what’s happening nearby.

My research showed that finding an in-person gaming community often meant searching across several platforms and piecing the details together.

Local events appear first
Location can be detected or entered manually
Players can explore without completing a long setup

People needed more than a title and a pin on a map.

An event title and map pin were not enough to make people feel comfortable attending. Players wanted to know what the event would be like and whether they would fit in.

I brought the most useful details into one place, including the format, atmosphere, attendance, organiser, venue, and travel information.

Clear expectations before committing
Social cues such as attendance and group details
Practical venue and travel information

Joining turns an event into a plan.

Joining an event creates new questions. Players need to know what happens next, whether payment is involved, and how they can prepare.

Expectations confirmed before joining
Quest Chat limited to attendees
Directions, reminders, and payment details kept together

Search needed to reflect what people actually cared about.

People were not only searching by game or event type. They were also considering their availability, travel distance, interests, and whether the event felt worth the effort.

Scout turns those considerations into useful filters. Important details remain visible in the results, making events easier to compare without opening every page.

Filters based on real attendance decisions
Interest, schedule, and travel preferences
Key details visible while comparing results

Saving an event didn’t mean someone was ready to go.

Saving an event did not necessarily mean someone was ready to attend. Treating saved and joined events as the same thing made that distinction unclear.

The Stash holds events a player is still considering, while My Sidequests contains confirmed plans. Upcoming and past events are separated, and accidental removals can be undone.

Stash for possible plans
My Sidequests for joined events
Undo provides a safety net for accidental removal

Preferences should guide discovery, not narrow it.

Players can use their Profile to share their favourite games, preferred event types, travel distance, and whether they want solo-friendly recommendations.

These preferences improve the suggestions they see, but do not hide the rest of the community. They can also be updated as someone’s interests, routine, or confidence changes.

Favourite games and event types
Travel distance and solo-friendly preferences
Flexible reminder and notification controls

ACCESSIBILITY REFINEMENTS

The audit helped me find opportunities to strengthen the experience.

Reviewing the screens against WCAG 2.2 AA revealed a pattern: the same accessibility issues were appearing in different places. Rather than patching individual screens, I used the audit to strengthen the system underneath them: improving colour tokens, making states clearer and giving controls more room to breathe.

Before

After

Before

After

Contrast that holds up

Text, borders and brand surfaces now use accessible semantic colour tokens, creating a clearer hierarchy.

State without colour alone

Selected chips combine colour with a checkmark, stronger outline and exposed selected state, making selection clear visually and to assistive technology.

Comfortable touch targets

Icon buttons and tabs now use 44 x 44 pt touch targets. Filter chips stay compact at 32 pt high while still meeting WCAG 2.2 AA requirements.

INTERACTION
SAFEGUARD 01

INTERACTION SAFEGUARD 01

It should be easy to change your mind.

Removing an event from the Stash can happen faster than intended. Instead of making those actions immediate, I added a short window where the change is visible and easy to undo.

The user removes a saved item.

The item enters a brief pending state.

They can undo the action, or leave it to complete.

INTERACTION
SAFEGUARD 02

INTERACTION SAFEGUARD 02

Leaving shouldn’t come with surprises.

When someone chooses to leave an event, a confirmation explains what will change before anything happens. They can continue or go back without losing their place.

The user taps Unjoin.

They review what leaving will change.

They can choose to Leave this Sidequest or go back.

REFLECTION

A sense of 'belonging' is core to good UX.

Sidequest was a particularly fun project for me because it came from something I had wondered about for a while. I play games a lot, and it is easy enough to convince my friends to join a call or play something online. Finding an in-person community has always felt much less straightforward.

I started Sidequest focused on discovery. I assumed that if local gaming events were easier to find, more people would attend them. Looking back, that was a fairly surface-level understanding of the problem.

The research made me think about the hesitation that comes after finding an event. Will everyone already know each other? Am I experienced enough? What happens when I arrive? I realised I had to design for someone who may not already be confident enough to join.

That changed what I paid attention to. Skill level, group size, accessibility, and a clearer idea of what to expect became just as important as the event itself. It reminded me that removing a practical barrier does not always remove the social one. Sometimes good UX is about giving someone enough reassurance to press "join" in the first place.