User Testing
In the absence of unit testing for UI features and design features, user testing has been developed to verify functionality as well as capture valuable metrics that potentially lead to improvements in the game development process. This page contains the user testing plans and results for Sprint 2, focusing on various UI features including the resource count display, dialogue box, splash screen buttons and cutscenes. This information will be used to improve the UI of the game in future sprints which will enhance the user experience.
User testing was conducted by allowing testers to play the game for a maximum of 5 minutes, then completing a google form to provide feedback on the UI elements to be tested. As the game isn't fully playable functionality wise and the tests aim to gather users opinions on the design of UI features, a short testing time of 5 minutes was chosen. As the gameplay extends, the testing time will be further extended to include user testing of gameplay elements. The use of google forms allows the opinions of users to be quantified and visually represented, and the use of free text boxes in the form allows constructive feedback and reasoning to be collected.
Link to google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdrP-OZsyTJvzUoJ46IPVQkZCMf6gZVqANtm4yk3sFw7sbyIw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Users will view the dialogue box in the running game, and will then be asked to 'dismiss' the dialogue box. The user's opinions were then recorded in the afore-mentioned Google survey.
Users will view the resource labels in the game, and interact with it indirectly. They will be asked to evaluate the functionality and style in the google survey.
Users will view the opening cutscenes of the game before proceeding to the main game. They will be asked to evaluate the style and understanding of the story setting in the google survey.
Users will observe the buttons on the splash screen of the main game. They will start or exit the game during a gameplay launch instance and will be asked to evaluate the functionality and style of the buttons in the splash screen.
The following images contain data captured from 15 user responses.
The following image is captured from the free text field at the end of the survey.
Overall, feedback conducted from user testing was generally positive. Most users (80%) like the interface and find it easy to use. It is also noted that the UI is consistent with the theme of the game as well as functionality wise. However there were some important points given in the free text field that are a point of improvement for future sprints.
For the dialogue box, a user found the button to dismiss the dialogue box confusing, which impacts on the overall gameplay experience. It is suspected the appropriate button should be "dismiss" or "next" or simply an x to exit the dialogue. This wording will be improved in future sprints. It is suspected that this point accounts for the 20% disagree result for the dialogue box.
For the home screen buttons, a user found it difficult to know if the buttons had been clicked or interacted with as there was no on click or on hover effect as the button is just a static image. This is an important point to note as there is a short but noticeable delay when "start" or "exit" is pressed and the game looks like it is frozen by not having interactable buttons. This feature has to be improved in future sprints to give the game a more complete/dynamic and polished look.
These are the findings which will be improved in future sprints.
Dialogue Box: Improve the wording of the dismiss button in the dialogue box.
Buttons: Implement on hover and on click effects for home buttons.