In week 3 we combined the digital and paper prototypes into one. We’ve made changes to the story and chose more personal objects that are less generic. For example, a teddy bear from the character’s childhood instead of a textbook.
We also tried to include more of the character’s hopes and dreams in the story based on feedback from previous playtest.
The playtest:
Setting: Player is sitting in a room in front of a desk that contains eight objects –
Diary, Envelope, Camera, Keychain, Newton’s balls, Teddy Bear, Hammer, Seashell.
Interaction : Point and Click.
Feedback: Interaction with each object triggers a voice-over accompanied by a change in color saturation. Interaction with Envelope and Teddy Bear unlocks Seashell and Newton’s cradle respectively.
The intention of playtesting :
Storywise :
- For a total of eight objects, how much of the story do they remember?
- What would they like to know more about the character?
- Which object-story combination did they like the most and least?
Room :
- Testing the scale of the room.
Objects :
- Their placement on the desk, which ones should be closer and which ones can be far away.
- Their size.
- Which were more fun to interact with.
Placement of player :
- The position of the player relative to the desk.
- Optimal height of the desk.
Observations :
Storywise :
- The playtesters remembered a majority of the story. Some of them had to click on some objects twice to recollect the story.
- Five out of six playtesters thought the story was of the right length and one thought it was too short.
- Playtesters enjoyed the story associated with the Teddy Bear the most because it had light-hearted humor.
Room :
- The view of the room from the desk felt weird since the desk was in the middle of the room and the player was facing the bed.
Objects :
- The size of the envelope was too big and objects smaller in size and placed far away were difficult to identify.
Placement of player :
- Player felt they were too close to the desk.
- One playtester thought the desk height was too low.
- The desk was too large for one of the playtesters.
Additional Information :
- What we learned :
After clicking on every item, the play testers wished that the object remained coloured while the rest of the environment turned grayscale.
The selected object needs to seem disparate from the other objects and the environment.
Decision :
We need to focus on finding a way to keep the selected object as the center of attention while the environment around the player changed. The desk needs to be messier or populated with more everyday desk items.
- What we learned :
The playtesters mentioned that the desk didn’t look like an ordinary desk. It was covered with knick knacks and there weren’t regular desk items on it. We refrained from keeping additional items on the desk so that the player would not get distracted by nonreciprocal items.
Decision :
Explore ways to separate interactive items from non-interactive ones and making those obvious for the players.
- What we learned :
Since the blood report was the closest object to the players, some players interacted with it first due to its sheer proximity and some interacted with it accidentally. That meant finding out that the woman was pregnant before learning about other aspects of her life. This is not the best way to start an experience as the player may not be ready to receive this information so early in the experience. Some players made the choice not to interact with the envelope based on the text, assuming it is important. However, they also noticed it very early on.
Decision :
Information like that needs to be revealed after learning about few aspects of the woman’s life. Objects like these need to be kept locked until then. For next playtest: divide objects to two rooms.
- What we learned :
Objects like the book and Newton’s cradle were more fun to interact with. The book opened up and the spheres on the Newton’s cradle would swing on hovering the pointer over them.
Decision :
Try to have less static objects and items that have animation or some sort of interaction when selected.
- What we learned :
A way to keep track of the story. Some of the playtesters clicked on the items twice because it was hard to remember certain aspects of the story.
Decision :
A way for players to quickly recap the story without going through the voice over again. One option would be to add a quick recap.
- What we learned :
Playtesters are not sure of what to do at the beginning.
Decision :
The experience needs some sort of cue to nudge the player into selecting objects.
- What we learned :
Playtesters were worried about the order in which they selected the objects and wondered if it was a branching story, if their decisions led to different outcomes or if selecting the wrong object would end their experience or trigger something unwanted making them nervous.
- What we learned :
The position of the controller felt awkward since it was too close to the body.
Decision :
The controller should be placed such that it feels like your arm is at a reasonable height. The controller should also be hidden from the player to avoid it from blocking the player’s view and breaking the immersion.
- What we learned :
More context was required as the playtester didn’t know if this was the story of one person or multiple people or multiple stories. Example – The keychain story talks about the sister and then transitions into the woman’s story, these transitions were unclear and confusing.
Decision :
Work towards making the narrative more clear.
- What we learned :
Player would look around the room when listening to the audio because they would feel restless and look for something to interact with.
Decision :
Make the player focus more on the story by accompanying audio with visuals or give the player an opportunity to interact with the object.
- What we learned :
No stakes were involved, didn’t matter if the player listened to the story or not.
Decision :
- What we learned :
Questions need to be addressed – Who is the player? What are they doing there? If the player is in that room, why are they interacting with these objects?