Random Weather Events Test Plan - UQdeco2800/2022-studio-3 GitHub Wiki

User Evaluation Session Plan

  • Session run by (name): Junyao Li
  • Studio and game name: Atlantis Sinks
  • Feature team name: Random Weather Events
  • Number of participants: 5

Background

The design of random event is random weather events. Random weather events will bring different buffs and nerfs to friendly units and enemies and enhance the fun and gameplay of the game. Random events will random appear in the game and bring different effects.

Random weather events

Once players start game, they will meet a random weather. The weather icons will appear in the top center of the game screen. Different weather will bring different buffs and nerfs to friendly units and enemies. (Some buffs and nerfs are not yet finalized, these buffs and nerfs will be finalized in future implementation process.)

Weather Effect Background

Four different weather effect background are designed for different weather icons. The cloudy effect background will appear when the weather sign is cloudy. The rainy effect background will appear when the weather icon is rainy. The snowy effect background will appear when the weather icon is snowy. The thunder effect background will only appear when the weather icon is thunderstorm.

Aims & Objectives

Aim: Through testing I want to determine if the artwork I have made for the weather icons and weather effect backgrounds are immediately recognisable to players, without explanation.

Note: This purpose is testing usability, so the testing approach should probably have players choose/pick items in the context of the game without explicit introduction to the icons.

Aim: The game has many different art styles at the moment. I want to determine which are liked more by potential players. (Make sure their suggestions make sense within the game’s background and setting).

Note: This is testing a more subjective part of the design, so the testing approach should ask them what they like best in the context of the game, not what is best as a stand-alone piece of art.

Aim: My studio’s game has a particular art style, and I want feedback from testers to see if my assets suit the style, and how they could be improved.

Note: This is testing a more subjective part of the design, so the testing approach should ask them for detailed suggestions for improvement.

Prototype:

Testing Approach

“Through testing I want to determine if the artwork I have made for the weather icons and weather effect backgrounds are immediately recognisable to players, without explanation.”

  1. Explain game’s backstory and setting to tester (don’t explain the items). This gives them the context they may need to understand the game.

  2. Show them the prototype (don’t explain the items). So, they know what they will be looking at.

  3. Explain the basic controls (as appropriate, also don’t explain the items). So, they know how to play.

  4. Give tester the task of finding the weather icons on the map. While they are doing this watch the player, looking for signs of confusion and to see if they miss the weather icons. The time taken to finish this task could be collected as quantitative data.

  5. Give tester the task of finding the weather effect backgrounds on map. Observe, looking for confusion.

  6. Other similar tasks as required.

  7. Interview with tester.

  • a) Which weather icons were the easiest for you to notice? Aims to find the most recognisable sprites, how memorable they were.
  • b) Why did these weather icons stand out to you? What made these weather icons easy to notice? Trying to get more detail into the reasons behind the previous answer. Two questions, giving a possible re-phrasing if the first question was hard to answer.
  • c) Which weather icons were the most difficult to notice?
  • d) Why were these hard to notice?
  • e) What do you think is the main difference between the easy-to-notice and hard-to-notice weather icons? Trying to see if they can describe the difference, to help us know how we could maybe try to make the hard-to-notice ones more recognisable.
  • f) Given the backstory of this game, which do you think are the most important weather icons? We want to see if any weather icons they thought were important were also hard to notice; if so there is a problem.
  • g) Do you feel I should have given you an introduction to the weather icons at the start of this test? Why? The answers to this question should be analysed carefully. We should expect many people to say yes to the first question, but this doesn’t mean we should explain the items. It is the reasons why that we care about. We want to know how important explanation vs. recognition is to this player.

  1. Ask tester if they have any questions about the test, or the game.

  2. Thank the tester for their time and input.