Unity stands as a leading platform for real-time 3D content creation, serving a broad spectrum of creators ranging from game developers and artists to architects, automotive designers, and filmmakers. Unity DevOps has been designed to address the distinctive challenges of game development, offering cloud-based version control and CI/CD solutions to automate workflows, release more often, and deliver higher-quality games. I joined the DevOps team to help build and unify these cloud-based services, with a specific focus on Unity Build Automation (formerly Cloud Build). Additionally, I provided UX and UI guidance to ensure coherence across multiple Unity platforms, including our Version Control solution, the Gaming Services dashboard, and cloud services integration initiatives within the Unity Hub and Editor.
Formerly known as Cloud Build, Unity Build Automation is a turnkey CI/CD solution for cross-platform builds automation in the cloud, allowing developers to build faster, test more efficiently, and deliver higher-quality RT3D projects without the hassle of manual configurations or local build pipelines. The primary objective of Build Automation is to consistently deliver fast and reliable builds. Previous user research and feedback have revealed that these are the most critical expectations users have for the service – something I definitely kept in mind to guide my design decisions.
Historically, the Cloud Build user base has mainly consisted of indie and small studios (5-14 developers). These users are primarily sophisticated DevOps tools users, predominantly programmers with a technical background and existing familiarity with Unity tools. This group prioritizes configurability and is sensitive to pricing. In 2023, Unity Build Automation catered to thousands of monthly active organizations and hundreds of daily active organizations. The success story of Second Dinner leveraging Cloud Build to deliver Marvel Snap, 2022’s Best Mobile Game, showcases the platform’s capabilities and its pivotal role in the DevOps workflow.
My initial contribution was the redesign of the Cloud Build interface in the existing Unity Gaming Services web dashboard. I needed to ensure design solutions aligned with our DevOps team’s 2022 objectives:
→ Enhanced integration in the Unity Gaming Services dashboard for a unified experience.
→ Improved alignment with our version control component, Plastic SCM.
→ Simplified user onboarding and product setup to expedite developers’ workflows and boost user acquisition and retention.
→ Expand our reach to medium-sized studios and appeal to non-technical users.
To begin, I studied existing User Research artifacts to understand our users’ journey, needs, and pain points. I mapped out the core user flows of the existing legacy experience, collaborating closely with engineers to identify and prioritize UX issues. While the Build History main page redesign had already begun when I joined the team, core configuration flows and settings pages were pending. I finalized the Build History page designs, proposing various table UI optimizations to help streamline user workflows, such as expandable table rows, quick links, contextual tooltips, or dynamic icons showing build status in real time.
On the main Configurations page, I revamped how users view their configured build targets, presenting them in a table format for easier management and search capabilities. The addition of the functionality to trigger builds directly from the build target configurations table eliminated the need for users to navigate away to another page to take a central action, significantly speeding up their workflow. This redesign provided an opportunity to propose many impactful UX improvements, including progressive disclosure strategies for enhanced user guidance.
While working on Cloud Build, I actively participated in DevOps unification efforts. Our goal was to facilitate better integration and bridge the gap between Unity Version Control and Unity Build Automation (the new product names for DevOps main components, Plastic SCM and Cloud Build), under a single DevOps subscription. This initiative involved:
→ Establishing a more cohesive information architecture and navigation for DevOps;
→ Introducing a new DevOps Overview page;
→ Consolidating the onboarding process;
→ Implementing discoverability enhancement strategies.
The new DevOps Overview page was created to serve as a central hub, providing users with a comprehensive understanding of their project’s DevOps landscape. Additionally, I leveraged our onboarding module component, presenting all relevant setup tasks to guide users who subscribed to DevOps and nudge them to explore our version control and build solutions.
In the latter half of 2023, the Design System team introduced a significant overhaul, upgrading components with dark mode capability. This prompted our team to once again update the entire Unity DevOps interface, integrating the new set of optimized components and patterns. The goal was to enhance user navigation and interactions across various services within the Unity Gaming Services ecosystem. This redesign contributed to simplifying the data input and monitoring processes, particularly in areas like configuration flows and tables, improving the overall usability of Build Automation and consolidating its integration within the new Unity Cloud dashboard that was announced at the Unite 2023 keynote.
