Tool tips

#Purpose Tool-tips allow new users to better familiarise themselves by clearing up any uncertainty about a game element. For example, tool-tip for champion abilities show the users what the ability does.

The additional information pane gives the users an enlarged view of the card along with its attack, health, cost and actions. This is important because cards in the pyramid are difficult to read and any text about the card's description or actions if placed on the card itself would be impossible to read.

This page is for the ticket #33 - Tool-tip for individual cards.

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##Tool-tips Tool-tips are used to show users what the abilities do.

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##Enlarged Card Probably the most important feature included, is the enlarged card within a match. This allows the player to easily read the card's details including the health, attack, cost and the card's description. An action tab displaying the action icon and its description was added under the enlarged card for cards. This was needed as the cards themselves didnt have any indication that they had actions or how to use them. The enlarged card and action can be disabled using the toggle place at the bottom of the screen. A delay was added for the displaying of the enlarged card and action tab due to feedback stating that it was obtrusive.

New action tabs can be created easily using this guide Creating New Actions for Cards

##Development There was a redesign of the additional information pane into what is now the enlarged card. This was because the initial design did not fit well with the theme of the rest of the game and we felt that the individual cards would be better appreciated through an implementation of an enlarged card.

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#Methods (Enlarged Card)

Method	Params	Return	Description
drawInfo()	GraphicsContext gc, double x, double y, double w, double h	none (void)	Responsible for drawing the enlarged card
drawDust()	GraphicsContext gc, double x, double y	none (void)	Draws 'duck dust' in a vertical column to left of card. Takes duck dust count and displays one icon for each required 'duck dust' to display card

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#User testing 2 User tests were conducted to test if the enlarged card helped with the usability of a basic match.

• The users were asked to play a basic match and explain their thought process out loud as they played. Observations:

  • Users try to play cards directly on to the board without any duck dust.
  • After several attempts users were still unable to figure that you had to grind the cards. At this point we had to advise the user on how to progress.
  • Besides the small issue on the grinder function the rest of the test went smoothly.

• After the game was over they were asked the following questions:

  • Was it easy to determine if a card had an action and how to use it?
    • Yes, but the text is a bit hard to read.
    • Yes.
  • Was it easy to find how much a card cost?
    • Not on the card itself, but on the enlarged version it was.
    • It wasn't clear as the card only had numbers without indication and the icons on the enlarged card was not explained.
  • Was it easy to find out the attack of a card?
    • Yes.
    • Yes.
  • Was it easy to find out the health of a card?
    • Yes.
    • Yes.
  • If there was no enlarged card would it still have been as easy to find all the details?
    • No, as the text on the smaller card can't be read and the numbers don't have any indication as to what is what.
    • No, although the cards have all the same information, the enlarged card makes it easier.

• Conclusion

  • The enlarged card is indeed beneficial to the usability of the game although some aspects could have been done better such as the mana bottles. Tool-tips need to be added to the grinder to allow new users to understand what it does and how it is important to the progression of a game.