NPC User Testing

Description

User testing was conducted in various users in order to validate features of NPCs that Team 11 and Team 8 worked on.

Team 11

Questions

1. Do the NPC designs fit within the game?
2. Do you like how NPCs despawn at night?
3. What animations for NPCs should be included?

User Responses

User 1

1. I think some of the designs should be a bit higher quality with a more medieval theme to fit with the game more
2. Yes, as I think with the towers in the game and because they already help the player, they don’t need to help with combat
3. They should have animations for moving, and I think adding some ambient animations would add a lot of detail to the game

User 2

1. Only one of the designs fits with the Atlantis setting
2. It would be good if they all ran to a building instead of just disappearing.
3. Moving and interacting

User 3

1. Most of the designs don’t really fit with the time period the game is set in, and don’t really match the player
2. I think it’s fine as they would get in the way of combat
3. They should move around the map and could have jobs e.g. repairing buildings, which would require animations

Analysis

Overall, we recieved mixed responses in regards to the work we completed.

The first question asked users what they thought of the various NPC designs. The first user stated the designs should be of higher quality with a more medieval theme. This is useful feedback, and we will aim to use this by improving the quality of our designs and changing the theme to match the game more. The second user stated that only one of the designs fit with the game's setting. This feedbackis also useful, as it demonstrates we need to revise our designs and make them fit with the game more. This can be accomplished by taking inspiration from other games and getting user testing on early designs to ensure they fit the theme. The third user stated the game needs moving animations, and that adding some ambient animations would add a lot of detail to the game. This will be looked into in the future by conducting research and further user testing to validate its feasibility.

The second question asked users if they liked how NPCs despawn at night. The first user agreed, and said that, with the towers in the game, and because they already help the player, they don’t need to help with combat. This feedback helps validate this feature and implies no further work needs to be completed in their eyes. The second user stated it would be good if they all ran to a building instead of just disappearing. This is very useful feeback and would add immersion and detail into the game. This will likely be researched and tested further. The third user stated they think it’s fine as NPCs would get in the way of combat. This also helps to justify the current feature. Overall, the feature of NPCs despawning at night is appropiate, however extra detail could be added to improve it, such as NPCs running into a building instead of disappearing.