PLAYTEST: The end of the design cycle focuses on how well your concept ideas come together from a player’s perspective.

• As a playtester, I tested 2 projects, both asynchronously, one about the green roof and one about the universal protocol. Both playtest offered an online URL and survey questions, were well organized and took less than 10-15 minutes to perform. For both, I was able to send ideas for improvement using a free form part of the survey. As a playtester I would have liked to have more specific questions, getting into more detailed aspects of the game. I both games were missing advanced game mechanics as they were limited to dialogs and animations. I wish the playtest would demonstrate one game mechanics (in addition to one learning objective).

• As the one administering the playtest, what was your experience? I had a panicky moment because I was working on the deadline and did not have a contingency plan in place in case my web version would be bugged. It was a chock because the game played successfully in Unity editor so I was not expecting a javascript blocking bug in my itchio version. After an hour, looking for a quick fix, I was able to publish a windows version. Thanks to Danielle response, I was reassured this could work well enough and it did.
  • I administered 2 tests asynchronously and 1 test synchronously (with a business coach of mine working in my timezone and well versed with educational products) and received 2 feedback (Lanxin and Stacey). Mustafa offered to test but I was not able to provide a Mac version soon enough as I prioritized debugging and rolling back my project.
  • What did you learn from administering the playtests? To be ready at least a couple of days before so if something unexpected and bad happens, I’d have more time to fix things and provide a web browser version and receive as many tests as possible. I received productive feedback and it was a much better experience than I anticipated.
  • What could you improve if you were to playtest again? I sent out my playtesting questions in a mail as I did not have time to develop a survey. Overall the answers were very encouraging. It really gave me a boost to move forward with my project.

• • Bonus Points: I was able to test 2 teams.

Discussion

Describe your Process

• Describe your process used over the 6 week period to design your team’s game/simulation.
  • What did you work on specifically?

Following guidance from the course, I was able to iterate many elements of the game. 
I also developed and iterated with my prototype.
I used professional tools to keep track of my iterations and progress, such as version control.
I think without these tools things can get messy pretty quickly.
I also posted most of my work and feedback in my blog (see below).

Reflect on your Process

• What was successful/not successful?
• If you could start over, what would you change in addressing the project?

I was successful in making the game evolve and getting a better story, design puzzles that are meaningful for learning.
I was not successful in getting interesting feedback from a researcher I contacted. 
But I did receive great feedback from Danielle. 
I have not been able yet to fully integrate all feedback in my game design. 
It is a busy time of the year at school but I will have more time starting next week.

New Content

• What new content within the Level was helpful to you as an individual designer?

Knowledge challenges were fantastic to tackle and reflect about. 
I also liked the choices of games to play.

Level 4 posts:

Level 4 Assessment Plan

GameStorming with Purpose and EDI discussion

discussion about motivation and engagement

discussion about hidden mechanics

level 4: Concept Testing and Feedback Summary

Level 4 Client LIVE Communication

Level 4 Team Notes Design Process

Final assignment (PDF file):

TO DO: ADD with feedback and notes

Hersh & Leporini (2018) observed that some games focused on particular impairments. For example CRPBlind focused only on Blind users. The summary did not address the concerns of the authors. Videos games are expensive to develop. Project are initiated by sponsors that have some specific purpose or goal in mind. Designing for all may add a cost or require additional competencies in the design team. The scope of the project may include only specific inclusive features.

Reflect on Yourself as a Learner-Player 

With modern games, I find it challenging to figure out how to move the characters and use “physical dexterity” to advance in the game. Most of the time, I have to find a walk-through otherwise, I stay stuck. The game industry wants to make you feel inexperienced, giving you an additional incentive to buy and play more games. How many games does one play, and how many hours are required to develop such specific skills per week?

I played “outbreak squad” and found the experience enjoyable. The game required listening and reading skills. The game featured easy physical interactions (mostly mouse clicks). I could figure out how to prioritize actions and use points. Overall, the game made me feel empathetic and empowered. I think the game could appeal to my “socializer”, “achiever”, and some “explorer” Bartle’s player type.

Reflect on Others as Learner-Players

I know many of my students (vocational high school) play games, often in the late evening. They are interested in something other than improving their skills in basic mathematics. Why do they value gameplay more rather than acquiring math skills that will open them to many STEM career options? Unfortunately, they are caught in a dream that can quickly become a trap.

The game industry has a lot to do to address ethics. Here is a provocative thought: does our society needs inclusive games and risk spreading even more the video game addiction?

Regarding the “outbreak squad”, I liked that Bartle’s player type of “killers” was ignored. This game could help students develop strategic thinking and leadership skills in an ethical and effective way. I was learning how to protect humanity from a threat without panicking, using all help and expertise available, doing their best to cover all, and being inclusive and aware of vulnerable people.

Response to peer:
===================

I liked that you mentioned what is pleasing for you in a game. I agree that cute characters do a lot to make a game engaging for me as well. I’m curious about the feelings of guilt you mentioned in your joke. Maybe society pressures some of us to be serious all the time and study hard?

