User test to identify location of the save state

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• Save State Design Introduction
• Primary User Group
• Justification for existence
• User test to identify location <--You're Here
• Save State Design – Welcome Screen
• Save State Design Gameplay screen
  • Sprint 1 Design Gameplay screen
  • Sprint 2 Design Gameplay screen
• Final Design Style
• User testing session - final design
• Appendix
  • User Test – Save State Location
  • Sprint 1 Save State Design Gameplay screen
  • Sprint 2 Survey Save Game Icon Design
  • Sprint 2 Survey Load Game Icon Design
  • Insights from Final User Testing Session

At its current state there are two possible locations where we need to introduce the Save state functionality.

1. First is the homepage or a welcome screen where a user has options either to start the new game or load a previous one. This is the default location and considering the cognitive perception (most games have option to load the game on the main screen) of the users the position cannot be changed.
2. Second position is within a gameplay screen where gamers can easily tap the “save” or “load” buttons to activate the desired state. This is the secondary location where users can save the game. It is derived from the persona need to have a “quickly accessible and easy to understand interface”.

Considering that the gameplay interface already has many different elements, it became confusing and hard to identify the best position for the buttons in the gameplay screen.

1. Firstly, to solve the task, we conducted a user testing session [Appendix - User Test – Save State Location] where we asked participants to show the expected location of the buttons in the game.

As seen in the Figure 1 we run a testing session where we asked our user group to save and load the game. The purpose of the test was to identify optimal location where we could introduce the Save and Load state. Simply put, we wanted to know where to place the buttons. Participants in both research methods were derived from target audience analysis from Sprint 2 and persona description from Sprint 3. We identified these participants by asking probing questions, such as what type of game they play, what style they prefer and if they are active gamers or not. If responses didn’t match findings from target audience analysis or persona profile description (ex. Active gamer), we didn’t proceed further.

Figure 1: One of the participants during the test points to the location where she would expect to see the save button.

We started our user test session with an introduction to the purpose of the test [Appendix - User Test – Save State Location]. After we presented participants with two scenarios and asked them to express opinion.

Question 1: Imagine that you were playing a game and now you need to go pickup your children from the childcare. Please describe what would you do before leaving your home in relation to the game? The idea behind the question is to simulate a sense of urgency which is a typical characteristic of our users. If the answer was to “save the game” we proceeded with the second question. If the answer was different, we asked to provide explanation for future analysis.

1. Primary findings: most people would prefer to “save” the game before leaving home
2. Secondary findings: sense of urgency triggers the need to “leave computer open” or “close the lid” instead of simply shutting down computer. This further backs up our assumption about the need to “save” the game.

Question 2: As you can see there are no buttons right now. How would you save the game? Can you think of an option? The intention behind the questions is to evaluate how people prefer to activate the save and load state

1. Primary findings: participants prefer to have 2 icons at the top right side of the screen
2. Secondary findings: people expected to trigger a menu by pressing "Esc" button. This could be used to design a full main menu system in the future sprints.

2. In addition, secondary research was conducted in a form of a survey where we asked participants to evaluate potential position of the buttons on the screen.

Derived findings from the user testing session [Appendix - User Test – Save State Location] concerning the location of the save state buttons point to the upper right corner. To solidify these findings, we deployed secondary research in a form of a survey where we clearly marked, as seen in Figure 2, all possible positions for the buttons.

Figure 2: Survey where we asked participants to select the preferred location of the buttons.

Findings from the survey show that majority of users expect the button to appear in a form of 2 icons next to the settings at the top right corner of the screen above the helm steering wheel. Insights from the survey also suggest that many prefer some sort of a click event, such as triggering a menu by using keyboard. This could be a potential design opportunity in the future sprints.

Figure 3: Summary of the insights from the survey indicate that 50% of users expect the buttons to be at the top right corner of the gameplay screen

To conclude, based on the user needs and wants we have successfully identified the location of the save state in the gameplay. Next step in our research was to produce designs and conduct tests to evaluate cognitive association. Simply put understand whether the meaning of icons is clearly understood..