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Purpose:
On May 13, 2021, our team presented our design to our peers and instructors in order to receive feedback on how to proceed with the design. The goal of this design review was to gain peer opinions and feedback on the physical and graphical components of the mockup before beginning final prototyping. Most importantly, constructive criticism and suggestions were necessary to highlight any potential issues or lacking topics in our design that must be addressed in the final iterations of the project.
Methodology:
In the first ten minutes of the session, our team presented our design, which had been selected as the chemistry RPG mockup as a result of user testing and our final project definition. We dubbed the game “Journey through the Land of Molecules,” and presented a gameplay demonstration, various graphics of enemies and characters, a narrative plot line, and general outlines for the battle system. After presenting these items, we opened up the presentation to questions, criticisms, and compliments from the class. After about twenty minutes of open conversation, a google form was distributed to survey the opinions of the class. We decided that the use of a google form was the best option to record peer feedback, as both quantitative data and open ended opinion based answers could both be collected and analyzed.
Figure 18: Results from Question 6
Feedback Summary from Google Form:. (# responses)
Rate your overall reaction to this design. Scale 1-10, 10 being most positive.
10.0% 8 (1)
30.0% 9 (3)
60.0% 10 (6)
Rate the perceived effectiveness of this design in piquing a general interest in chemistry for late elementary and early middle schoolers. (1 being least engaging, 5 being most engaging).
10.0% 3 (1)
30.0% 4 (3)
60.0% 5 (6)
Rate the incorporation of chemistry content in the game (5: “incorporation of chem content is satisfactory”, 1: “Feels forced, use more INDIRECT chem content,” 10: “Needs significantly more DIRECT chem content”)
10.0% 5 (1)
30.0% 6 (3)
20.0% 7 (2)
20.0% 8 (2)
20.0% 10 (2)
Rate the anticipated ease of play and understanding of gameplay mechanics.
10.0% 1 (1)
30.0% 3 (3)
40.0% 4 (4)
20.0% 5 (2)
What are your thoughts on the overall aesthetics of the game? What features do you like? Are there any you dislike?
“It is very aesthetically pleasing”
“I think the game was made very well and resembles a fully functioning video game.”
“I like the graphics used, the design of the game and the diversity in your available characters.”
“I love the aesthetics of the character mockups. I think the current gameplay footage (not sure if this is meant to be the final concept) seems really aesthetically different from those characters, though. So maybe unifying the aesthetics more would help.”
“I really like this game. I think the aesthetics are cool. Since you guys only have ten weeks to flesh this out, I would just do the best you can to create a preliminary basis for the game.”
“Love”
“I like it!”
“I really like it I think you did a great job! Seems fun”
“Reminds me of Pokemon! Brings back nostalgia and i love it”
“I like that it already seems easy to learn and play. I can already see kids playing this.”
Please indicate additional components that you believe would enhance the prototype.
a. Instruction manual with general overview of chemistry concepts included in the game
b. Graphic of the game's world map.
c. Character and Enemy Graphics and Descriptions.
d. Extended gameplay walkthroughs
e. User experience storyboards
f. Narrative storyboards
g. Other:
Responses to this question are pictured above in Figure 18.
"Other" Response: The gameplay walkthroughs come potentially teach a little more about chemistry. For example, you could say "You can have these two characters battle, just like how they react to form this compound", or something like that
Do you have any accessibility concerns about the mockup?
“No”
“Nope”
“It looks a little bit complicated to understand, but overall it seems great.”
:The only thing I can think of is if kids don’t have access to a good computer at home, they may not be able to play.”
“The accessibility is great! The characters all have very unique silhouettes which is super great for colorblind users”
“Nope!”
“Will this be publicly available through app stores or will this be distributed among certain schools if requested”
“N/A”
Final thoughts?
“Good job!”
Verbal Feedback Given:
As the professors did not fill out the google form, their feedback was delivered verbally. They suggested to our team that we take a critical look on the emotional associations we create between characters. For example, they were concerned that having acids as enemies could ingrain the notion that all acids are dangerous substances into children’s minds. In addition, they suggested that the battle system could be restyled as reactions to eliminate the idea of violence from the game and pave the way for future extensions with complex reaction types. In addition, the professors liked the idea of expanding the range of the game, both in terms of the chemistry covered and the narrative and plot-line details. Overall, the professors gave our team very positive feedback, saying that they liked both the concept and the current execution, and that they could envision children playing the game.
Battle System:
Interesting weapons
Good use of periodic properties as skills
Incorporation of Chemistry Content
Indicated that they would like to see more explanation of chemistry connections and skills
More direct learning
A chemistry cheat sheet must be added to provide more descriptions and direct connections to gameplay elements. This, along with greater skill and battle explanations, will fulfill the need to teach chemistry more directly.
As shown through the feedback from both the professors and our peers, this design received overall glowing reviews. Our reviewers specifically enjoyed the overall layout of the game, including the scientific backing between the periodic properties as skills and elements as weapons. The aesthetics of the game were the most highly praised component of the design, as reviewers were engaged by the cute characters and visual effects. Finally, the reviewers appreciated that our team had strived to make the game accessible to individuals with visual impairments by checking the distinctiveness of the in-game characters under a variety of color settings. The main comment for improvement concerned the implementation of chemistry content, as reviewers wished to see more overt explanation of chemistry connections. The reviewers expressed interest in a deliverable of an accompanying chemistry concept sheet that explains the game content in greater scientific detail.
Next Steps and Action Plan:
Our next steps as a team is to continue developing the game. This includes creating more graphics of the world, developing the storyline, and creating a starter manual for the players. We will also try to expand the playable version of the game, and this would involve moving it onto a more recent version of RPG maker. This newer version would be more customizable for players, increase accessibility, and have higher graphics quality. Some deliverables that could elevate our final design include a chemistry concept guide, additional game graphics (map, characters, and enemies) and a user experience storyboard. Moving forward, we should also consider the methods by which our game will be distributed to users and school districts. Ultimately, the foundations of the design are very strong, and only minor tweaks and extensions are needed to turn our current design iteration into its final, complete form.
Table 6: Summary of Design Review Feedback
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