Brawl Stars' Fame UX Is Backwards

December 2nd, 2022

ux game-design brawl-stars

⚠️ Unpatched since 2022-12-12

–
days and counting
I've been chipping away at Fame in Brawl Stars lately. It's the long term progression stat you start building once you've collected every brawler. Sometimes I just want to check how far along I am, and somehow that simple question turned into a scavenger hunt.

The Obvious Path

Right on the main menu there's a dedicated button that takes you to Starr Road:
Brawl Stars main menu with the Starr Road button circled
Follow it and there's a big glowing Meteoric Fame badge sitting on its own panel, with a number and everything. This is the most prominent piece of fame UI in the entire game, so tapping it should show my progress, right?
Starr Road screen with the Meteoric Fame panel and its help button circled

The Trap

Nope. The fame button shows you the tutorial:
The Fame tutorial popup explaining how fame works
Read that third panel again: "Fame is visible in your profile, show off how far you've come!" The flashiest fame button in the game doesn't show you your fame, it shows you a popup telling you to go find it yourself on a completely different screen. That's not a tutorial, that's driving directions.

The Actual Path

So off we go. Open your profile:
The Brawl Stars profile screen showing Trophy Road and collected brawlers
Scroll past your trophies, your brawler collection, your wins, your ranked stats...
Scrolling down the profile past wins and ranked stats to the badge row
...and tap the little fame badge buried at the bottom. There it is, the actual Level of Fame screen with the full milestone track the Starr Road panel never shows you:
The Level of Fame screen showing full milestone progress at 10,336 fame
The funny part is the ? button in the top corner of this screen. It opens the same tutorial from earlier. So the progress screen tucks the tutorial behind a help button like it should, while the big shiny badge on Starr Road hides the progress behind the tutorial.

Responsible Disclosure

And before anyone says I'm just yelling into the void, I did report this through the proper channels.
Exhibit A

A year ago one of Supercell's own UI/UX designers asked LinkedIn what people would like to learn about Brawl Stars' UI/UX. Looking for enlightenment, even.

So I obliged with this exact issue. Empty Starr Road, fame button, tutorial popup, the whole scavenger hunt.

LinkedIn post from a Supercell UI/UX designer asking what people would like to learn about Brawl Stars' UI/UX, with my comment reporting the fame progress issue
Exhibit B

It wasn't ignored either. The OP liked the comment, and so did a senior core developer and a senior UX designer.

So the vendor was notified and three people who do this for a living acknowledged it. The button still opens the tutorial, which is why this post has a disclosure counter at the top.

The reactions on my comment: a like from the Supercell UI/UX designer who made the post, plus a senior core developer and a senior UX designer

How I'd Fix It

  • Tapping the Meteoric Fame badge on Starr Road should open the Level of Fame screen. It's the one thing everyone tapping that badge is looking for.
  • Keep the tutorial behind a ? button like the Level of Fame screen already does. Show the popup once for new players and never again.
  • Fame is the endgame stat for people who finished the collection. It probably deserves a spot near the top of the profile next to Trophy Road, not an unlabeled badge at the bottom of a scroll.
The whole fix is one deep link. Instead the shiniest fame button in the game opens a popup that apologizes for the button not doing the obvious thing. They know about it too, the counter up top doesn't lie.