Overall approach, including resources required. Session Goals

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Jemima Daniel
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1 Participants Method Date Session Numbers Who (characteristics of your play-tester) Overall approach, including resources required Session Goals What to measure How to test How to Analyse 24/04/ Lachlan Familiar with gameplay aspects but not with game design Debbie Not familiar with any gameplay mechanics and not familiar with any game design Narelle Not familiar with any gameplay mechanics and not familiar with any game design The testers of the game will play for the allotted time [5:00 minutes] or until the player becomes deceased. In this time, they will be asked to speak about their thoughts on the game as they go to allow for a more thorough recording of the player s feelings as the game is being played. Using this I will be able to create a reference point on the amount of fun in total or the amount of fun / the amount of time. Once the time has been elapsed or the player has died the testers will be asked to record their overall feelings on a 10-question paper survey. Using the survey and the verbal recordings I will can make good links to whether the amount of fun is constant and whether the player goals are met throughout the game time. Goal 1: Discover game instabilities Goal 2: Determine Fun/Time Goal 3: Discover critical game flaws Goal 4: Find suggested changes Measure whether the player has sufficient time to properly play the game and has the ability save all characters in the allotted time. See if the game is still interesting to the play tester as the time increases. Incorrect character mesh movement or broken game mechanics/broken environment structure. Using the survey, see which parts of the game the player enjoyed and which they found boring. Couple this with verbal feedback to increase statistics. Watch playtest session with play tester and see the game through a different set of eyes. Find any instabilities that may have been glossed over in the game development process. Ask the play tester questions as they are playing that gauge their current amount of fun and check it over time. Make the play tester play at least one whole gameplay session [Without Death] and see that all areas they visit as a player and not a developer. Ask the players to comment on their experiences as they play through the game. And mark the important features down on the attached analytics form below. Record total time to complete a stage. Cross reference results throughout playtests sessions. Register by play tester response in game play session. Review play session with the play tester and look for and note any flaws in the games main mechanics. Using play tester review and survey to see parts which were enjoyed by the play tester and others which were not as fun for the play tester.

2 Your name: Lachlan Unique ID #: 1 Thank you for testing this game. Please answer these questions as accurately as you can. For each of the following statements, please circle one number indicating how much you agree or disagree with that statement as it pertains to yourself. 1. You Found The Map Was Easy To Navigate. 2. You Found The Characters Were Easy To Find. 3. You Found There Wasn t Enough Time To Play The Game. 4. You Found The Player Speed Was Too Radical. 5. You Found The NPC s Got In The Way.

3 6. You Found The Water Was Rising Too Fast. 7. You Found The Games Frame Rate Was Unstable. 8. You Found The UI Took Up Too Much Of The Screen. 9. You Found The Game To Become Tedious Or Boring Quickly. 10. You Found It Hard To Aim For NPC s To Save Them. Finally, How Do You Think The Game Could Be Improved? I found the game to be very easy to both play and understand. The controls weren t tight, but they were good for what the game is. Even though I enjoyed the game, it doesn t seem to have much replay ability. Thank you for your time!

4 General Observation Notes: Time: Observation: 0:00 Begin Game 0:30 Play tester is just running around the map and looking through all buildings to find players and increment their score 1:30 The player appears to be setting in nicely to the game and does not appear to be experiencing any trouble at this time. 2:00 Player collided with NPC and got stuck with their random movement pattern causing noticeable frustration. 2:15 Player is beginning to find it difficult to get a bigger score because the first section of the map has now become enveloped with water meaning that the player can t access the NPC s in that section. 3:00 Player is finding it more difficult to find NPC s as the available NPC s are becoming more scarce. This is obviously causing a larger amount of noticeable stress. 3:30 Player is now beginning to walk more into the water and risking their life in order to find more NPC s and increment their score. 4:15 Player has been now run out of available NPC s in the second part of the map and only has a few NPC s to continue incrementing his score. 4:45 With the water now enveloping a large portion of the map the frame rate has dropped a small amount. 5:00 Game Over Final Notes/Comments: The game does not appear to be very difficult to people who have experience playing video game like the play tester in this case. However, the player did appear to struggle a small amount on getting a large score they did not find it hard to stay alive. This being said it can be seen that the game may need to become more difficult. Therefore, the rate at which life is depleted when the player interacts with damaging objects may need to be increase from 25% health to 50% health depletion every 2 seconds on contact with the player.

