Producer Reflection – Week 7 and 8

As we were working hard to produce another batch of of puzzles for our game, it was also time for us to begin testing what he had already.  We knew from the start that our idea would be tough to test, as the full emotional impact of the game won’t be known until all the pieces are in place.  Still, we felt we had enough to test, specifically if the mechanics were understandable, if the player’s goals were clear, and if the scenes were having the appropriate impact.

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To test this, we ran several “talk aloud” play throughs.  We sat people down with the laptop, told them to open the game, and watched and listened to what they did from there.  It was fascinating watching people interact with our game, since we all know it so well at this point.  It was a relief to see people very quickly understanding how to interact, knowing to use the media controls to control the game.  At the same time, it was frustrating to watch as they sometimes were unsure of what exactly was happening.  For example, in the second puzzle, hitting pause only pauses 2 out of the 3 characters.  People realized that hitting pause paused the scene, but it took people a while to pick up on the fact that one of the characters kept moving.

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Afterwards, we asked them what they thought of the experience, both how the puzzles made them feel, as well as any guesses as to what they thought they were about.  In general, this wasn’t as successful, although it’s not something we’re too worried about.  We recognize that many of these puzzles might not make sense on their own, but our hope is that once we have enough of them put together, the player will be able to understand the overall message.  We also presented the testers with a “Barrier Questionnaire” aimed at exploring their beliefs around disasters.  It was very satisfying to learn that players’ beliefs were indeed in line with everything we’ve read this semester.  In general, people thought they’d feel relief, possibly even joy, in the wake of a disaster in which nobody they know was hurt.  On the other hand, however, they believed that in general people would panic, and act savagely towards each other.  They attributed this perception to TV news, which makes us feel more confident that a media criticism angle is a good way to approach this topic.