Overview

Two rounds of user testing were conducted for this part. The first round of testing focuses on investigating and evaluating the style of the widget icons (water, chicken legs, medical kit, and recycle bin) of the item bar and the recycle bin system. The second round of testing has some same as the first round. It also focuses on investigating and evaluate the style of the widget icons and the recycle bin system, but because the rocket icon (cooperating with team 8) is added to the item bar, the second round of testing also focuses on the rocket UI Design and code design. At the same time, in the second round of testing, we also paid attention to whether the logic of the item bar in design and code conforms to the entire game, so some new questions have been added. Therefore, test results will be performed to improve the final design.

Round 1 purpose

The main purpose of this user test is to investigate and evaluate the style of the widget icons (water, chicken legs, medical kit and recycle bin) of the item bar and the recycle bin system. This user test is very important for this project because there may be some flaws in the final design of our team. Therefore, test results will be performed to improve the final design.

Round 1 process

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, user testing will be done by an online zoom meeting like other testing. Testers will experience the system through the remote control of zoom functionality.

The test method we use is the interview.

1. We tell the tester what to observe in the game, such as "when the player picks up a piece of water, does the amount of water in item bar increase", "when the player has used three medical kits, is it possible to observe the recycle bin? A new medical kit has been generated."
2. Write down important observations, such as "Problems encountered by players who completed the first task".
3. After the game experience is over, we will ask the testers some open-ended key questions about the game.

Round 1 keypoint questions

• What do you think of the recycle bin system?
• What do you think of the recycle bin icon?
• What do you think of the item bar system?
• What do you think of the icon of the item bar?
• What do you think can be improved in the appearance of the item bar?

Results for round 1 test

USER 1

Recycle bin system

"Easy to understand"

Recycle bin icon

"It is cute and easy to use"

Item bar system

"Very clear."

Icon of the item bar

"It is lovely, each icon have a different style and all fit the game"

Improved

"All is good for now."

USER 2

Recycle bin system

"I think this system is good. You can experience skills multiple times and make different combinations, which is more interesting."

Recycle bin icon

"The recycling icon is clear and easy to understand"

Item bar system

"As same as recycle bin system, also very clear."

Icon of the item bar

"I like the item icons very much, they are very vivid and the colours are very reasonable"

Improved

"You can add a little hint, such as the role of the name of the item. Others are pretty good"

USER 3

Recycle bin system

"I think the recycle bin system is very practical and innovative."

Recycle bin icon

"The icon design is very cute and easy to understand."

Item bar system

"It is a clear system and easy to understand"

Icon of the item bar

"The icons are very cute"

Improved

"It is nice now."

Round 1 conclusion

For the system, all the testers thought that the recycle bin system and item bar system are easy to use and understand.

For the icons, they thought that the icons, for now, are pretty good and no need to improve. They all fit the game design.

For further improvement, one of the testers thought that it might be better to add some hints under the icon. It may more easy to let players understand.

Overall, the testing result is pretty good. The system is fun and easy to understand and the icons are cute and suitable for the game. We decided not to use the improved suggestion because the icon design shows the current design can be understood through pictures, adding text is not necessary, so we will not change the design in this sprint.

Round 2 purpose

The main purpose of this user test is to investigate and evaluate the style of the widget icons (water, chicken legs, medical kit, rocket and recycle bin) of the item bar and the recycle bin system, we also focus on whether the logic of the item bar in design and code conforms to the entire game This user test is very important for this project because there may be some flaws in the final design of our team. Therefore, test results will be performed to improve the final design.

Round 2 process

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, user testing will be done by an online zoom meeting as same as others testing. Testers will experience the system through the remote control of zoom functionality. The entire test time is controlled within 20 minutes.

The test method we use are：

• A/b test
• Interview

For the A /B test:

1. We let testers play the game, observe and record how many items testers have left to use in different icon versions.

2. Convert the value recorded in the first step and put it in the statistical table, for example: "If the user uses more props when using icon A mode than icon B mode, then Icon A will record 1 and Icon B will record 0".

After the A/B test, testers need to make a short interview：

1. We tell the tester what to observe in the game, such as "when the player picks up a piece of water, does the amount of water in item bar increase", "when the player has used three medical kits, is it possible to observe the recycle bin? A new medical kit has been generated"
2. Write down important observations, such as "Problems encountered by players who completed the first task".
3. After the game experience is over, we will ask the testers some open-ended key questions about the game.

Round 2 key issue

A/B test:

Interview:

• What do you think of the recycle bin system?
• What do you think of the recycle bin icon?
• What do you think of the item bar system?
• What do you think of the icon of the item bar?
• What do you think of the icon of the rocket?
• Do you think the item bar fits the design style of the entire game? Why?
• Do you think the item bar fits the gameplay of the whole game? Why?
• If you can change any part of the item bar (ui design or gameplay), where would you change and why?

