Week 8 Play Test Report

Blog Post 7:

Questions

1) Did you know the objective of the game?

• Yes to find the missing person however there were no in game prompts to do so
• The title gave me a bit of an idea, but without instructions it was a bit difficult to understand exactly what to do
• Find the missing person before its too late
• YES THAT WAS THE EASY PART
• Find the person

2) Did you find it difficult to achieve the goal of the game.

• Yes there was no direction for me to follow no hints just walking around looking
• Yes because I didn’t have a very good idea of what I was doing at the start of the game
• Yes, the voices couldn’t be heard until you were super close. Maybe some hints to begin with, or tracks that disappear
• EXTREMLY DIFFICULT DIDNT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK MAP SEEMED VERY LARGE
• No, you just have to listen very intently

3) Did you feel there enough options to achieve the goal.

• Yes just hard to do so
• Well I didn’t achieve the goal so I don’t know
• Yes as long as you run around a lot
• NO NEED HELP LIKE A HOMING BEACON
• Yes

4) Did you find it enjoyable to play.

• It was hard
• Yes it was fun to play, I liked the design
• It was challenging but enjoyable
• YES BUT VERY HARD MUSIC COULD BE LOUDER
• Yes it was fun

5) Is there anything you feel like that could be added or tweaked.

• More hints or direction
• Instructions, ground a bit too dark
• A hint to begin with
• Better ending when person is found
• Drone to follow you when you switch to it.

Observations:

Play testers were not told anything going into the play testing, they had to figure out the goal and mechanics for the game themselves. Majority of testers grasped the general controls quite quickly as it is the typical set up for most games. On each person’s first try, no one had a real clue as to what they should be doing or where they should be going. They all walked around aimlessly and failed to achieve the goal of the game. On their second attempt, the play testers were told what they should be doing. Three out of five people managed to achieve the goal of the game on their second attempt.

Key Finding and Conclusion

As it would appear from the play test report, majority of the  play testers found the game too hard upon the first attempt of the game. They felt that it lacked guidance and instruction at the beginning, making them unsure of what they were to achieve during the game. Alongside this, finding the person was considered a bit too hard with audio levels too low and too hard to see. These critiques will be taken to heart and will be used to try to improve upon the game in order to create a better experience for the player. There will be an instruction menu inside the main menu describing the aim of the game and the tools that the player can use. The voice for the lost person will be louder and can be heard from further away, making it easier to tell if you are in the vicinity of him. The lost person will have a slightly brighter color in order to stand out from the extremely dark background. Alongside this, the lost man model will be slightly increased so the player doesn’t have to look as far down as were. Other small tweaks will be made outside of the ones from the play test report in order to make the game easier to play upon the first time.

-Tim Gaskell