Serious game producers assert that we could play and learn at the same time. How about a scale on the packaging? Like the age rating? Maybe a learning rating? That could be helpful for parents to get more information about a game’s learning component.

Feedback
============

Great discussion with your peers and also introducing a very real issue facing teens and adults alike – game addiction. This is very much an issue and something that constantly challenges good designs – oftentimes we have to consider how our designs could be engaging – for example too much chance (one of the particular forms of play that inherently aligns with addition like gambling). Your own reflection I think will be further meaningful for your peers as well as some are avid game players and may not think as much about the physical dexterity of modern games (which is very much an issue!).

Players progress through the game by completing levels. The first levels focus on exploring the problems and knowing more about the tools that can be used to solve problems. The final levels will focus on using the tools to create solutions.

See more details with feedback annotation here (PDF file):annotated-assessment-plan-engineer-your-way

Additional feedback: (to be used for next iteration)

Links to an external site.  (Timer: 3:39). That was so inspiring. It reminded me that game designers can get ideas from so many sources, and we ought to keep our eyes and ears open to any learning experience and figure out how to translate the best ones into our game mechanics.

Many “extra credit” videos about game design, from “Choice paralysis Too much of a good thing” to “Affordances – How Design Teaches us without words” and “The price of randomness – balancing randomness” all add to the theoretical frameworks we examined in the first course. I will remember the importance of having an outstanding balance in all things, not too much but enough of the ingredients that increase engagement and motivation. The best video I found from extra credits was “The New Player experience”. There are three components, the hook, the tutorial, and the reward. All three must act quickly within the first 10 minutes so players will keep playing. Something exciting and epic, something they do and crave. My game got this part right because a player can drive and crash the car in a safe environment. It is fun. But the narrative has to be mysterious and complex, giving the player a context so they are personally invested. The video also recommends a visual hook where “your breath is taken away”.

I knew this was still a work in progress for my game, so I did a bit more brainstorming and worked more on my NPCs and the story background. They said that the tutorial is a “training run”, comprehensive enough, how to play and the rules, so they know how to play and make progress. Scaffolding can be offered as a help button for only those in need. After the tutorial, a reward must be provided to make players feel good about themselves and excited to start the game. Later, context-sensitive tutorials will come in handy. Introducing a mystery they want to tackle next could work well for my game. For example, they could explore and envision a scenery down the road for themselves. All this inspired me to iterate my storyboard and develop a more personal story to engage my players. In the process, I finally got a better idea to provide a better “win” reward. Are you curious? You can see my updated storyboards here:

New Intro: https://xd.adobe.com/view/a8d3169d-f962-4b4c-81ad-4b50cc6dcc4e-fd80/

Links to an external site.

New Tutorial: https://xd.adobe.com/view/c28597e9-0037-4494-9e71-087c4c6115c2-97d6/

Links to an external site.

New Level 1: https://xd.adobe.com/view/426110ce-9d78-4dd6-bd12-3849003b622c-1732/

Feedback

I really enjoyed the discussion of engagement and motivation. Extra Credits are a great resource and they aren’t very long which makes them ideal to pick up points quickly. The three components are always helpful with the hook, tutorial, and reward and all are dependent on emphasizing the game goal. Your updated storyboard provides some great added details and the win reward is much clearer given the complexity of the game.

Links to an external site.Links to an external site.

Links to an external site.

Extra Credits. (2017). Hidden Game Mechanics: Design for the Human Psyche. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/sLXLlJ7FhJU

Let’s say you have an idea for your game, but you don’t know how well your idea will convey the problem to players. You specifically need to know the following about your idea:

• Does the interface make sense to play the game?
• Are the graphics aesthetically pleasing?

Describe what your concept testing process would be to obtain feedback for these questions.

The interface should be intuitive and easy to use. A kind of A/B testing would be helpful, but creating one takes time. Therefore, my first concept testing included a storyboard with game elements and a prototype. I had to materialize my ideas with images and words to collect feedback. I used interface gauges, counters, and meaningful labels and titles that aligned well with the game’s learning experience and playing goal. I explained how players would play. I tested whether the interface made sense with family members and by sending a link to our gaming guide. I received feedback, which helped me clarify missing and unclear pieces (GUI and instructions to start the game).

In addition, I designed a classroom activity I could try with my students to collect feedback about my game concepts and ideas from individuals closer to my player persona. How would they work with V-T graphs, data tables, and stories with specific car driving experiences and context? I observed how they used the activity sheet, the questions they asked, and what they struggled with. They enjoyed working with the graphs, but the data tables appeared redundant and useless, so I left them out of the game. I also realized they liked the background stories. Initially, I thought it was unimportant, but then I realized it brought a social and playful dimension to the game idea, so I introduced aliens and other NPCs. Also, it was not intuitive for my students to use negative values in a V-T graph when the situation required it (driving in the opposite direction). Students struggled with reading data, so I included additional puzzles about the velocity direction and its impact on the V-T graph.

