Discord / Concept
Empowering players to discover and launch games with Lobbies.
I designed a speculative social matchmaking feature that helps players coordinate and launch game sessions, to boost retention and increase developer ROI.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2 Weeks, July 2025
Skills
Product Design
User Research
Prototyping
User Testing
Journey Mapping
Team
This was a solo project.
Problem
Coordinating game sessions in Discord is slow and manual.
From surveys and simulated sessions, coordinating and launching a game often took several minutes, with some players abandoning coordination altogether. Without a Discord-native way to streamline this frequent behavior, players default to fragmented chats or off-platform tools. Disrupting session flow and risking discovery off-platform.
Goal
Improve the player experience and strengthen Discord’s platform role by:
Reducing coordination time from minutes to seconds
Keeping session discovery inside Discord
Enabling studios to measure discovery and conversion
Solution
Turn Discord chats into instant game sessions with Lobbies.
Through research, testing, and iteration, I designed a feature that enables players to create and launch Lobbies in a DM or server. Allowing friends to join the same in-game session in one-click.
Key elements of the solution:
Frictionless setup: One-click Lobby creation from the Apps menu.
Seamless invites: Share to a DM, group, or server with a clear “Join Lobby” CTA.
Instant launch: Friends join a pre-made lobby in the game, eliminating multi-step setup.
Native discovery: Lobby cards double as lightweight game promotion, surfacing partner titles in relevant chats.
Lobbies creation flow: Streamlined so players can spin up a lobby anywhere and get friends playing instantly.
Lobbies traffic drives gameplay conversions, displayed in studio analytics dashboard
Lobbies in DMs: Provide an easy, persistent way for friends to re-engage and play again.
Projected Impact
90%
efficiency improvement
Coordination time cut from 5+ minutes to under 30 seconds, validated through surveys, usability testing, and simulated sessions.
Higher
platform retention
Players stay in Discord to discover at their moment of highest intent instead of turning to off-platform solutions.
Expanded
game discovery
Based on time on site, validated through an A/B test.
Increased
conversion tracking
Measurable funnel from impressions → lobby joins → in-game sessions.
Approach
Brief
Self-initiated project inspired by observed friction in coordinating game sessions. Explored how Discord could streamline play and improve social connection.
Research
Conducted surveys, interviews, desk research, and simulated sessions
Key insight: coordinating a session often took several minutes and sometimes caused drop-off, validating coordination as the top friction
Define
Synthesized research insights into clear problem and goal statements
Focused project outcomes on reducing coordination friction and improving in-platform discovery
Concepting
Explored multiple flows for invites and coordination
Balanced simplicity for players with visibility for partner studios to serve both needs
Journey Mapping
Mapped the end-to-end flow from conversation → lobby creation → launch
Identified opportunities to streamline setup while minimizing disruption to chat
User Testing & Iteration
Ran 5 usability sessions with players
Findings:
Lightweight Lobby cards were preferred over modals
Clearer CTA hierarchy improved task completion
Simpler flow reduced confusion and increased replay intent
