Experience & Expertise
Gaming, community &
engagement platforms
Some of EGS’s most ambitious work lives in this domain. From 2018 to 2023, EGS created two generations of fantasy trading games, operating the first live and building its successor to a production-ready MVP, anticipating gamified trading years before it became a mainstream category.
What EGS owned
It began in 2018 with BattleStocks, a fantasy stock-picking game that went live to real players, ran live prize events, and featured game shows streamed on Facebook Live. Its markets stayed active and competitive through a roster of AI trading-bot personas.
As the vision grew beyond a web game, it evolved into TradeStars: a more advanced, mobile-first platform spanning stocks, forex, and crypto, with a simulated live-trading engine and MetaTrader 5 integration. Throughout, EGS drove the product and its design, directed the teams that built it, and owned QA, DevOps, and live operations, the work that turns a bold concept into a working product.
The team could build a convincing live-trading simulator because it had spent the previous fifteen years operating the real thing.
Program & Delivery Leadership
Leading the effort end to end: priorities, roadmap, and day-to-day delivery of a complex real-time platform across both generations.
Product & Game Design
Designing the game screens and player experience, from early prototypes through production UI, and shaping the mechanics and progression across both generations.
DevOps & Release Operations
Managing the JIRA board and development workflow, and owning the environments, deployments, and operational infrastructure that kept the platform running.
QA & Testing
Reviewing and testing each screen against design and spec, then sending detailed change requests back to the development team, across live markets, simulated trading, and prize competition.
Live Platform Operations
Running live games, prize events, Facebook Live broadcasts, and the AI trading-bot personas that kept markets active.
Stakeholder & Investor Coordination
Aligning stakeholders, investors, and the roadmap as the product evolved from a web game to mobile.
Experience beyond applications
Many organizations focus on functionality. Successful platforms must also create engagement. Understanding how users interact, compete, learn, collaborate, and return over time is a critical part of building successful digital ecosystems.
Gamification Systems
Creating progression, competition, and rewards.
Community Ecosystems
Supporting interaction, collaboration, and engagement.
Mobile Experiences
Designing mobile-first user journeys.
Leaderboards & Competition
Driving participation through visibility and achievement.
Evidence & examples
Game Lobby
Half-Hour Battles, prize games, and Lightning Rounds, live across stocks, crypto, and forex.
View full image →Active Trading
Placing trades in real time on live market data, across stocks, forex, and crypto.
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Leaderboards & Rankings
Real-time leaderboards and rankings that drive competition and repeat play.
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Mobile Watchlist & Portfolio
The mobile portfolio and watchlist, tracking positions and performance on the go.
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Live Game Schedule
Scheduled games with countdowns, player counts, and prize pools.
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BattleStocks, 2018
Where it began: the first-generation fantasy stock-picking game.
View full image →All screens are from TradeStars and BattleStocks, ventures EGS built and ran. Historical product interfaces, not live client data.
INNOVATION & VISION
Ideas ahead of their time
Long before they became industry trends, EGS was already exploring the concepts now reshaping digital platforms. These were representative ideas examined through real platform initiatives.
Gamified Financial Experiences
→Now the model behind modern trading apps.
Influencer Participation Models
→An influencer-hosted games platform, designed to full UX and API specification by early 2021, before creator monetization became standard.
Digital Economy Concepts
→Including a gold-backed in-game currency designed around a real mine supply. A pairing the market had yet to produce.
NFT Integration Concepts
→Built into the platform roadmap as working sub-systems: an NFT merchant and a fungible in-game currency.
Community-Based Competition
→Now central to user engagement everywhere.
Marketplace Ecosystems
→Now standard across digital platforms.
What we learned
Engagement Matters
Users return when experiences are meaningful.
Community Matters
People stay because of other people.
Simplicity Matters
Complex systems must feel intuitive.
Retention Matters
The most valuable user is the one who comes back tomorrow.
Related experience
Trading Operations & Financial Systems
Risk systems, exposure monitoring, and platform administration.
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Scalable cloud platforms supporting growth and performance.
View Experience →Membership & Nonprofit Technology
Community engagement, membership systems, and member experiences.
View Experience →