Feedback Summary:

• You made great progress on the internal testing in evaluating the graph matching. In the game play, would this idea translate to aligning their behavior with a graph? I think it will be important for the game’s interface to be considered here for the information presented so there isn’t too much distracting information as well for this activity – especially as it gets to the heart of the problem you want your player-learner to associate.
• From the SWOT, this further supports the need to think through how this information is presented so that associations can be made – there are a lot of great opportunities
• I like that you aligned these with the learner-player persona.
• External Testing: I agree the added elements are necessary from your testing and it was good to see that concept testing illuminated where ideas were too complex (at least for the type of implementation you tested).
• I think interactivity will help with clarifying some aspects given the nature of the content with speed and velocity (sometimes this is harder to imagine than it is to view/experience).
• I think as well that connecting the pieces together with a story and potentially a character who acts more like a pedagogical agent could potentially help ease the flow of information they will experience once interactivity is embedded.
• The puzzle testing first was a great start and build up from the graph matching in the internal testing.

Concept Testing Document (PDF format): 4-1 concept testing v2-combinedRedactedReduced

(DONE) Level 3 design summary: level3-assignment-kaymo-v3 [PDF]

Communication with friends/family members (keeping player person in mind):

– discussed title of the game. Web search of my new game title (engineer your way) : found the site “engineer your world” . Nice to see similarity.

– discussed mechanics: driving a test car as realistic as possible with crash effects. Found the Unity store asset RCC (Realistic Car controller).

– discussed dynamics: “escape” the city Friday afternoon and get to enjoy nature and wildlife for the week-end. Each level will require to solve problems and find “solutions“. (Last levels could allow players to “create” ways that optimize everything.) -DONE: reduced dynamics
“Core Dynamics are the driving factor to “win” or “satisfy the user need” while other mechanics can support the core dynamic. So, you may want to explore the breakdown of what you want players to do and if the other dynamics are supporting the players ability to say Construct – so one core dynamic that forms the core loop but other mechanics that have their own loops that enable progression of the core loop (we haven’t gone into super complex designs in our previous course).”
 DO: clarify “win” in my sim game.

– RCC asset playtesting:

URL (wip): https://kay6.itch.io/engineer-your-way

• showed me how to drive and accelerate the car using the mouse and the joystick.
• test drive in and out of the city going through the mountain
• provided multiple feedback on velocity arrow design and prototyping

– discussed how to use the RCC asset to design my simulation game: limitations and possibilities. Discussed scaffolding using levels with increasing difficulty.

-discussed how to provide learners with learning assessment. Only one quiz at the end of each level. Immediate feedback reinforces learning. No points for quizzes, quiz success allows to pass a level and move to the next level. Learners can experiment as long as they need to to succeed. Level 1 will ask players to match physics concepts with graphics elements)

-brainstormed and created a background story, counters, and players’ goals :

•  stay as long as possible working Friday afternoon at the office earning $$$$
• stay as little as possible in traffic jams
• have no accidents. “safe space to test – but within reason. Those constraints will prove helpful for keeping players engaged and not lose interest.” DO: keep in mind
• get to arrive to chill at their refuge (sanctuary) out of the city, enjoy a natural event (animals drinking at the river just before sunset), also is expected by friends have dinner together.
• leave as late as possible on Monday, could be a volunteer at a wildilfe rehab center and take car of animals well being and feed them before going, maybe some random event there and need to recalculate traffic
• trade off is to arrive as early as possible to park the car, no accidents, no time wasted in traffic
• “Natural breaks within the game also will help for getting players to “step away” and not continually engage – which can have negative consequences.” DO: keep in mind
  

COUNTERS/REWARDS:

1. Work more $$$$
2. Well being: trees icons
3. Societal benefits:
4. Driving skills: icon tbd

Discussed to refined Level 1: test drive the car get out the city, get in the city get familiar with the test car and roads. Get driving skills when all check points are passed. No other counters

Tried to elaborate the GOAL of the game: maximize all counters, achieve and complete all 4 aspects of the game.

Notes for meetings and asynchronous communication:

– mails/zoom/assignment feedback with Gaming guide:

• Sat Mar 4 used GG D.O. comments to refine and update my blog post “4:0 Client LIVE Communication”
• Sat Mar 4 used GG D.O. comments to add comments to my research game and post and get started to work on testing concept similar to move a stickman puzzle.

– mails/zoom with researchers:

– discussion  with friends/family:

• Sat Mar 4: discussed topics for concept testing with students 1 hour opportunity next week
• Fri Mar 3: settle on the velocity arrow prototyping feasibility. Great aesthetics using the draw library of shapes (better than cylinder and cone and better than poly lines tried out). Arrow functionalities 2 out of 4: position, magnitude, missing to do direction and reverse speed.
• from start of class to Mar 3: discussed game design 3 or 4 times per week.

– post with other independent project student and course discussions:

• Feb 6 meet your team, hello, shared game’s title
• Feb 11 shared change of pronoun
• Feb 11 shared details about traffic light sim game
• Feb 11 and 12 Team identity: shared my studio name
• Feb 11 and 12 Provided feedback about independent project 2’s studio name
• Feb 11 and 12: discussion with student and gaming guide about team names being independent.
• Feb 14 Response to invite to discord channel
• Feb 23 team draft contract  scoped down to one post done
• Feb 27 discord channel discussion post: shared learner-persona blog