IP3 - Testing and Evaluation

Today was the very last testing session for this course. Overall I feel it went pretty well. For the 3rd prototype of Hop to Who, I didn't make any huge changes, mostly it was a refinement of the game based on last session's feedback.

I had a total of 6 participants play the game. Three of whom had already played in previous testing sessions so were pretty familiar already with the game and the remaining three testers playing for the very first time. I thought it was really beneficial to observe the difference in the participant's behaviours and responses due to this.

Overall the response was very positive and testers responded very positively to the questions about their general understanding of the game and their enjoyment levels. All said they understood the goal of the game, and all rated it a 4 or 5 on the 5 point scale of enjoyment of the game.




In this prototype I decided to rely less on myself giving verbal instructions, and added How to Play instructions to the splash screen to be read on start up. I think this decision resulted in less of an immediate understanding of the game rules, and more of a learning curve. I noticed most players didn't spend a lot of time reading the instructions and were keen to play the game as fast as possible. Perhaps for a future change a more interactive tutorial could be integrated so players do not have to read a long written explanation about how to play, rather learn by doing.
Despite this all participants still quickly grasped the game controls and game mechanics within 1 or 2 times in playing the game. So I feel confident that the majority of players could quite easily start playing the game of the first time without the need for in-person facilitation, and learn fairly quickly how the game works.




Including an easy level definitely helped ease players into the game before it got too challenging. From my observation, 5 out of 6 testers started at the easy level and worked their way up to the hard level. Every player actually got a chance to win the game at least once, which is a vast improvement from the last testing session. The outlier participant (who actually was a first time player) didn't attempt easy at all, he jumped straight into the medium level for 1 turn then tried the hard level 2 times - he managed to win a lot and picked up the game play very quickly. The survey results were a little mixed, most rated it an average of 3 (where 1 is too easy and 5 too difficult), 2 rated it a 4, and one person rated it a 1 (too easy - the outlier tester). It was interesting to note the varying skill levels of the participants, especially the one who was very skilled on the first time playing, compared to another player who had previously tried the game before in the last session, but still struggled a little on the easy level. Seeing these difference in levels, I feel supports my decision in including the different difficulty levels, so everyone regardless of skill, can still enjoy the game. In the future I could implement even more challenging levels to cater for those who find the game too easy.


As for the physical controls, they worked a lot better than in the last round of testing, although still could use a bit of reworking to ensure the tiles don't bounce as much. If I had more time I would move the position of the contacts so even if the tile did bounce, it wouldn't affect the Makey Makey from registering input.

Another feedback suggestion I'd implement is to remind the player to reset all the tiles before replaying. If this isn't done at the correct time before pressing the replay button, can disrupt the game as the program thinks those tiles have already been eliminated.

Survey link:
http://goo.gl/forms/mIRqJAnZBz

View the summary of responses here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XMu8zuWiq71SCMVKwqRIt1wVrZILvw3hIjOje1wk6QU/viewanalytics

IP3 Concept

Hop to Who?! combines the games Guess Who and Frogger. There are two main aims of the game, firstly to safely guide the frog across the road, and second to guess the identity of the frog’s mystery date waiting on the other side of the road. This game is aimed at those aged 5 years and up. It’s purpose is to mix elements from both games in order to create a game that is both challenging and fun.

A physical Guess Who tile board is the physical input for the game. Each “tile” shows a different and unique character. As the game progresses, clues about the chosen single mystery date will be shown on screen, allowing the player to eliminate incorrect characters by dropping a tile face down. Each time a tile is put down, this controls the forward movement of the main frog on screen.

The Story of "Hop to Who?!":

The Frog needs to cross the road to meet his blind date. As he crosses, the game will display clues about the characteristics of the blind date. The player needs to both get across the road and match the mystery date with the final remaining character tile.

Frogger elements:

• The game objective of getting the frog safely across the road.
• Timing the moves to avoid getting hit by moving traffic.
• The frog character and the level design.

Guess Who elements:

• Eliminating all the characters displayed so only 1 remains
• Giving descriptive clues to help the player eliminate the character tiles.
• Physical interaction of flipping down tiles.

How to play:

• The on-screen interface will display the game interface, there also will be a physical Guess Who style board with 10 character tiles shown face up.
• There are 2 objectives, both equally important. Get the frog across the road to safety and eliminate all but one of the characters correctly.
• The onscreen clues will give the player hints as to which frog tile to drop down.
• Each time a tile drops down, the frog on screen will move forward one space
• As the game progresses, further clues will be given to help eliminate frogs.
• The challenge is to flip the tiles down in sync with moving the frog to avoid collisions. This requires 2 mental processes to happen at once, strategic elimination and quick response.
• If the player gets the frog to safety, then there is the added reveal to check if the player has selected the right character.
• If the remaining tile matches the mystery date, the frog will live happily ever after. Otherwise sadly the frog goes home alone.
• There are 3 levels to choose from, Easy, Medium or Hard

Game Updates:

From the last prototype released, there have been a few iterations integrated in to the latest version:

• The game board itself has been updated. As the tiles bounced when dropped down, I used conductive foam, placed where the tile's contacts meet to help prevent this, and reduce noise. 
• A splash screen has been added, to give a short overview of the game (so I don't have to give a detailed explanation to participants every time they play). 
• Three difficulty levels have been implemented, based on the speed of the traffic.
• Updated some graphics, such as the trucks
• Removed the number text at the top (which previously indicated which tile numbers had already been eliminated, as past testers paid no or little attention to these).

Post-testing survey link: http://goo.gl/forms/rXBebqb2jx