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Sprint 3: User Testing Story and NPCs
The latest version of the game will be shown to multiple users to gather feedback on the mid-level cutscenes and NPCS. The user will be briefed about the current stage of development, however they will not be told about the genre or story of the game. The user will have a list of tasks to complete where they will describe their thoughts out loud while completing them. After a task is complete, an open ended question may be asked such as "How does the current screen make you feel?" if the question was not answered by the user thinking out loud. After the user has completed all the tasks they will be given a short questionnaire to fill out for primarily quantitative data.
The story is integral to creating the world and the atmosphere.
Conveying a story within a few screens can be tricky, and as the game designers know the story in detail, it is possible that they are unaware of missing or confusing story elements. Through user testing we can ask the user to describe the story (without any prompts) to determine whether the story that we want to tell is clear.
The point of friendly NPCs is to create a more immersive world through story telling and interacting with the environment. As with the mid-level cutscenes, conveying a story within a few dialogue boxes can be tricky, and this is where user testing comes in. From the user testing we seek to:
- Determine whether the story points made by each friendly NPCs are clear
- How an NPC adds or subtracts from the world immersion or the mood we are aiming for.
As friendly NPCs are a new interactive component to the game we also need to make sure the user does not get frustrated with them. We will be checking:
- Is it obvious that the user can interact with the friendly NPCs
- Is it obvious how the user can interact with the friendly NPCs
- Are there any friendly NPCs that have too much or too little dialogue
- Are there too little or too many friendly NPCs
Before the user testing commences the user will be given an explanation about how "thinking aloud" testing will work and the current stage of game development. The games genre and target audience will be explained to the user, and the users will be notified that the game may contain disturbing scenes. The user will be notified that the observer will remain silent while the task is being performed but if they have any question then they can ask the observer.
Questions asked at the end of the task if they are not already answered during observations:
- (If they missed an NPC) Did you notice any other NPCs that you did not talk to? (If yes) why did you choose not to talk to them?
- Explain some feeling you had when interacting with particular NPCs.
- State what you think each NPCs role and personality might be. Note these aspects are not explained in the game so it will be pure speculation from the tester.
- Suggest one thing for each NPCs dialogue that might make it easier to understand.
- Suggest one thing for each NPCs dialogue that might add to the world immersion or horror theme.
- Suggest one change to how the tutorial on the game's controls is currently explained
- How did you find the controls used to interact with the NPCs?
Questions asked at the end of the task if they are not already answered during observations:
- All the questions from task one regarding the Hurt firefly NPC
- Explain how the player has progressed through the game so far (for example "the character walked through a desert and found an oasis")
- What do you feel is the objective of the next level (for example "find the treasure")?
- Suggest one thing for the in-between level cutscene that might make it easier to understand.
- Suggest one thing for the in-between level cutscene that might add to the world immersion or horror theme.
Questions asked at the end of the task if they are not already answered during observations:
- All the questions from task one regarding the dead body NPC
- Explain how the player has progressed through the game so far (for example "the character walked through a desert and found an oasis")
- What do you feel is the objective of the next level (for example "find the treasure")?
- Suggest one thing for the in-between level cutscene that might make it easier to understand.
- Suggest one thing for the in-between level cutscene that might add to the world immersion or horror theme.
Questions asked at the end of the task if they are not already answered during observations:
- Explain the overall story and how the player progressed throughout the game.
- Explain the overall feelings that you felt through the story scenes
- Would you like to see more NPCs in the game? (If yes) Any particular character personalities or stories you would like added?
A small questionnaire will be given to the user to complete after all tasks are complete. These questions will contain a Likert scale.
- I understood what the games controls were
- It was clear who were the friendly NPCs that I could talk to
- Interacting with friendly NPCs was intuitive and smooth
- The dialogue for the friendly NPCs was clunky and hard to understand
- I liked the variety of different friendly NPCs
- There were not enough friendly NPCs in the game
- I found the friendly NPCs interesting
- I feel that the friendly NPCs added to the immersion of the world
- I learnt more about the story through interacting with the friendly NPCs
- The story cutscenes in-between levels helped me understand the games objective and progression
- The dialogue for the cutscenes was clunky and hard to understand
- The story elements (NPCs and cutscenes) were consistent in their world building, i.e. didn't contradict themself within the world the game has created.
