Embedded Files
Purpose:
The purpose of this round of user testing was to have children in the target age range (ages eight to twelve) participate in a blind play-test to analyze sentiments about individual elements and the overall design for the RPG mockup. Due to the virtual environment of this project and the sensitive nature of testing with children, this testing was conducted over Zoom and with the parents of the children present. Through this testing we wanted to assess two factors: (1) which gameplay elements were intuitive to the users, and (2) the overall level of enjoyment experienced by the users while play-testing.
Test Methodology:
Three team members conducted one large testing session with the RPG mockup on May 5th, during which seven children played through a short, demonstration version of the mockup. These users were recruited by Gab to participate in testing. The team members walked through the download and installation process for the mockup with the parents, and the parents filled out a Google Form giving permission for their child to be recorded while play-testing the mockup. The users then participated in a play-test. The RPG mockup started the player as an alkaline earth metal, and were prompted to enter their name immediately upon starting the game. The player quickly entered a battle against two salt enemies. From this battle, the player gained and equipped a sodium weapon. For the next battle, the player fought against three hydrofluoric acid enemies. From this interaction, the player obtained a fluoride atom as an item. The player was then prompted to travel to the town and talk to the blacksmith, which bonded the sodium and fluoride atoms together to make a sodium fluoride weapon. With this more powerful weapon equipped, the player then simultaneously fought a gold enemy and a silver enemy, which will be recurring enemies throughout the game. If the player was victorious in this final boss battle, the player could open a treasure chest containing a carbon atom, which concluded the play-test. If the user became confused during the play-test, the team member gave tips and pointers to continue the testing. After the play-test, the children filled out a feedback form that asked them about their general feelings towards the mockup.
Results:
The following table summarizes the user results. The questions and answers are both shown below.
How much did you enjoy this game? (1 = Hated it! 5 = Loved it!)
14.3% 3 (1)
85.7% 5 (6)
How likely are you to play this game again? (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very Likely)
14.3% 2 (1)
85.7% 5 (6)
What periodic table appeared in the game? (Click words you recognize from the game)
Noble Gas 14.3% (1)
Oxygen Group 14.3% (1)
Halogen 0% (0)
Alkaline Earth Metal 71.4% (5)
Correct answer, was the class of the tester’s player
If you can, name one or more skills you used to attack in the game.
“Sodium”
Close to correct, sodium was an attack, rather than a skill in the game
“Sharpen”
Correct answer
“I forgot”
“KICKS”
“Sharpen”
Correct answer
“I used sharpen to barely win the 2nd boss”
Correct answer
“Water”
Correct answer, skill was add water
What was your favorite part about the game?
“FIGHTING”
“Fighting”
“I really liked the music”
“The combat challenges my strategy skills.”
“The way how you can use elements and turn them into weapons”
“fighting”
What was your least favorite part about the game?
“Runing”
“How short it was”
“Walking”
“Nothing”
“The loud music.”
“Make the 2nd boss a little bit easier”
Analysis, Conclusions, and Limitations:
Analysis of Results: The RPG mockup showed very strong potential for engaging the users, showing some potential for increasing the chemistry knowledge of the users, and was met with an enthusiastic, nearly unanimously positive reception in terms of gameplay and overall entertainment.
Chemistry Knowledge: Unlike the other two mockups, the RPG mockup focused less on delivering chemistry content and instead prioritized the engagement and entertainment of users. For this mockup, the most important chemistry connection was the accuracy of the science included. The mockup also hopes to provide exposure to basic chemistry vocabulary. This mockup generally succeeded at this task, as five of the seven users correctly identified the periodic group mentioned in the play-test.
Entertainment Factor: The answers to questions 1 and 2 on the Google Form indicate a nearly unanimous positive reaction to the game. On both general enjoyment and willing. From observation and interviews, the users found the battles and game mechanics relatively intuitive and easy to learn. The players very much enjoyed the aesthetic aspect of the game and were most intrigued by the use of skills, the turn-based battle system, and overall fighting in the mockup.
Shortcomings of the Mockup: Two issues that arose during the testing of this mockup were difficulties with software downloading and abnormally high default sound settings. Some of the users complained about the very loud music that played at the beginning of the game. In addition, the time taken to download the game onto the users’ computers was almost as long as the play-test itself. It was a bit difficult for the users and their parents to figure out, and often required direct instructions and interventions from the team members to get the game properly downloaded.
Limitations: The overall conclusions drawn from this mockup testing are primarily limited by the gender demographics of the testing, as the seven users were all male. Stereotypically, boys are more likely than girls to be drawn to and enjoy video games, so the results of this testing may have skewed towards a more positive reaction than would be expected from a testing with equal gender distribution. When extrapolating from this testing, this factor should be taken into consideration. If this mockup is selected as the final design, testing with more children, specifically girls, would give more reliability to measurements of enjoyment and overall engagement factor.
Conclusion: The results suggest that this mockup is successful at retention of chemistry vocabulary, but more importantly, is extremely effective at engaging and entertaining users. The mockup received glowing reviews from six of the seven users. The gameplay, aesthetics, battle system, and general flow of the mockup was praised by the users. There are two design challenges that must be addressed if future iterations of this mockup are to be successful. First, an instruction manual for downloading the software must be written and distributed to users to make the downloading process much easier. Second, the default volume must be lowered to protect the ears of users upon launching the game. Overall, the success of this mockup indicates that the RPG game should be the mockup taken forward and prototyped as the final design.
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