5 Your name: Debbie Unique ID #: 2 Thank you for testing this game. Please answer these questions as accurately as you can. For each of the following statements, please circle one number indicating how much you agree or disagree with that statement as it pertains to yourself. 1. You Found The Map Was Easy To Navigate. 2. You Found The Characters Were Easy To Find. 3. You Found There Wasn t Enough Time To Play The Game. 4. You Found The Player Speed Was Too Radical. 5. You Found The NPC s Got In The Way.

6 6. You Found The Water Was Rising Too Fast. 7. You Found The Games Frame Rate Was Unstable. 8. You Found The UI Took Up Too Much Of The Screen. 9. You Found The Game To Become Tedious Or Boring Quickly. 10. You Found It Hard To Aim For NPC s To Save Them. Finally, How Do You Think The Game Could Be Improved? Having never played games I found it very easy to understand how the game worked and what the controls were. However, I found myself going over the same area multiple times and this cause me to waste time. Thank you for your time!

7 General Observation Notes: Time: Observation: 0:00 Game Start 0:15 Player already appears to be struggling to find NPC s and needs to be reminded about controls. 0:40 Player tried following an NPC that was running and cannot be used to increment score wasting time. Had to be told that they weren t useful for incrementing score. 1:30 Player is constantly going to the same places in the map and is not finding new NPC s. 2:30 Player has begun to lose a noticeable amount of health as the maps section has become more enveloped with water. 3:00 Player got stuck in a static mesh for the market place and needed to be aided out of their place. 3:15 Player has finally begun incrementing their score at a higher pace. They appear to finally getting the hang of the game. 4:00 Player got stuck on random moving NPC and lost precious seconds. 4:45 Player has collected all available NPC s (besides those that have died within the water). 4:45 Game Over Final Notes/Comments: Although the player has almost no experience with video games they did seem to be able to play the game. However, they did not thrive with the game. They struggled with the core concepts of the game and they didn t seem to understand that their time was very limited. They also needed to be told that the water was dangerous and would kill them if they stayed in it for a prolonged period. Furthermore, an issue that has been raised in both games is that the players continue to get stuck on the running NPC s in the map. With this in mind it is being considered that these NPC s can be interacted with as well or that these NPC s may need to have their collider mesh removed to stop these re-occurring issues.

8 Your name: Narelle Unique ID #: 3 Thank you for testing this game. Please answer these questions as accurately as you can. For each of the following statements, please circle one number indicating how much you agree or disagree with that statement as it pertains to yourself. 1. You Found The Map Was Easy To Navigate. 2. You Found The Characters Were Easy To Find. 3. You Found There Wasn t Enough Time To Play The Game. 4. You Found The Player Speed Was Too Radical. 5. You Found The NPC s Got In The Way.

9 6. You Found The Water Was Rising Too Fast. 7. You Found The Games Frame Rate Was Unstable. 8. You Found The UI Took Up Too Much Of The Screen. 9. You Found The Game To Become Tedious Or Boring Quickly. 10. You Found It Hard To Aim For NPC s To Save Them. Finally, How Do You Think The Game Could Be Improved? The game was easy to understand once it was explained but I still found it difficult to play and get points. I Also couldn t understand why the water was taking away my health and I think this might be why I struggled. Thank you for your time!

10 General Observation Notes: Time: Observation: 0:00 Game Start 0:20 Player has begun moving randomly, bumping into objects, they appear to be confused with the controls. 1:00 Player has found their first NPC and incremented their score. 1:30 Player is slowly moving around the map appearing to forget that they can use a sprint function within the game. 2:10 Player has only just noticed that the water is beginning to rise at a faster rate and that they are starting to lose health and lives. (player eventually figures out to move up to the next level to avoid damage). 3:00 Player has begun walking around aimlessly again appearing to look like they are searching for new NPC s. 3:30 Player has been caught up by the water and has lost all lives and drowned. 3:30 Game Over Final Notes/Comments: The player appeared to struggle while playing the game. Although this play tester is not within the target market and is known not to play games they did bring up some valuable points that should be addressed before the player begins the game to address players of all skill types. As an example, it should be explained in the beginning that the water will kill the player if they stay in it too long as this is not a normal interaction for water in both video games and in the real world. Also, the functions of the NPC s should also be explained detailing that not all NPC s are valuable and that only the NPC s within buildings are worth points to the player (at this point).

Handling the Pressure l Session 6

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