Rocks and Woods generation test

Purpose

The main purpose of this test is to analyse and collect user satisfaction and opinions on the arrangement of wood and rock blocks. Observe and record the participants' behaviour by observing them as they complete the task. After the test, we will ask them several questions to further judge users' satisfaction with this function and collect specific improvement suggestions.

Process

Testers will be asked to participate in our testing tasks. We will introduce the specific steps and objectives of the task to the testers before the task starts, and give them a complete introduction to the rules of the game. As the testers completed the task, we recorded the user's reactions. Finally, we will analyse the observations and collected results to find out the problems in the functions and preliminarily determine the solutions.

Tasks

• Let the user enter the map with woods and rocks.
• The user needs to successfully survive the above map for 30 seconds.

Key questions we asked were:

• Do you think the way the woods and rocks are arranged detracts from the visual experience of your game?
• Are you satisfied with the difficulty of a terrain made of wood and rock?
• Are there any problems with the feature we designed or what needs to be improved?

Results

User 1:

• Observantions:

  • The tester managed to play the game for 30 seconds, and he was very proficient.

• Thoughts about the Rocks and Woods generation:

  • The tester thought the wood and rock designs cute.
  • The tester felt that this arrangement did not detract from the visual experience of the game.
  • The tester thought the terrain was a little simpler.
  • The terrain should be either more difficult or more varied.

• Likes/Dislikes:

  • Like:
    • Design style of wood block and rock block.
    • The terrain of wood and rock makes the game more interesting.
  • Dislike: N/A.

• General Comments/Suggestions:

  • The difficulty of terrain can be increased appropriately.
  • Increase the variety of terrain.

User 2:

• Observantions:
  • The tester attempted the task twice.
  • The tester's first attempt was unsuccessful. Because the subjects got stuck between blocks of wood and rock during the task, he couldn't get out. So the tester had to stop the first attempt. (As shown in the figure below)

• The tester successfully completed the second attempt. He seemed cautious in completing the task.

• Thoughts about the Rocks and Woods generation:

  • The tester felt that the way the woods and rocks were arranged somewhat detracted from the visual experience. Because some of the blocks are not arranged very neatly.
  • The tester were satisfied with the difficulty of the terrain.
  • The tester thought we should align the blocks and adjust the spacing between the blocks.

• Likes/Dislikes:

  • Like: The terrain made up of wood and stones makes the game more interesting.
  • Dislike: The distance between some blocks of wood and rock is not very reasonable and can cause the player to get stuck in the terrain and not be able to continue playing.

• General Comments/Suggestions:

  • The distance between blocks should be adjusted appropriately.

User 3:

• Observantions:

  • The tester completed the task successfully.
  • Twice during the task, the tester got stuck on a rock or wood. The user kept clicking the jump button and finally passed the topographic map.

• Thoughts about the Rocks and Woods generation:

  • The wood blocks and rock blocks are designed to match the game's pixelated style, and the colours match well.
  • The tester felt that the way the woods and rocks were arranged affected the visual experience to a certain extent. Because in some areas the arrangement of woods and stones is not very reasonable.
  • The tester were satisfied with the difficulty of the terrain.
  • The tester felt that the blocks in some areas should be rearranged so that players would not have to stop playing since they got stuck in the terrain.

• Likes/Dislikes:

  • Like: The wood and rock designs are cute and remind users of Super Mario.
  • Dislike: In some areas the arrangement of rocks and woods are haphazard.

• General Comments/Suggestions:

  • Rearrange some areas of rocks and woods.

Summary

All of the participants successfully completed the task, however, one of them had to attempt twice to complete the task. Testers found that the wood and rock designs fit the overall pixel style of the game and enjoyed the process. We also noticed that some of our testers were not satisfied with the way some of the woods and rocks were arranged. This is mainly due to the part of the wood block and rock block arrangement is a little disorderly.（For example, in some areas of the terrain the woods and rocks are too closely aligned, making it difficult for the user to navigate through the map) this can reduce the visual experience of the game to a certain extent. In addition, a few users pointed out that the difficulty of terrain needed to be appropriately increased.

We will continue to modify the terrain of the game in future design. Optimise the arrangement of woods and rocks again to avoid the problem that users can't play because they are stuck in the terrain. Increase the difficulty of the game appropriately. We can do this by adjusting the diversity of terrain.