Overview

In designing a level, it is important that appropriate difficulty is set, the level should not be too easy, so player won't be able to breeze through the level, it should still serve as a challenge for the player. However, the level should not be set to the point where it is almost impossible to complete the level. Difficulty of a level can be determined by several factors, the layout of the obstacles, the size of the game area, locations and crowdedness of the enemies and placement of items. All of which need to be tested to determine if the current difficulty is just right.

Testing Process

User Tasks

Participants will be trying to finish the level using the least amount of time, using any strategy they prefer, if the player dies along the way, they can try again as many times as they want, but death count will be recorded. At the end of the task, participants will be provided with a list of questions to answer. These questions will be used as an indication whether if a redesign is needed.

Question Lists:

• How difficult did you find the enemies layout to be?
• Was there a certain area that you found was extremely difficult to maneuver?
• How do you feel about the layout of the map? Was it spread out or was it too cramped? (i.e. location of trees, rocks, coins, etc.)
• How would you rate the difficulty of the level?
• Do you have any other comments or recommendations to add?

User #1 - Time: 5 minutes Death count: 0

1. I find the enemies to be well spread out, it was a good mix of strong and weak monsters, giving me chances to use my abilities and attacks.
2. No, there was a lot of area in the level to move in
3. the layout was good, I liked how there's dead ends with enemies and there are items behind the enemies that I can only get after defeating them.
4. I would rate this level moderate, it is not too difficult where I am cornered by a huge group of enemies, nor was it too easy that I can sprint through the entire level.
5. Maybe a bit more of the firefly things around, can't quite see where the rocks are.

User #2 - Time: 2 minutes Death count: 0

1. It was easy, I could dodge their bullets and run away from them easily.
2. Probably around the end, but only because there were so many enemies behind me
3. I didn't really notice the layout much since I speed ran the level, but the layout of the trees makes the level look like it's a maze and it made it interesting.
4. I'd rate it easy to moderate
5. Maybe could make the layout bigger, with more complicated maze structure.

User #3 - Time: 7 minutes Death count: 2

1. It was ok, got hit by several bullets a couple times, but I got used to it after a couple retries.
2. Not really, I could move around most of the areas pretty easily.
3. In the end, there were two enemies that could shoot, there were so many bullets that I couldn't dodge all of them.
4. I'd rate it moderate to difficult.
5. I couldn't see the bullet from the big enemy, that was how I died, maybe some more of the fireflies would be good.

Evaluation

Looking into the Users gameplays, it can be seen that most users don't have much problem with moving around the game area, therefore it is safe to say that the problem with too little game area from Sprint 2 is now fixed. There were also a lot of positive comments with regards to the layout of the obstacles and items. However, a comment worth noting is both user 1 and user 3 have suggested adding more of the fireflies into the game area.