Flooding System Enemy movement User Testing

Background

For Sprint 4, our team will focus on refining the map flooding feature, as well as improve the movement of enemy units. This user-testing will be focused on the flooding feature and enemy movement of the game.

The flooding feature included the resources will be disposed when that area is flooded. Add wave animation to the flooding tiles. Flash the next tile to be flooded few seconds before it got flooded. Add a visual timer on the screen. And make unit can no longer walk on the flooded areas of the map.

The enemy movement feature will be added to enemy units to give them a line of sight. Within this line of sight, enemies will be able to recognise friendly units and lock onto them. When an enemy unit is not locked onto a target, it will undeterministically roam the map. Basic pathfinding will be implemented to help enemy units avoid nearby objects.

Aims & Objectives

Aim: Make sure the map flooding speed don’t get too fast for the players, test the visual of the flooding, test the fucntionality of the flooding sysyem. Note: This purpose is related to game design, so the testing approach for this will need to include gameplay where the player can experience changing difficulty.

Aim: Test the line of sight of the enemies. Within this line of sight, enemies will be able to recognize friendly units and lock onto them. Note: This purpose is also a game design example, it is something more conceptual than visual. The testing approach for this will need to let players experience the line of sight of the enemies.

Testing Approach

Test the visual of the flooding, the fucntionality of the flooding sysyem and the enemy movement.

1. Explain game’s backstory and setting to testers (but not the new feature). This gives them the context they may need to understand the game.

2. Show them the prototype (but not the new feature). So, they know what they will be playing/looking at/interacting with. The new feature should be turned off or hidden for the moment.

3. Explain the basic controls (but not the new feature). So, they know how to play.

4. Test out the flooding and enemy movement feature.

5. Interview testers about the features.

• On the scale of 1-5, how do you rate the effectiveness of the flooding feature functionality ?
• On the scale of 1-5, how do you rate the effectiveness of the enemy movement feature functionality ?
• On the scale of 1-5, how do you likely to use this version of the flooding feature in the game ?
• On the scale of 1-5, how do you likely to use this version of the enemy movement feature in the game ?
• What aspect could be improve about the flooding feature/ enemy movement?

Evaluation Analysis

Testing Overview

Testing was completed with five users. Most of testers are student. Four testers are university students from different majors. One tester is an accountant.

Result

Participant 1:

1. 4
2. 4
3. 5
4. 4
5. "The flooding could happen on one side only instead of two, flashing could be made clearer, enemy movement is good".

Participant 2:

1. 4
2. 4
3. 3
4. 4
5. "Maybe add some animation to the flooding".

Participant 3:

1. 3
2. 4
3. 4
4. 4
5. "Make the flooding slower, it happens a bit too quick, enemy movement seems to be fine for now".

Participant 4:

1. 4
2. 4
3. 3
4. 3
5. "Maybe make the flooding happens quicker when the weather is rain or thunerstorm, the enemy movement seems a bit buggy when the unit turns".

User Evaluation Session Plan

• Session run by (name): Junyao Li, Quoc Dat Mai
• Studio and game name: Atlantis Sinks
• Feature team name: Team 7
• Number of participants: 4