- The story elements (NPCs and cutscenes) consistently added to the horror theme of the game
- He looks suspicious, I feel that I shouldn't trust him.
- Didn't feel that he added anything to the story? Was he meant to help at all, or should I have gotten somthing from him? Why is the pilot there?
- Suggestion: He could possible talk about health/healing and give a bandage or something and say how to use bandages, as I had no idea how to use bandages. Something like "Hey here is my medkit, press 1 to use it".
- Suggestion: Maybe he could be a firefly that is also making the journey and then we find his dead body later in the game.
- Didn't feel like his dialogue or looks added much to the horror themes
- He seems to be a helpful old man
- Didn't mind him telling me about how to play the game, as it had a retro game feel to it
- Didn't feel like his dialogue or looks added much to the horror themes
- He starts off by calling me "young man", why do I have to be a man?
- Sometimes read the keys as words rather than keyboard keys. Could you have the image of the keys (like WASD and Enter).
- Suggestion: Change the dialogue to be a little more in the horror theme. Maybe something like "Your by yourself, that's good... that way you won't lose the people you love" or "A group of us tried once... but by the time it was just me... well I... he looks away... anyway goodluck out there."
- Suggestion: Make the looks a bit more rough/raggy/haunted, they (refering to the pilot as well) don't look scared. He looks very clean and wealthy which seems jarring with the apocolyptic themes. At the moment it feels more like a mystery game rather than a horror.
- Love the images of the forest with the glow in the background
- Not sure why it said "keep following the fireflies", should it be the path of the fireflies? As I don't remember following anyone in particular.
- Thought that the safehouse in the cutscene referred to the one they are currently in, but understood that the goal of level 2 was to get to the next safehouse.
- Suggestion: Having longer shadows or darker shadows on the trees might make it more spookier.
- Speech bubble helped me know that I could talk to him
- Got to sit there and watch someones last moment as they bleed to death. Felt disturbed, probably one of the darkest things so far.
- Didn't like the "greedy bugger" at the end of the speech. Sounded like a joke, but seemed to take away from the horror (if that was what was wanted).
- Thought the person was a monster, I didn't think it was a person or something I should get close to. I'm trying to steer clear of everything, so thought I would avoid what I thought was an antlion monster. Only reason I talked to it was the speech bubble.
- No picture with the person. If you want more horror then having a face of a dead person there would be really disturbing.
- Didn't mind the aside dialogue (i.e. the asterisks like old school games)
- Suggestion: Why do I care about this body? I feel I would care more if it was related to the story in some way, maybe someone I met earlier in the game? Maybe a friend/relative of mine? Maybe I could recognise something about their clothing and say how that was my best friend Johnny's Tshirt.
- Love the blue ocean and that the glow has gotten bigger
- Felt like the next level was going to the beach but was confused that the level wasn't a beach.
- Felt the cutscene was hopeful
- Was confused why there is so much space in the tutorial area if there is no where to go or talk to. The tester walked up towards the city buildings looking for more NPCs or interactive elements.
- Didn't think that the game needed more NPCs as the game is very difficult so I'm more focused on running past monsters. Also didn't expect to find NPCs in the levels due to the same reasons.
The average survey results for the testers (rounded to the nearest option): I understood what the games controls were: Comingsoon
It was clear who were the friendly NPCs that I could talk to: Comingsoon
Interacting with friendly NPCs was intuitive and smooth: Comingsoon
The dialogue for the friendly NPCs was clunky and hard to understand: Comingsoon
I liked the variety of different friendly NPCs: Comingsoon
There were not enough friendly NPCs in the game: Comingsoon
I found the friendly NPCs interesting: Comingsoon
I feel that the friendly NPCs added to the immersion of the world: Comingsoon
I learnt more about the story through interacting with the friendly NPCs: Comingsoon
The story cutscenes in-between levels helped me understand the games objective and progression: Comingsoon
The dialogue for the cutscenes was clunky and hard to understand: Comingsoon
The story elements (NPCs and cutscenes) were consistent in their world building, i.e. didn't contradict themself within the world the game has created: Comingsoon
The story elements (NPCs and cutscenes) consistently added to the horror theme of the game: Comingsoon