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 within the Unity Gaming Services web dashboard. The design solutions needed to align with our DevOps team’s 2022 objectives, which included improving integration across the dashboard for a unified experience, as well as alignment with our version control component (Plastic SCM), simplifying onboarding and setup to accelerate developer workflows and support user acquisition and retention, and expanding our reach to medium-sized studios while appealing to non-technical users.
I began by studying existing User Research artifacts to understand user journeys, needs, and pain points, and by mapping core user flows of the legacy experience with engineers to identify and prioritize UX issues. While the Build History main page redesign was already underway, I finalized its designs and proposed table UI optimizations such as expandable rows, quick links, contextual tooltips, and dynamic status icons. On the Configurations page, I redesigned how build targets are displayed, using a table format for easier management and search, and introduced the ability to trigger builds directly from this view, eliminating extra navigation and significantly speeding up workflows. This redesign also allowed me to introduce impactful UX improvements, such as progressive disclosure strategies to better guide users.
While working on Cloud Build, I also contributed to unifying Unity Version Control and Unity Build Automation under a single DevOps subscription. This included designing a more cohesive information architecture and navigation, creating a new DevOps Overview page, consolidating onboarding, and improving discoverability. The Overview page became a central hub for understanding a project’s DevOps landscape, while the onboarding module guided new subscribers through setup tasks and encouraged exploration of version control and build solutions.
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.
