Resource Management Design User Testing
User testing was conducted consistently and effectively to provide a better user experience of the game feature throughout the game development process. Targeted users are aged from 18 - 25 university students that are unfamiliar with programming which are less likely to take development considerations and limitations into consideration to avoid biased or constrained answers.
User testing was conducted during sprint 1 to gain feedback on our designs. We showed various potential users our sprites - both static and animated - and asked them a few short questions.
The main insights from this process were as follows:
- Colour Scheme: On initial viewing, most of the people said that some of the colours didn't match and the entire colour scheme could be improved. Despite this feedback, we explained that we were given a design document by the UI team and after they scanned through that, they could acknowledge our initial design decision and most were then happy with it.
- Animations: After the gif played for the viewers, their first reaction was that the fact that the colours inside the cart stayed the same made it look like we were taking stone back into the mine as well. To fix this, we then made the inside of the mine cart black to make it look as though it was being emptied before the process repeated. The rest of the animations they enjoyed.
- Session run by: Team 05
- Studio and game name: Studio 1, Atlantis Sinks
- Location of testing: The University of Queensland
- Number of participants: 3
During sprint 2, we implemented our second resource generation building which is the Wood Refinery building. User testing was conducted to gather feedback on the design aspect of the resource management.
Throughout the user testing process, there are a several important goals that we want to achieve:
- Determine if the artwork that was designed is immediately recognisable to players without any explicit instruction to the design
- Determine if the artwork suits the style of the whole game style and how can it be improved
- Determine which design is liked more by potential players considering context of the game
- Briefly introduce the game background and setting to the tester without telling them the artwork
- This gives enough context for the tester to understand the game
- Show the artwork/prototype to the testers
- This gives the tester an idea about what they will be playing and interacting with
- Show and explain basic game controls to the users
- This gives the tester an idea on how the game works
- Other similar tasks as required
- Interview and potential questions with the tester
- Do you feel we should have given you an instruction to the artwork/design at the beginning of this test?
- What do you think about the design? Any suggestions?
- Does the current colour scheme suit the game style?
- Do you have any questions for us?
The user testing demonstrated that all users could successfully and effectively recognise the purpose of the artwork without any explicit instruction to the design. Most of the users thought that the design suits game style. User 2 thought that most of the design suits the style of the game but there’s still room for improvements. By showing the users a few different designs and inspirations it was suggested that a wooden gable roof could be added to the building to be able to differentiate from the Stone Quarry resource building and add more wooden element in the design. Other improvements such as adding more wood elements on the ground (in front of the resource building).
After conducting the user test, a few improvements have been made in the design artwork which can be seen in the image below:
