Web App / Gaming Platform

Where 145 Premium
Browser Games
Come Alive

Designing a destination-grade gaming platform that turns fragmented browser gaming into a cohesive, immersive, and fast experience — mobile-first, curated, and distraction-free.

Role Product & UI/UX Designer
Timeline 2023 – 2024
Category Web App / Gaming Platform
Live URL nexusplay.in
View Live Site Read Case Study
🎮 Active Now
Live
1.2k
Top Game
Apex Legends
★★★★★ 4.8 rating
Nexus Play gaming platform
0 Premium Games Curated
40% Increase in Session Duration
0s Avg. Game Load Time
MobileFirst Design Approach

01 — The Problem

Browser gaming was broken.

The Challenge

Browser gaming existed as a scattered wasteland of low-quality portals — overrun by intrusive ads, slow-loading titles, and zero curatorial quality control. Users bounced within seconds, finding nothing worth staying for.

Despite growing demand for instant, no-download gaming — especially on mobile — there was no premium destination that combined quality curation with a truly modern UX.

The Opportunity

The market gap was clear: build the Criterion Collection of browser games — a handpicked library wrapped in a dark, immersive, distraction-free experience that respects the player's attention.

By combining smart discovery, mobile-first design, and instant-launch performance, Nexus Play could own a position no competitor had thought to occupy: premium, curated, and built for deep play sessions.

Research Insights

INSIGHT 01
Discovery Friction
70% of users on competing platforms couldn't find a relevant game in under 30 seconds. Poor taxonomy, cluttered UIs, and zero personalization meant most users gave up before they ever played.
INSIGHT 02
Trust Deficit
Aggressive ad clutter — pop-unders, interstitials, fake download buttons — made existing gaming portals feel actively hostile. Users associated these signals with malware risk, eroding session completion rates dramatically.
INSIGHT 03
Mobile Abandonment
65% of browser gaming traffic came from mobile devices, yet zero of the top browser game sites were genuinely mobile-optimized. Touch controls were broken, layouts were desktop-only, and load times were unbearable on mobile networks.

02 — User Research

User Persona & Goals

Understanding who we design for — their motivations, goals, and pain points.

👤
Vikram Nair
Casual Gamer, 22
Goals
  • Find a fun game to play in under 30 seconds
  • Launch and play without any downloads or installs
  • Save progress and return to games later
Pain Points
  • Slow game loading kills the impulse to play
  • Intrusive ads and no intelligent game discovery
🧑
Sneha Pillai
Student Gamer, 19
Goals
  • Play quick games during breaks between classes
  • Discover what's trending among friends
  • Share favourite games on social platforms
Pain Points
  • No social features to see what friends are playing
  • Repetitive game catalogues with no fresh content
👩
Abhishek Joshi
Hardcore Gamer, 28
Goals
  • Access a premium library of high-quality browser games
  • Compete on global leaderboards and track rankings
  • Play offline without loss of progress
Pain Points
  • Performance issues and frame drops mid-game
  • No competitive features or leaderboards on existing platforms

03 — Business Challenges

Core Challenges

The platform problems preventing Nexus Play from retaining and growing its player base.

🔍

Game Discovery Problem

70% of users on competing platforms couldn't find a relevant game in under 30 seconds. Poor taxonomy and zero personalisation mean users give up before they ever play.

⚡

Performance & Load Times

Slow-loading games on mobile networks kill the impulse to play. Every second of load time increases the probability of abandonment exponentially.

💰

Monetisation Without Disruption

68% of users churn within 3 sessions largely due to intrusive ads. Balancing revenue requirements with a distraction-free experience is the platform's central tension.

🔄

User Retention

Without social features, leaderboards, or personalised recommendations, there is no hook to bring casual players back after their first session ends.

04 — Secondary Research

Market Insights

Market Size
2.8B
Casual Gamers Globally
The casual gaming market represents 2.8 billion players worldwide — the largest addressable audience in gaming, yet systematically underserved by quality browser platforms.
Retention Crisis
68%
Churn Within First 3 Sessions
Industry benchmarks show 68% of browser gaming users churn within their first three sessions — primarily due to poor discovery, ads overload, and lack of quality curated content.
Library Quality
145
Games in Premium Library
Nexus Play's curated library of 145 premium titles represents a deliberate quality-over-quantity approach — every game is hand-selected across 14 validated genres.

05 — User Stories

What Users Need

As a... I want to... So that... Priority
Casual Gamer Find a relevant game in under 30 seconds using smart filters I spend time playing, not searching through endless catalogues High
Student Play high-quality browser games instantly without any download I can enjoy a quick session without technical barriers or wait times High
Power User Access a curated premium library with leaderboards and rankings I can compete, track progress, and always find something worth playing Medium
Mobile Gamer Experience the full platform on my phone with touch-optimised controls I get a genuinely great gaming experience on any device, not a degraded one High
Content Creator Share games and my gameplay clips directly from the platform I can grow my audience while discovering new content through the community Low

06 — Competitor Analysis

Market Landscape

Feature Poki CrazyGames Miniclip Nexus Play
No-Download Play ✓ ✓ ~ ✓
Game Discovery ~ ~ ✕ ✓
Performance ~ ✓ ~ ✓
Social Features ✕ ✕ ~ ✓
Premium Library ~ ~ ✕ ✓
Cross-device ✓ ✓ ~ ✓

07 — User Flow

The Journey

01
Landing
Immersive homepage with featured picks, trending games, and curated collections
02
Browse / Search
14 genre categories with smart multi-select filters and persistent search surface
03
Game Preview
Hover to preview looping gameplay animation before committing to launch
04
Launch Game
Instant 3-second launch with no downloads, installs, or friction barriers
05
Play
Distraction-free fullscreen mode with minimal chrome and one-click exit control
06
Rate & Save
Post-session rating prompt and save to collection for future sessions

08 — Toolkits

Tools & Workflow

The tools and methods used throughout the design process.

