Main Character Testing
User testing is to determine the aesthetic and operational effects of the main characters that the user will control.
- After identifying potential users, interviews and discussions are conducted by showing the related images of the newly designed frames of the character.
- Discussing what should be improved on the attack and magma frames of the main character.
- Observe and analyze user feedback and report to the developers.
- Display the final product.
Integrate new remote attack frames as well as the magma injury frame.
- By exchanging ideas with relevant groups.
- Think about the difficulty and feasibility of integration based on brainstorms.
- Test whether the integrated character meets expectations (e.g. when the player controls to attack, will it successfully erase the existence of the obstacle).
- Discuss the effect with the relevant group again and determine if there are any changes that need to be made.
- Students who are not from this studio are invited to try it out and see if it fits the game logic and aesthetics.
The interviewees for this sprint were aimed at students within this studio as well as friends and relatives in the suitable age range to give comments about the frame designs. The initial frames of the attack were fully designed in Sprint 2, however, due to the absence of weapons, it was not improved throughout until Sprint 4. It was discussed with Team 8 to be remote control attack frames which Team 4 is seeking comments to make improvements. A new frame of magma injuries is also designed during this sprint after consulting with Team 6.
Data collection is performed by chatting and discussing with students from the obstacle team (Team 8) to reach an agreement about of the remote attack frames. Team 4 was also connected with Team 6 to determine a magma injury frame. Interviews are also managed with other interviewees to test the logical correlation between the frames and the purpose and causation.
Based on the results of interviews and observation analysis, team members conduct effective discussions within the team to capture available information and discuss the ability and feasibility of integrating opinions. The conclusive discussion through this step is to inform the other teams of the plans for Team 4 and discuss the expectations of the other teams based on the feedback received.
The remote attack was designed to be the MPC firing at the obstacles from distance. This is because MPC is designed to keep running without stopping, therefore, if it closes distance attacks, there is a big chance that the MPC will need to stop, which disobeys the setting of the game. The aesthetic of the attack frames being MPC holding a shotgun and aims to shoot the obstacles. It was an initial collaboration between Team 4 and 8.
The consultations performed with the interviewees allowed us to consider where to store the ammo for the MPC to use and the amount limit. This has allowed us to connect with Team 5 to have space to store the ammo in the MPC storage.
Remote Attack testing
Magma was a new feature detected in this sprint; it was designed by Team 6 within their level maps. They contacted Team 4 in order to produce the magma injuries frame to imply to the player that their MPC is currently losing hit points due to the burn. Most of the interviewees were able to understand the purpose of this frame successfully. Therefore, we have not made any changes to the frame.
There are a total of 4 sets of attires that has remote attack frames. In this case, the demonstration below will show attack frames in two of the attires.
There are a total of 4 sets of attires that has magma burn frames. In this case, the demonstration below will show magma burn frames in two of the attires.
- After identifying potential users, interviews and discussions are conducted by showing the related images of the newly designed attires of the character.
- Discussing what should be improved on the existing character.
- Observe and analyze user feedback and report to the developers.
- Display the final product.
Integrate all necessary buffed animations.
- By exchanging ideas with relevant groups.
- Think about the difficulty and feasibility of integration based on brainstorms.
- Test whether the integrated character meets expectations (e.g. when multiple buffs are received).
- Discuss the effect with the relevant group again and determine if there are any changes that need to be made.
- Students who are not from this studio are invited to try it out and see if it fits the game logic and aesthetics.
The interviewees for this sprint were aimed at students within this studio as well as friends and relatives in the suitable age range to give comments about the attire designs. The basic attire of the MPC was fully implemented in Sprint 1, however, other students from this studio suggested the attires system. After communication with the achievements team; it was decided that attires will be unlocked when MPC reaches achievements.
Data collection is performed by chatting and discussing with students from the achievements team (Team 7) to reach an agreement about the design and code implementation of the attires. Interviews are also managed with other interviewees to test the logical correlation between the attire and the achievement.
Based on the results of interviews and observation analysis, team members conduct effective discussions within the team to capture available information and discuss the ability and feasibility of integrating opinions. The conclusive discussion through this step is to inform the other teams of the plans for Team 4 and discuss the expectations of the other teams based on the feedback received.
The attire unlocking system is the section that requires user testing. The original attire was designed and finalized during sprint 1. During sprint 3, it is decided to implement another 3 sets of attires for the MPC to unlock on its journey. We discussed the way we could have implemented it with Team 7. The outcome was to unlock attire when gold achievements are achieved. The aesthetics of the attires were initially designed by the designers in our team and were then shown to others both from the studio and outside the studio to examine the correlation between the achievement and the attire design. One set of the attires has been frequently edited as it looks too similar to the original design. Final outcome will be shown at the end.
As information from the buffs team was received somewhat late during the sprint, the buff animation frames couldn’t be completely finalized. Only two sets of attires was able to be completely finished with the buff insertion. Communication was frequently conducted with the developers in the team on how to integrate the animations. Examples of the final outcome will be shown below along with the atlas.
