OVERVIEW
We conducted a user testing session on Oct 14th of the unpolished game. In that stage, we implemented the homepage, user page, tutorial page, and the first level of the game. The major goals for this testing session are:
refine the content of the clues and dialogue on the site.
discover the unfunctional bugs of the layout, content display, navigations, and so on.
find the elements that violate the user experience principles.
PRE-TEST
We prepared several questions for the user testing. Before the user played the game, we briefed the idea of the game to the user.
TESTING PROCESS
Tester 1
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
He read the tutorial question carefully.
He skipped the tutorial section and character dialogue.
After he clicked the second clue, he didn’t read the context.
He only found 2 clues but figured out the tutorial answers very quick.
Level 1:
He read the character dialogue very fast.
The tester felt boring to read clues’ content and just skimmed the whole context.
He found all clues in Level 1.
He tried to type answers twice and get the correct answer very quick.
Feedback and suggestion:
During the game, there should be a hint to remind players how many clues left.
A dialogue box should have “next” and “skip” button rather than using graphic icons.
If for a long time the player cannot find any clues or figure out the answer, something should show up to remind the player.
TESTER 2
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
After jumping in the game interface, he clicked the menu bar’ label first rather than starting playing the game.
He read the character dialogue but miss the tutorial section.
He tried to go back to the previous dialogue.
Level 1:
The tester clicked clues randomly and didn’t read clues’ content at all.
He didn’t want to read any text.
He didn’t finish the game.
Feedback and suggestion:
In the homepage should add a “move down” button for leading players to scroll down.
Clues should be redesigned. Instead of long text clues, using the short riddles to increase the enjoyment.
To add a “go back” button for players to reread the character dialogue.
TESTER 3
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
He tried to use keyboard control the dialogue process and press Enter key after typed in the answer.
He tried to click some items during the tutorial section and said the tutorial is a little bit long.
He missed the main question at the beginning.
he cannot understand the question, what’s the HOPE means?
Feedback and suggestion:
there should be an introduction for the game story.
to change text clues to picture clues or dot points.
how to go back to previous dialogue and last level?
highlight clickable items when players spend a long time without working out answers.
TESTER 4
Observation:
Homepage:
how should I start the game, the tester didn’t find the play game button on the homepage.
she didn’t scroll down the homepage as well.
Tutorial:
Level 1:
when clicked one item, Trove picture cannot show up.
the player was lazy to read the clue.
when inputting a wrong answer, she didn’t know where to return.
the background music is noisy.
the question box is not obvious to see.
clues don’t have a clear connection with each other.
when users type in the right answer but using the wrong case, there should be a hint to remind players. otherwise, the answer for lower case and upper case should be both ok.
TESTER 5
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
Level 1:
Feedback and suggestion:
to add a button for returning to the previous level.
to add a hint to remind players how many clues they don’t find.
to make a close connection between clues.
TESTER 6
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
Level 1:
Feedback and suggestion:
Tutorial page:
Apart from the right arrow, the user can also click the entire image to skip the dialogue.
‘Get in the house’ changes to ‘Sneak in the house’.
It really costs time to read the whole text on this page.
Level 1 page:
Give an indication of the items that have been clicked (discovered).
Resize the coin image.
Too much reading on the clues.
Reinforce the connection between each clue and the final answer. Currently, there was no clear relation between the final answer and some clues.
Every time when the user plays over 10min, the system automatically give a hint to him.
TESTER 7
Observation:
Homepage:
Tutorial:
He had so much patience of reading all the dialogue without skipping any of them.
Every time when the ‘And an answer input bar...’ dialogue popped up, he tried to find the answer input bar but in vain.
He refreshed and watched the tutorial again and again to learn how to play the game.
Level 1:
Feedback and suggestion:
Homepage:
The text colour on the homepage needs to be changed.
The ‘@copyright’ label is outside the footer
The ‘Terms and Conditions’, ‘Privacy Policy’ link on the footer is useless, which should be get rid of.
Tutorial page:
The sequence of the tutorial page needs to be modified. It’s better to show the 5 tutorial images before showing the dialogue.
Decrease the dialogue box and make the content concise, or just not show the dialogue.
Add ‘clues’ number at the top-right corner of the page.
The text colour in the answer input box needs to be changed.
Level 1 page:
REFLECTION
Many testers faced the same problems while doing the test. Based on the observation and feedback received, we narrow down the problems and form a list of the solutions regarding the most urgent problems that have to be changed in the next stage.
Homepage:
Must fix:
Change the text colour on the homepage to make it clearer.
Remove the ‘@copyright’ label or put it inside the footer.
Get rid of the ‘Terms and Conditions’, ‘Privacy Policy’ link on the footer.
Optional:
Tutorial page:
Must fix:
Apart from the right arrow, the user can also click the entire image to skip the dialogue.
A dialogue’s content: ‘Get in the house’ changes to ‘Sneak in the house’.
Reduce the number of the dialogue box and simplify the dialogue content.
Modify the sequence of the tutorial page. Add ‘clues’ number at the top-right corner of the page as a tutorial image. Show the 6 tutorial images before the dialogue box.
Change the text colour in the answer input box according to the background of the scene.
Level 1 page:
Must fix:
Simplify the clues’ content and then remove the scroll bar of the clues’ text.
Modify the clues’ content to reinforce the connection between them and the correct answer.
Responsive webpage: always make the game page fill up the whole browser window.
Show the hints’ number on the game page or indicate the user how many hints are not found on this page.
Resize the coin image. Also, be cautious of the images’ size on other levels to ensure it displays well and consistent with other clue windows.
Optional:
Give an indication of the items that have been clicked (discovered).
Every time when the user plays over a certain period time, the system automatically pop up a hint or highlight clickable items to help the user.
Show a hint to remind the users when they type in the right answer but using wrong case.
Add a link for returning or navigating to previous or next level.
CONCLUSION
It’s a successful testing session, we received lots of brilliant suggestions through the observation and feedbacks. Thanks to all the participants.
