Design Testing
For this round of testing, we wanted to test the appealability and gather feedback of our current map environment tiles. The main methods to test the appearance of our tiles is to conduct interviews and follow up with a think-aloud activity where users verbalise their take on the art. We will conduct the interview to gain background knowledge on their experience with game design and pixel art, then continue into the think aloud where they can speak openly about the art shown to them.
We conducted two interviews, each followed by a think aloud activity. All responses were recruited through word of mouth, by asking friends with game design experience. Respondents come from a variety of backgrounds, jobs, and levels of understanding and experience with pixel art. All user tests were carried out online via Zoom or Teams. The meetings went for about 20mins each. Each test session is recorded, and transcripts are generated using Google Forms. Negative user input and portions that generated confusion during testing were collected and documented.
Below are screenshots of all the interview questions through google forms.
First thing we asked was their name and background to we could see how much experience they have with game design and pixel art. We asked users to elaborate so we could weigh the feedback we got back according to user knowledge.
Next, we asked the user to evaluate the different types of pixel art provided. We did this so we can get some initial feedback on the appealability of detail vs simplistic pixel art.
The following questions were all related to the images created by Team 3 and were the answers given by users within the think aloud activity.
We successfully completed two interviews with a variety of experience amongst them. We have transcripts from the interviews on file however will take the key findings from each user to evaluate further.
User One
- Does a degree in IT at UQ and in their final semester
- Has done this course before and therefore has substantial experience with game design so opinion is weighted quite highly
- When comparing the different styles of pixel art, they believed the more detailed the art became, the less obvious it was to tell it was pixel art. This is an interesting observation because obviously the design guideline for this video game is isometric pixel art and being able to tell the game is pixelated is quite important
- Most important Think Aloud thoughts
I like the textures between the two water tiles. The night time tile especially has great depth while still be able to see the different pixels. The shell is a little wonky however I like how it has a pearl within the shell. Maybe if you had a shell with no pearl too and the shells with pearls are less likely, the pearl can become something that can be mined for currency within the game. (The user has knowledge on the game and has used this within her think aloud)
User Two
- High school teen who plays video games and watched anime a lot. Favourite game is sonic the hedgehog.
- Not so experienced with pixel art but plays many video games so would be an ideal user to test the game in the future
- Like the more detailed pixel art because it made everything more obvious what it was and gave a better impression as it was assumed that the artist was better because they could draw better. This observation is quite abstract in terms of our own art because we a student designers and don't necessarily have a lot of experience but still am able to provide plenty of detail in art with less pixels.
- Most important Think Aloud thoughts
Shouldn't you have multiple styles of seaweed tiles because with an isometric map, its gonna look weird if all the seaweed tiles don't change. Same with the rock and shell. Should have at least a left hand and right hand side view to put on opposite sides of the map. I like the shell drawing. When minimised, it looks like it has a lot of detail and has good shading. Water ripely tile is also cool
We are on the right track on providing appealing art and got some great initial reactions. We can use the feedback from these two interviews to confirm that our current pixel size is alluring to users and to stay with the pixel size moving forward. For the future, we can continue to expand on the art in different views and may discuss with studio one about using pearls within shells as another thing to mine and use as currency.
Images used within testing process
