NBA2K20 — MyTEAM Pack Market System

The Problem

MyTEAM's pack market was a critical monetization surface generating significant revenue, but the existing design had usability issues:

• The visual design didn't match the premium nature of the products, reducing purchase motivation

• Users couldn't quickly compare pack offerings or understand relative value

• The purchase flow lacked clarity around what users were buying

• Navigation between pack types felt disjointed

Goals:

• Reduce friction in the purchase decision process

• Improve scanability of product offerings

• Create a unified flow between purchasing and revealing purchased content, with moments that celebrate valuable outcomes such as player walkouts

• Create a modular system that could adapt to seasonal content drops

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My Role

End-to-end design and technical implementation: UX design, visual design, 3D asset creation, interaction scripting, and integration with the game's economy systems. Worked directly with game design and engineering to balance business requirements with user experience.

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Design Approach

Information Architecture

Rather than treating packs as abstract digital items, I designed them as tangible products displayed on a physical surface (table). This created:

• Clear visual hierarchy — users could scan offerings at a glance

• Spatial relationships that communicated value tiers

• Persistent context — the "table" metaphor kept users grounded in one conceptual space

Purchase Flow Clarity

Added visual weight and physicality to pack representations to:

• Make product differentiation immediate (size = value proposition)

• Create anticipation in the "opening" interaction

• Reduce purchase hesitation by making the exchange feel tangible

System Scalability

Designed the layout to accommodate variable product counts without breaking the spatial metaphor, allowing the game design team to add limited-time offers without requiring UI rework.

Implementation

Owned the complete execution pipeline:

• Designed information hierarchy and user flows

• Modeled and textured all 3D pack assets in Maya

• Designed a system for items to be maintained and updated by another team

• Built the environment as a contained "stage" for products

• Scripted purchase interactions and state transitions

End-to-end ownership allowed tight integration between the interaction model and visual execution.

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Outcome & Reflection

The redesign shipped as the core pack marketplace for MyTEAM mode and remained the foundation for subsequent releases. The modular table layout proved flexible enough to support seasonal content without breaking the core interaction model.

What This Project Taught Me:

• Commerce UI benefits from physical metaphors, the table created intuitive spatial reasoning for value comparison

• Purchase flows need both clarity and delight, reducing friction while maintaining excitement

• Scalable systems require thinking beyond the initial content set

• Working directly with engineering on economy systems taught me how monetization and UX must balance