Present from KCAD: 6 students working that have not played the game before
Present from GRPM Staff: Erin Koren (Museum Educator), Gina Bivens (Historian), plus other museum educators. All of them had played the game before.
This version had no prices on the items in their locations. Item prices were listed on the tallier sheet. Players had to visit shops to see if the item they suspected to be correct... was in stock.
The museum was unusually quiet.
Slide-Show Overview of the Game-Play
Old Streets Game
Photos demonstrating the 2-step processes most players employed when viewing the AR
First they watched the animation. Then, they rewatched, reading the subtitles. They were unable to watch the animation and read the subtitles at the same time.
Detailed Test Observations
Gameplay
The game needs to get players to spend more time looking into and discovering things in the locations. 3 of the teams were able to partially, or completely hack the game and did not need to spend that much time seeking items in their locations.
Put all items in one list and add more red herrings (out of stock, wrong prices). That will make the game much harder to hack
Instructions: The part about items not being in stock was not noticed by the teams working strictly off the instructions and not remembered by the other teams.
Action... make it a lot clearer & put in multiple places
Add train delay story to explain the out-of-stock issue
Need a reward at the end
Make a paper check system and stamp or sticker reward
Eventually make a digital version with a QR code on a poster that provides an animated reward (players enter their answers into a form field)
Additional Gameplay Ideas
Make users solve riddles to figure out some prices
Some items that have prices on them in the store would not have prices on the sheet. Players would need to find them.
Add multiples of items... requires more math
Map and navigation
Add street names on the maps - this will connect it connect with contemporary GR
Game was playable without the historical figure key, so that can be left off of the
tallier Sheet.
Place icons next to place names for young non-readers
May make game too easy
May removes some of the discovery aspects
Might oversimplify from an educational aspect (without reading required)
Tallier Sheet
Nobody knows what a gunstock is
Pick another item ... maybe the trap
Items
Move the Street Railway Ticket prices to the Indiana and GR Railroad ticket area.
There is a pick axe.. so it cannot be out of stock
Having many of the items be out of stock meant less engagement with the actual items in the shops.
Targets
Spread posters around so each team has to move around more
Ezra Holmes should be near Rudell
J.C. Craig should be at back of gun shop (across from engine house next to bench)
Chan hoy needs to move into a better lighted side of the post (it was too dark for the camera to recognize the target).
AR Animations
Replacing Holmes (unfinished)
Anna Bissell (need better lipsync)
Target and AR Animation Interaction
Phone: subtitles and animations were readable for the holder but not so much for the group
It's fairly typical to watch the animations twice
The museum was quiet so all the teams could hear the audio and did not need to rely on the subtitles
Game Difficulty Ideas
Add a separate price sheet
Write down the location where the item is found (on the navigator's map)
More item choices (that are in-stock but the wrong price)