Overview

Below is an outline of the user testing plan that we carried out for aura designs within sprint three.

User Evaluation Session Plan

• Session run by (Name): @PurrplePandaa, @NishaVashist0 and @madi-feddema
• Studio and game name: Studio 2, Atlantis Sink
• Feature team name: Weaponizers
• Location of Testing: Google Forms
• Number of Participants: 5 - 15 people/ testing plan

Background

At this stage of the game, preliminary user testing is needed to be completed so that our team can get an understanding of how colour is to be used for the buffs. This was an important preliminary start to the design as the colour used played one of the most vital parts for players to visually tell the buff is activated. It is acknowledged that due to the scale of the game the buff will be very small and hence high-quality details will be hard to see. This is why the higher focus was given to the colour. We decided not to do user testing on the swing of the buff, as it follows the same swing of the weapon animation that has been tested on this sprint in Weapon Swing Animation User Testing.

Aims & Objectives

This user testing protocol aims to understand better if the users will perceive the visualization of the “buff” to their expectation Seek information regarding how the colour scheme of each aura Guage if users need a buff timer within the game,if so, how would they expect that to be visualised?

Questions

1. What colours do you think best represent an attack speed buff aura?
2. What colours do you think best represent a damage buff aura? If you picked red/orange, what colour would you pick if these weren't an option?
3. What colours do you think best represent a burn/ fire damage aura?
4. What colours do you think best represent a toxic damage aura?
5. From the given responses above, what do you think of this colour pallet for the weapon Speed buff?
6. From the given responses above, what do you think of this colour pallet for the weapon Damage buff?
7. From the given responses above, what do you think of this colour pallet for the weapon Fire buff?
8. From the given responses above, what do you think of this colour pallet for the weapon Toxic buff?
9. Given that these auras are weapon auras, would you prefer the animation around the player or the weapon? Or both?
10. Do you think that buff timers are necessary?
11. If you said Yes to the previous question, do you think that a fuse going around the box of the aura would improve the aesthetics?
12. Viewing the icons created for the buffs, what would you think might make the icons more interactive within the game?
13. Viewing the last two aura icons on the right from the previous question (fire and poison), what colours or design changes do you think might reflect a negation of these auras?

Prototype

Buff	Prototype
Fire
Toxic
Attack Damage
Attack Speed

User Testing Results

Speed Buff

• People thought yellow should definitely be incorporated
• Another common response was to add orange to the buff
• Two responses indicated that a blue color should be added to the buff
• White was another color which should be included

Fire Buff

• All responses indicated that a fire buff should be have a flame like effect
• This includes colors such as yellow, orange and red
• Hints of white and black for burnt effect

Toxic Buff

• Green was rated as the top color which was symbolic of poison
• Purple was also similarly associated with poison

Damage Buff

• Red is color which the majority of responses believed should be included in the damage buff
• Purple was another color which the majority of responses indicated was representative of the damage buff

Iconography & Further Notes

• Users mostly thought that having the buff icons bounce in the game would be effective and make the game more interactive
• To debuff down (specifically for toxic and fire) users thought that a skull icon might represent this effect. Alternatively leaving the iconography of those buffs but making them in gray-scale to demonstrate that it removes the effect of the buff
• Majority of users thought it would be useful to a have a buff timer to indicate when a buff has run out 50% of users thought a fuse box timer, going around the buff would be an effective visual to demonstrate this

Raw Data

Future Directions for Further Testing

In this sprint, the color testing we conducted ensures that the colors of the buffs correctly correlate with the desired meaning over the weapons. Regarding the future directions for buffs, while the designs are finalized and have been implemented in the game, it would be beneficial to gauge from users how clear our buffs are around the weapons when playing. Conducting some testing on this particular aspect would aim to polish the buff designs in the game environment and confirm it is clear to the user.

Authors

Nisha Vashist

• GitHub: Nishavashist0
• Discord: nishavashist#4270
• Slack: Nisha Vashist

Madi Feddema

• GitHub: @madifeddema
• Discord: madi-feddema#3384
• Slack: Madi Feddema