🎨
Figma
UI Design & Prototyping
🗂️
FigJam
IA Mapping & Ideation
🔥
Hotjar
Session Recording & Heatmaps
📊
Mixpanel
Product Analytics & Funnel Analysis
📋
Notion
Research Documentation & Planning

02 — Process

From chaos to
cohesive system.

A five-phase design process that moved from competitive audit and user research through to a scalable component library — always anchored to the core tension of immersion vs. discoverability.

01
Research
Competitive audit of 12 browser gaming portals. 24 user interviews. Session recordings on existing platforms revealed key drop-off patterns and unmet needs.
02
Information Architecture
Defined a game taxonomy across 14 categories. Designed a card-sorting-validated navigation structure that put the most-played categories within one tap.
03
Game Discovery System
Built a multi-dimensional filtering UI — genre, multiplayer, device type, play duration — reducing average time-to-first-game from 45s to under 12s in usability testing.
04
Visual Design
Developed the dark gaming aesthetic with the purple/cyan palette. Designed a full component library: game cards, category pills, hero banners, fullscreen mode UI, mobile bottom navigation.
05
Performance Optimization
Collaborated with engineering on lazy-loading strategies, preloading game assets on card hover, and a 3-second average launch time — no downloads, no barriers, instant play.

03 — Design

Built for the
zone state.

Every design decision was made in service of one goal: getting the user into a game they love, as fast as possible, and keeping them there. Dark surfaces eliminate distraction. Glowing accents guide the eye. Instant-launch removes friction.

nexusplay.in
NexusPlay — Home Screen
Home Screen — Game Discovery Interface
NexusPlay — UI Screen 2
NexusPlay — UI Screen 3
NexusPlay — UI Screen 4

Design Highlights

🃏
Curated Game Library with Smart Filtering
14 categories, multi-select filters, and a persistent search surface eliminate the discovery gap — users reach a relevant game in under 12 seconds.
✨
Animated Preview Cards on Hover
Game cards load a looping preview animation on hover, letting users sample gameplay without committing a click — a key driver of session depth.
⛶
Distraction-Free Fullscreen Game Mode
One-click fullscreen mode collapses all UI chrome, leaving only an unobtrusive header with exit controls — preserving the flow state.
⚡
Performance-Optimized Instant Launch
Assets preload on card hover. 3-second average launch time. No downloads, no install prompts — zero barriers between the user and play.
🌑
Dark Immersive Visual Language
Near-black backgrounds (#050508), purple/cyan neon accents, and a gaming-grade dark palette keep users visually in the zone across long sessions.

Design System

The language
behind the platform.

A cohesive design system built to scale across 145 game entries while maintaining a consistent, premium aesthetic. Every token, typeface, and spacing unit was chosen to serve immersion.

Color Palette
Primary
Secondary
BG Base
BG Raised
Text

Purple anchors brand identity and interactive states. Cyan is reserved for secondary actions and highlights. Near-black backgrounds establish depth without pure black harshness.

Typography
48px Display Headline
32px Section Title
16px Body / Space Grotesk
12px LABEL / CAPTION

Instrument Serif lends editorial authority to headings. Space Grotesk handles all UI text with technical precision and legibility at small sizes.

Spacing System — 8px Grid
81624324864

Strict 8px base unit governs all padding, margins, and component sizing. The grid creates visual rhythm that reads as intentional and premium — even without users consciously noticing.

Component Library
Game Card Category Pill Hero Banner Search Bar Fullscreen Mode Mobile Nav Filter Sheet

04 — Impact

Numbers that tell
the real story.

Measured against benchmarks from the competitive landscape, Nexus Play's design outcomes validated every major research hypothesis — from engagement depth to mobile satisfaction.

0
Premium Games
Handpicked titles across 14 categories — zero filler, every game earns its place.
0%
Session Duration Increase
Average play session length grew by 40% compared to competitor baselines.
0s
Avg. Game Load Time
3-second average launch — no downloads, instant play from any device.
0%
Mobile Satisfaction Score
78% of mobile users rated the experience "excellent" in post-session surveys.

Reflection

"Building Nexus Play proved that even in a saturated market, quality curation and premium UX can create a destination worth returning to. The challenge was designing for deep engagement — where every design decision either added to immersion or broke it."
— Rupesh Chavan, Product & UI/UX Designer
"The hardest constraint wasn't visual — it was informational. Surfacing the right game to the right user, without requiring them to already know what they want, was the true design problem."
On the Discovery Problem