Results for round 2

A/B test result

Interview result

USER 1

Recycle bin system

"Good af, it makes the game more friendly."

Recycle bin icon

"Good, simple, and clear."

Item bar system

"Dope, it looks awesome."

Icon of the item bar

"Good color matching."

Icon of the rocket

"Nice one."

Item bar system design compare game

"Yes, the pixelated item bar is very consistent with the overall style of the game."

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"It can be described as the most important function in this game."

Improve

"There is a lot of room for improvement. You can design a background for item bar."

USER 2

Recycle bin system

"Can generate useful resources for player, help to reduce difficulty."

Recycle bin icon

"Icon has more details, pies and blue cases make it looks like a machine are producing stuff."

Item bar system

"Tell user how many items in their inventory, help user to plan their action."

Icon of the item bar

"Looks good, very detail. Frame and recycle system have the same artistic style. "

Icon of the rocket

"Also very detail."

Item bar system design compare game

"Very much, item icons and recycle system have the same artistic style. Compared to the status bar, they all look very delicate, which may be strange"

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"Yes, for this kind of game style, a place to show player their inventory is important."

Improve

"They are good enough, maybe should make other part of game UI more delicacy, and make them bigger?"

USER 3

Recycle bin system

"interesting design."

Recycle bin icon

"wonderful."

Item bar system

"this is the core function of the game I think"

Icon of the item bar

"wonderful, but not good as recycle bin"

Icon of the rocket

"easy and clean"

Item bar system design compare game

"yeah. all pixel style."

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"yeah. it is needed."

Improve

"may be bigger"

USER 4

Recycle bin system

"nice looking and needed"

Recycle bin icon

"nice looking"

Item bar system

"useful and helpful"

Icon of the item bar

"nice looking"

Icon of the rocket

"very easy to understand and nice looking"

Item bar system design compare game

"yeah. they are all pixel"

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"yeah. it is the core function I think"

Improve

"may be more fancy"

USER 5

Recycle bin system

"I like the design of recycle bin system which had done really good work on pixilation, but I don't know how to use it without instructions."

Recycle bin icon

"The design is very visual"

Item bar system

"I like the style of item bar system, but I think there is still a little difference compared to the recycle bin system, maybe you can uniform the style like make the color of border the style of pipes same."

Icon of the item bar

"The style of rocket and chicken leg is different with the water and first-aid kit, the latter has a better design"

Icon of the rocket

"The style of rocket and chicken leg is different with the water and first-aid kit, the latter has a better design"

Item bar system design compare game

"Yes, it fits the design style 'Pixel Game' of the entire game. It fits the theme of the game' Alien Invasion', and the overall system is made with a great sense of technology"

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"Yes, the player can clear see what items they have picked and the amounts. It also tells the player what kind of items they can use."

Improve

"Overall is good besides the advice I mentioned above"

USER 6

Recycle bin system

"recycle bin system is a good design, will make game funnier. Because play can use recycle system to obtain new items."

Recycle bin icon

"Icon design is good; they clearly convey what the icons represent."

Item bar system

"Though the item bar system, players can know their status in game. Personally, I think this system is quite useful."

Icon of the item bar

"The icons are beautiful, the design is clear and simple. I can understand what designer want to represent though these icons."

Icon of the rocket

"Chicken leg can be design better. It doesn't look tasty."

Item bar system design compare game

"I think the design of item bar system is better than the game itself, the design of the game is rigid compere with the item bar. The two design styles are difference."

Item bar system gameplay compare game

"Yes, because player need to know what resource left to use."

Improve

"Chicken leg"

Round 2 conclusion

Based on the results of the A/B test and interview, users are more inclined to round 2 develop for the icon design in the item bar system. They feel that the newly developed icon is more uniform in style and that the details of the new development are more adequate. Some users will like the previous design because she feels that the previous design is better (user 5 prefers the previous design of chicken legs and water bottle), but based on the results of the A/B test, the new design is more able to allow users to use the item. So we all selected newly developed designs. Some users also think that the icon of the previous item bar system is a bit small. We improved this and enlarged the icon by 5%-10%.

Users find the item bar system very easy to understand and easy to use; the recycle system is very interesting and adds a lot of fun to the game.

On the question of whether the design of the item bar system and code logic is consistent with the overall game, the answer given by the user is affirmative. They feel that the design style of the item bar system is consistent with the overall design style of the game; in terms of gameplay, they also believe that the gameplay of the item bar system is very consistent with the game.

In general, the test results are very good. The testers liked the design of the item bar system very much, and found its gameplay easy to understand and interesting. Regarding whether the integrity is consistent, the tester believes that both in terms of design and playability are very consistent with the game. We decided to take some small suggestions from users about the size of the item bar system icon, and enlarge the entire item bar system by about 5%-10%.