Terrain Generation

Testing

The purpose of user testing is to gather data on various design aspects to ensure designers are creating appropriate designs for the game. This will help to make the user experience more enjoyable and provide designers with feedback to how improvements can be made. There are various forms of user testing, for example: paper prototyping and electronic prototyping etc. Appropriate participants that fit within the correct target demographic will be able to provide useful feedback towards the design process of the project so far. Through user testing we can determine whether or not the construction designs for the towers (trees), terrain, character models, user interface, colour palette and many other design aspects are progressing well and are appealing aesthetically. To ensure better results the tests will attempt to reduce bias so that the designers will have as much user feedback to further iterate on their designs.

Background Context

As our group mainly focused on random terrain generation, creation of objects on the terrain via diamond square algorithm, timerEvents and other aspects of the game, it was important to create a questionnaire to see if these aspects were well implemented. A user experience report was created to ask users what they thought about the current tile designs so far. The survey will also questions that will help our designers improve on the game and include parts that users will enjoy.

User Testing: Online Survey

Link to form:

This user testing survey is aimed at asking users to answer questions relating to the current designs and aspects of the project so far. From these responses we can determine whether or not the current construction designs are appealing to audiences. It is best to know early on in the development if the designs are appropriate and effective to make the user experience better.

Description of Process

A google form was created and asked users questions that related to the aesthetics of the game. I.e. what do you think of the textures? what objects would you include etc.

Testing Process

Once the google form was created, various participants were emailed the survey to fill out and submit their responses. There was no set time limit for uses to finish the questionnaire. All responses are anonymous and only the answers provided will be used to create graphical interpretations.

Evaluation

The survey sent to users contained questions about terrain generation for the game. Users were shown images of different terrains. The terrains shown were generated by the group and the variables were altered to show the random terrain generation system. Users were shown a terrains that included more water, more grass, more roughness / dirt around the edges etc. Majority of users chose the terrain that contained more grass and medium water coverage. This reveals that when designing the terrains for users to use, that the map should be a blend of more grass than ratio as well as enough water to contain the terrain. When asked if users believed they should have access to creating their own terrains / maps it was a mixed response. More users preferred to have the option to alter their own maps (changing the variables for the terrains). This is important information to note as this feature could be implemented into the game as extra content. Users stated that games that provided them the ability to create their own maps were more enjoyable. This is feature that if implemented would benefit the game well.

Raw Data