There 3 sets of attires and the idle status frame of each attire is selected as the displayed outcome.
There are many over 100 frames for buffed and debuffed images for gold 4 attire. MPC is thirsty while jumping and MPC health decreasing while attacking is selected to be displayed.
- After identifying potential users, interviews are conducted by showing the images of the designed movement of the character.
- Test the design results by discussing what should be improved on the existing character.
- Observe and analyze user feedback and report to the developers.
- Display the final product.
Integrate images of multiple game characters and interact with all necessary in-game items:
- By exchanging ideas with relevant groups.
- Think about the difficulty and feasibility of integration based on brainstorms.
- Test whether the integrated character meets expectations (e.g. when combined with weapons or buffs).
- Discuss the effect with the relevant group again and determine if there are any changes that need to be made.
- Students who are not from this studio are invited to try it out and see if it fits the game logic and aesthetics.
The interviewees for this sprint were aimed at students within this studio. Since the basic aesthetic design of the character was completed in Sprint 1, our team needed to communicate with members of other groups to discover the potential actions the character should have.
Data collection is performed by chatting and discussing with students from the studio to reach an agreement about the size, movements required, etc. for the character.
Based on the results of interviews and observation analysis, team members conduct effective discussions within the team to capture available information and discuss the ability and feasibility of integrating opinions. The conclusive discussion through this step is to inform the other teams of the plans for Team 4 and discuss the expectations of the other teams based on the feedback received.
During Sprint 1, we integrated animations of main character movements in the game and discussed with Team 3 how to use their buffs and debuffs. During Sprint 2, we discussed weapons and obstacles with teams 1 and 8. Therefore, when considering the animation design of the main character, in addition to the previously planned features of jumping and crouching to avoid obstacles, we also needed to design frames for picking up buffs/Debuff, items and attacks, as well as holding weapons while attacking. In conclusion, in this sprint, we integrated four actions in the game: jumping, squatting, attacking obstacles, and picking up items.
The first group determined that there would be three weapons to pick up and hold in the game. Therefore, after some discussion, we decided to pass the finished character's initial attack image to team 1, who would merge the weapon image with the main character image and make sure the main character had the weapon in his hand at the end. In addition, it will be considered whether weapons are included in the items picked up by the main character, and if so, it will need to be integrated with team 1.
Specific outcomes are shown and described clearly on Main Character page. Brief frames of jumping, crouching, attacking, and picking are shown below. Please visit the above link for a more detailed outcome description.
- After identifying potential users, survey their expectations of the main character.
- Test the design results by showing the character prototype.
- Observe and record user feedback and submit it to the developers.
- Test function with the evaluation results.
The target audience for this testing is students in this studio as well as some potential players of the game. As this game is an endless looping racing game, it is expected to have teenage and young adult players. Therefore, interviews are conducted with interviewees within this age range.
Data collection is performed on social platforms by asking interviewees their opinion on the designed character. The results are recorded by hand and inputted into excel to produce graphs that are easier to understand.
Formative assessment is performed within the team to achieve a character design that meets the team’s aesthetic requirements. Then, summative assessments are performed with studio students and potential users for their opinions.
Hypothesis: To determine if there were potential players, would they be satisfied with the main character design, aesthetic weighted heavily.
Prototyping: Rough sketches were provided to be evaluated internally in the team. Initial pixel arts were provided to be evaluated amongst potential users (friends, students, other teams, and more).
Conducting: Images were shown between the team to observe whether they are satisfied with the initial sketches. Images were shown to potential users on social platforms to observe whether they would be satisfied if they were to play a game with the current design as the main character.
Evaluating: A few alterations were to be made on the initial sketches internally. The majority of the interviewed potential users and other students in the studio were satisfied with the pixel arts that were presented to them. Therefore, only refinements of the existing pixel arts were required.
Due to the background of the game story, a male character is more suitable. However, if the majority disagrees with the statement, it is possible to make alternations to the background story to fit a female character.
Since the game is designed to allow the main character to survive dangerous situations, wearing a tracksuit fits the Racing Game theme better than a suit and shirt. The colors we chose for the main characters were blue and yellow to create contrast and make it visually striking to attract the player, supported by two opposite colors on the color wheel.
They disagree with the gender of the character was because the interviewee thinks female players shall not be excluded therefore a female main character should also be added. However, after explaining the game story to her, she has accepted the game as having only one male character. There were also a few who disagrees with the appearance of the character as they thought it shall be elder, unlike a teenager. Therefore, the hairstyle of the character has been changed from to-ear length to undercut.
As an outcome, below is the final design of the main character.
In order to further optimize the image to meet the results of user testing, we integrated users' opinions on the image, and based on the original image, designed the main character into a more cute boy image. This character retains the basic information of the main character and caters to users' opinions that they want female characters by making the character cuter. Since the game is drawn in pixels, this change will not result in the character's basic information being changed.