Polygon Arena — Designing a Clear, Progression-Driven Mobile F2P Shooter
Polygon Arena (now Polygun Arena) is a F2P casual first-person multiplayer 3D shooter with cartoon graphics developed by Turkish game studio Vertigo Games. I worked as Senior Product Manager during its early development period (2023–2024), shaping the end-to-end player experience of this mobile casual shooter from the ground up — with a strong focus on game design, game economy design, UX research and design, A/B testing, and building a clear, progression-driven experience for players.
Casual
F2P
Game
Mid-Core
Mobile Game
Multiplayer
Shooter
Vertigo Games
✶
1 Year
✶
2023 - 2024
Roles
Senior Product Manager
UX Designer
UX Researcher
Methodologies
Agile Framework
Design Thinking
Game Deconstruction
User-Centered Design
Tools
Appstore Connect
Asana
Figma
Firebase
Google Play Console
Notion
Playtest Cloud
Spreadsheet
My title was Senior Product Manager, but in practice I was the sole end-to-end owner of the entire player-facing experience.
UX Design — All core screens across every surface: Arsenal, Store, Missions, Match Flow, Profile, Leaderboard
UX Research — Player journey mapping, friction analysis, progression clarity
Game Design — Mode structure, match rules, unlock gating logic
Economy Design — Currency systems, chest tiers, card progression, monetization surfaces
Game Balancing — Weapon stats, attachment trade-offs, rarity tier tuning
QA Testing — Edge case coverage and UX regression across all features
Building a first-person shooter that casual mobile players understand instantly — without sacrificing the depth that keeps competitive players engaged long-term. Every design decision had to be grounded in product logic and player psychology, with no prior analytics or user data to reference.
The core features required for the soft launch were defined and information architecture were created.
For version V0.1, the selected features were:
FTUE, Tutorial, Main Menu, Settings, Arsenal, Store, League System, Missions, Game Modes & Loading, In-Game HUD, Game End, Profile, Leaderboard, Daily Rewards, Friends
Design intent: serve as the command center. Every core system — progression, rewards, social, economy — surfaces here without requiring navigation.
Key UX elements:
League name + trophy count
Dual currency: Gold + Diamond (always visible)
Chest progress trackers
Contextual nudge: "Win 3 times in any mode to earn a Battle Chest"
Quick-access tiles: Missions, Leaderboard, Friends, Free Rewards, Clan, Daily Login Rewards, Inventory, Store, Battle Pass
Daily Login countdown
Battle Pass progress bar
Arsenal — A browsable 5-category inventory (Characters, Weapons, Armors, Consumables, Masks) with a consistent card grid system. Every item communicates its state — owned, locked, upgradeable, purchasable — without requiring tutorial text.
Store & Economy — A transparent monetization hub organized by player intent. Drop rates are always visible before purchase. Upgrade costs are shown before confirmation. Contextual offers appear at the moment of intent, not as interruptions.
Progression Systems — Daily Missions, Seasonal Missions, Battle Pass, and a 90-day Daily Login arc create multiple concurrent engagement hooks. The League system ties competitive advancement directly to content unlocks — giving players a visible reason to keep playing.
Match Flow — A complete session loop from matchmaking to post-game rewards, designed so every transition answers one clear question: what happened, what did I earn, what do I do next.
Profile & Social — Player identity, stats, friend system, and leaderboard designed to create aspiration and social accountability.
Shipped to soft launch with a cohesive design language across 150+ screens. The item state system eliminated the need for tutorial prompts — players understood their progression status from the grid alone. Economy transparency reduced purchase friction. The retention architecture reduced reliance on any single engagement loop.
