AFL26
Big Ant Studios // 2025
AFL26 is an Aussie Rules simulation video game developed by Big Ant Studios. A fast-tracked project within a 6-month timeframe, my main responsibility was creating a front-end user experience that was aesthetically renewed yet functionally familiar to the title’s predecessor - AFL23. Working closely with the UI Artist, I helped facilitate a new frontend visual theme - establishing refreshed fonts, interface components and pattern motifs through Figma and Adobe Photoshop mockups.
One of my main tasks during this project was revamping Team Management screens. These interfaces allow users to compose the structure of their team, whilst also providing extensive information and data on players and play styles. By gathering feedback and conducting user research with football fans and enthusiasts, I created an improved experience that met user expectations and recommendations whilst also delivering a refreshed interface to interact with.
Another task I was heavily involved in was updating the Set Shot mechanic in gameplay. Based on feedback from the project’s predecessor, I conceptualised a new UI HUD element in collaboration with game designers, producers and programmers. With the team’s main intent of raising the difficulty of the mechanic, there was a challenge in meeting these expectations whilst also creating intuitive and comprehensible visual cues. Once implemented and released, the revamped mechanic was a popular update amongst the public - praised for creating a challenging yet rewarding and fun mechanic to kick goals.
In between these main tasks I was frequently approached with UI bugs. By introducing new fonts within the game, multiple cases of text clipping were reported throughout the game. Ultimately, there were hundreds of these bugs that I was tasked to resolve, editing font styles and sizings within XAML and Lua files.
As an avid Aussie Rules enthusiast myself I am extremely proud of the game that I helped create and release, it has been an exciting and rewarding opportunity to work and immerse myself within my passions for design and sport.
AFL26 was officially released in May 2025.