Rampaging Wizard

Usability Test Report

V 1.0

Mark Della-CroceAugust 1st, 2015

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Information

Subject #1 Subject #2 Subject #3 Subject #4 Subject #5

Gender Female Female Female Female Female

Age 68 60 26 64 32

Experience Mobile/Casual

PC Casual Mobile/Casual

Mobile/Casual Casual

Total Time 1.25 Hour 45 Minutes 1 Hour 50 Minutes 1 Hour

Variables Subject #1 Subject #2 Subject #3 Subject #4 Subject #5

Time: Tutorial Level 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ 10m+

Time: Level 1 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ 10m+

Time: Level 2 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ N/A

Time: Level 3 10m+ N/A

Time: Level 4 10m+ 10m+ 10m+ N/A

Time: Level 5

Time: Level 6

Time: Level 7

Time: Level 8

Items Collected 214 199 170 267 185

Levels Completed 1 3 2 0 0

Errors Encountered 0 0 0 0 0

Questions Asked 2 0 7 3 5

Times Restarted: Tutorial

11 6 14 11 18

Times Restarted: Level 1

24 6 7 9 13

Times Restarted: Level 2

5 8 11

Times Restarted: Level 13

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Times Restarted: Level 4

5 14 15

Times Restarted: Level 5

Times Restarted: Level 6

Times Restarted: Level 7

Times Restarted: Level 8

Times Continued

Platforms Jumped On 43 49 32 39 45

Enemies Defeated 12 75 19 4 13

Running Score 36,000 692,992 25,000 15,300 30,000

Deaths to Falling 0 0 5 6 2

Deaths to Enemies 26 20 17 19 5

Deaths to Spikes 47 10 25 14 10

Upgrades Selected: Types

75% Increase and Spell

None Spell None None

The first thing we would like testers to do is give us input on is their first impression of the game.

● The game looked like a typical platformer style game that is usually easy to play.

We would like to test for specifically is progression barriers, if there is any sections where the user feels they became stuck and could not progress any further.

● The game’s difficulty grew exponentially as soon as the enemies were thrown into the mix. The spikes and pits were also a little too large.

How fluent were the controls and how easy was the menu navigation?● The controls were a little finicky for the subjects. They generally felt that using the

spacebar as jump was a bit difficult to use. All subjects said that the menu system was legible and easy to use.

What age group do they feel this game is targeted for?

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● Ages 10- 15

How well was the information on the screen displayed to you? Was it easy to read and understand?

● The information was displayed on the screen in a way that made it difficult to read it. During the tutorial level most of the subjects didn’t even notice the messages on the background.

How long did it take to get through each level? ● All users took about 10 minutes for each level, except level 3 was not playable for

some users.

Was the user able to to play the whole test period? ● Yes, all users played the full test period.

Did the controls seem self explanatory or was there more definition needed? ● The controls did seem a little bit self explanatory, but with some of the vocabulary

they used it was either misspelled or poorly worded such as “Stampede-ing Knight” and “Pew Pew”(instead of simply saying shoot).

If the participant could change anything about the experience, what would they change and why?

● The participants general consensus was to change the jump button to shift or up to make coordination easier.

Issues

Sudden Difficulty Increase● Type: Game Play● Severity: Critical● Reduce number of enemies and the speed at which they move and fire. Increase this

with each level slightly.

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If the level adds a new gameplay feature it should tell the player before encountering it● Type: QA● Severity: Medium● Reproduction steps if QA issue:

○ Load Rampaging Wizard.○ Press Start Game.○ Play until Player Avatar reaches the Checkered Tape(Ribbon).○ Observe that New Level is NOT defined.

Sometimes the character would stop firing despite having mana.● Type: QA● Severity: Critical● Reproduction steps if QA issue:

○ Load Rampaging Wizard.

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○ Press Start Game.○ Left Click Mouse until you cannot shoot Lighting Bolts anymore. ○ Observe Player not able to Shoot.

The anger bar doesn’t give adequate information when low● Type: QA● Severity: Critical● Reproduction steps if QA issue:

○ Load Rampaging Wizard.○ Press Start Game.○ Don’t Move Player or Left Click Mouse.○ Observe Screen.

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Game was too fast paced to see the tutorial information.● Type: QA● Severity: Critical● Reproduction steps if QA issue:

○ Load Rampaging Wizard.○ Press Start Game.○ Begin Tutorial Level.○ Observe the tutorial information text in background.

No Checkpoints● Type: Game Play● Severity: Medium● Add a checkpoint halfway through each level.

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Spike Traps and Pitfalls are too large● Type: Game Play● Severity: Low● Reduce the size of the spikes and the pitfalls to make them a little easier to get over.

Level Select screen only partially works● Type: QA● Severity: Medium● Reproduction steps if QA issue:

○ Load Rampaging Wizard.○ Press Level Select at Main Menu.○ Press Level 1 and/or Level 3.○ Observe that you cannot Continue play on Level 1 and/or Level 3.

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AnalysisWhat specific user errors occurred while completing tasks?

● Did 3 users experience similar issues?○ In the Level Select Menu you were not able to select Levels 1 and Level 3.○ Alot of our users did not understand what the Mana or Anger was used for.○ Doesn’t show which level you are in at the moment.

How long did the user take to complete tasks? Out of our five playtesters it took an average of 48 minutes to complete each task. Out of each level (3) that was playable it took an average of 9.6 to complete each level. Total gameplay hour from all playtesters combined is 4 hours.

● Did the difficulty ramp steadily? ○ The difficulty ramp up faster than usual for our casual gamers. Our playtesters

had to restart each level more than three times to actually get the hang of the speed of the enemies and timing of arrows coming towards them to dodge.

Extract from notes:● Quotes:

○ “Pew, Pew why don’t you say “Shoot” instead. ○ “Ugh I have to start the level all over again, aren’t there any checkpoints like

Mario.”○ “I don’t like that I can shoot my health potions when I really need it to go

further in the game”.○ “Why can’t I shoot anymore Lighting Bolts”.

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● Emotions:○ Frustrations with enemies approaching quickly at the beginning of the game

while reading tutorial text during gameplay.○ Disappointment that there was no music during gameplay, made the gaming

experience dull.○ Confused with the jump control, wish the jump button was different maybe

the Right Shift Key or W key.

Recommendations

Either from users or testing teams● The tutorial was a bit difficult for the testers to complete as the tutorial messages

were written on the background and were often missed due to the fast paced game play.

● The testers seemed to really enjoy the fact that the levels were relatively short in comparison to many other platformer games that are known.

Post Mortem

Reflection on the testing process and lessons learned.● What we did correctly?

○ Follow our own test procedures precisely and pushed ourselves to not interfere or lead the subjects.

● What we did incorrectly?○ In hindsight, we should have had a larger pool of test subjects but with

varying time constraints we ended up with the pool we have.● What would your team do different the next test session?

○ Acquiring a larger pool of test subjects with varying experience levels would have provides us with much more accurate data in a large amount.

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