Map Flooding User Testing

Background and Purpose

The design and concepts of map flooding. The animation of map flooding process on grass terrain and sand terrain. The design contains the adjacent diagonal terrain, the adjacent horizontal and vertical terrain.

The functionality of the flooding in game are not yet completed by the time this user-testing was conducted, hence we only test the design of the tiles and the animations of the flooding system to get some feedback from user early so we can improve the design.

Aims & Objectives

Through testing we want to determine if the artwork for the map flooding process are immediately recognisable to players and easy to understand.

The game has many different art styles at the moment. we want to determine which are being favored more by potential players. (Make sure their suggestions make sense within the game’s background and setting). Note: This test is more about 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.

The studio’s game has a particular art style, and we want feedback from testers to see if the flooding assets suit the style, and how they could be improved. Note: This test is more about subjective part of the design, so the testing approach should ask them for detailed suggestions for improvement.

Prototype:

Testing Approach

Through testing we want to determine if the artwork I have made for the map flooding are immediately recognisable to players and easy to understand

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 design of the tiles, so they know what they will be looking at.

3. Explain the basic controls.

4. Give tester the task of finding the map flooding terrain 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 map flooding process on map. Observe, looking for confusion.

6. Questions after the task:

• Is the map flooding tile design and animation fit to game theme ?

• What do you think about the design of the tiles and the flooding animation ?

• What could be improve about the tiles design and animations ?

• Do you encounterd any difficulties of noticing the design and animation ?

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

8. Thank the tester for their time and input.

Testing result

Testing Overview

The user-testing were conducted with five users. Four testers are university students from different majors. One tester is an accountant. One of the testers only give general feedback.

Design Testing Analysis and Conclusion

Most of the testers suggested that the map flooding tiles is a bit too simple and need to add more details to the tile.Two of the testers did not perceive the map flooding wave tiles well since the design could be too ambiguous.

Testers were quite satisfied with the flooding animations design. Though some were questioning on how the flooding system works.

Based on evaluation analysis of the design’s user testing, the main focus for us is to add more details to map flooding tiles and wave tiles, changing the animation of the flooding to be clearer and inline with the game theme.

User Evaluation Session Plan

• Session run by (name): Junyao Li, Quoc Dat Mai
• Studio and game name: Atlantis Sinks
• Feature team name: Map Flooding
• Number of participants: 5