Configuring a build target in Cloud Build was the first workflow users would go through, which led me to optimize onboarding and setup processes by implementing intuitive steppers, clear empty states, meaningful UX copy and improved settings categorization.
Additionally, I introduced two options to set up a new build target configuration:
→ The “Quick Target Setup” option offers a simplified experience with a stepper interface, guiding users through the minimum configurations necessary for each platform.
→ For users preferring more control, the “Target Setup” option allows for setting up “Basic Settings” first, then navigating to a second “Advanced Settings” tab for additional configurations.
This decision of introducing two different setup options stemmed from user testing sessions, recognizing the importance of accommodating diverse user preferences. Our goal was to offer control and flexibility in certain interface areas, while ensuring guidance and safeguards to prevent errors and workflow disruptions.
In the “Target Setup” option, Settings were organized into cards under two tabs (Basic and Advanced), providing a convenient overview with contextual guidelines, tooltips, and documentation links for extra assistance. This layout was designed for scalability and ease of use, allowing for quick additions of settings and categories without overwhelming users. It also eliminated “hidden surprises” for users: in the previous layout, checking a box could unexpectedly reveal five additional inputs on the screen for users to fill in, which was a frustrating experience.
Much of my work focused on researching, designing, and testing continuous improvements for the Unity Build Automation user experience, driven by user feedback. This included:
→ Refining settings categorization to accommodate new capabilities and dependencies;
→ Clarifying error messaging to improve user comprehension;
→ Consolidating alert messaging to declutter and reduce information overload;
→ Implementing batch deletion of builds to speed up workflows and optimize storage;
→ Introducing caching optimizations to reduce build times;
→ Launching beta support for building and signing Xbox applications, paving the way for console support and increased user acquisition.
Simultaneously, the Build Automation Engineering team worked on making the service technically more performant and reliable, successfully addressing one of our users’ major pain points within months of efforts.
As part of our efforts aimed at increasing our business profitability, I contributed to transitioning our product to a metered-billing model (‘pay-as-you-go’). This involved designing a user-friendly wizard to guide users through the migration process. In May 2023, we rolled out the metered version of Build Automation, featuring expanded storage, concurrency limits, and an improved UI. We facilitated easy consumption monitoring through a dedicated Usage page and usage metrics modules on key screens, like the DevOps Overview page, along with timely notifications. Additionally, we introduced settings for users to manage build minutes and concurrency limits, providing greater control.
Responding to user demands, we introduced Premium Builders to support larger and more complex projects while ensuring high performance. These builders were meticulously tested and benchmarked against real-world projects by our Product and Engineering teams. Users were encouraged to try them out and assess their alignment with specific project needs. To showcase these new Premium Builders options effectively, I leveraged our existing custom radio button components, presenting them as visual cards within the build target configuration flow. This allowed users to easily compare specifications and pricing and make selections in a single click. I also utilized our existing label component to subtly highlight the fact that this was a new option in the flow.
For a full demo of Unity Cloud DevOps capabilities from the Unity Hub to the Cloud dashboard, and a preview of Build Automation core user flows, watch the livestream session that the Unity Cloud team held in May 2024.
Embarking on this journey in a highly technical and complex engineering-led field was both challenging and rewarding. Active listening, curiosity and humility were essential in understanding our users’ intricate workflows, highlighting the pertinence of user-centered design methodologies. Through the Unity Leadership Training, I gained invaluable insights into the company’s principles, emphasizing leadership qualities within Individual Contributor roles. I also had the opportunity to immerse myself in the video game development process through Unity tutorials and events like Game Jams, expanding my skill set. Ultimately, navigating organizational and UX maturity issues with resilience, openness, and a commitment to building strong connections with my peers made my journey at Unity one filled with growth and meaningful relationships.
