This is a brief summary of the process and work that went into this project (I'd be happy to dig into the details or share some additional work). Read more about this project on the Facebook Gaming blog.

The team needed to establish a reliable place for gamers to discover and re-engage in previous games on FB. The two images below illustrate the current experiences on both Messenger and Facebook. Both experiences have very different entry points but share the same navaigation in-game as seen in the second image.

After meeting with partners including reaserch, content, data science, engineering, and product management we aligned on an appraoch. This approach involved adding a second navigation element when in-game. This new button would take players to a new view completely focused on instant games. It was decided that we maintain the "x" button as a means to exit the game since it was already established."

Early in user testing we noticed that it was a common praction for players to tap the "x" button because they thought it was affiliated with other in game elemtnst such as pop ups. We tested a few approaches including the two below. The first leverages the standard OS confirmation dialog while the second version also leveraged the same dialog while revealing the additional Instant Games surface.

After additional user testing it was revealed that players desired a single navigation button as to not compete with game UIs and to give players a consistent experience.

To further solve for competeing navigation element issues I worked closely with some of our game developers which resulted in a full screen and more immersive gaming experience. When players tap the game controller icon they will be taken to a dedicated Instant Games surface that I dubbed "The Arcade" presenting them with an easy way to transition between games and pick up their turns while just as easily exiting their game.

I'd be more than happy to dig into the details as well as share some of my current work on Facebook Gaming, Let's chat.