Characters & NPCs Design User Testing

Characters & NPCs Design User Testing Plan

Author: Changhao Xi

Introduction

This user testing plan is designed to gather objective feedback for the design of playable characters & in-game NPC in ‘Retroactive’. In order to iteratively refine the sprites of characters & NPCs and improve animations of movement to make the style of characters & in-game NPCs fit with the chosen theme of “Retroactive” – with the atmosphere of 80’s and vibrant colours are widely applied. The user testing evaluation will be conducted in the form of a combination of direct interaction with the game “Retroactive” and a semi-structured interview. The user testing session will be conducted multiple times for a sufficient quantity & wide coverage of feedback.

Organiser and Participant

Each user testing session is hosted by a member from Team 1 Studio 7, who will be the organiser of the evaluation session and interviewer. For the purpose of maintaining the objectiveness of the evaluation session, all participants are individuals outside of the studio session, who have no previous knowledge of the game, and each participant is allowed to join the evaluation session once in each iteration.

Aims & Objectives

The main objective of the user testing session is to understand people’s thoughts on the sprites design of playable characters and NPCs from the following perspectives:

• If the pixelated style and chosen colour schemes reflect the theme of “Retrowave”.
• If the shading on sprites makes the characters & NPCs more multi-dimensional.
• If animations flow smoothly without any potential issues (i.e. Shapeshifting of the characters and/or NPCs) when characters are moving.

Preparation

For the success of the evaluation, the following materials must be prepared in advance:

• The latest version of the “Retroactive” game engine with fully functional movement animations fully functional.
• The wiki page “NPCs & Characters Design”, which contains visual illustrations of characters & NPCs, as well as chosen colour schemes.
• The wiki page “Game Style”, which contains detailed information related to the chosen game style “Retrowave”.
• Paper or computing device for the organiser (interviewer) to take down quick notes.
• The organiser and the participant will need to present for the evaluation session.

Testing Plan

• Step 1: The participant will be welcomed, then they will be informed of the identity of the organiser (interviewer), the purpose of this evaluation session, and the process/steps that will happen during the evaluation session.
• Step 2: The organiser – one team member from Team 1 will introduce how the information collected will be used (only for academic purposes); who will have access to those data (only members of Team 1, individuals from other teams and the teaching staff); how the data collected will be stored (in organiser’s personal laptop & shared cloud document).
• Step 3: Verbal consent from the participant will be required for recording their answers in the interview, if the consent is provided, the semi-structured interview session will be recorded.
• Step 4: The game engine of “Retroactive” will be launched, the participant will be asked to select a character to join the game and then control the character to move around in the game using WASD keys.
• Step 5: After gaining experience of controlling the playable characters in game, the participant will be required to check out two wiki pages, the “Game Style” one first and then “NPCs and Characters Design” for a basic understanding of the chosen theme/game style and designing of sprites & colour schemes.
• Step 6: The participant will be asked the following questions, if consent is provided, answers to the following questions will be recorded.
• Question 1: After reviewed two wiki pages, do you think the art style of the sprites matched with the chosen game style - “Retrowave”? Why? (If their answer is negative, ask them what could be improved to fix the mismatch.)
• Question 2: After reviewed two wiki pages, do you think the chosen colour scheme of each character/NPC reflects the chosen game style? Why? (If their answer is negative, ask them what colour/colours will work better.)
• Question 3: After experienced controlling the character in game, what’re your thoughts on animations triggered when you pressed the WASD keys? (If the answer is negative, ask them what the specific issue of animations is & what could be done to potentially resolve the problem.)
• Step 7: Inform participant of the completion of the evaluation session, express appreciation of their time and contribution, let them know that they are free to leave whenever they wish to.

Testing Outcomes

Participant 1: 24 M

Q1: "The art style of sprites for characters matched with the style in the game design page, I think the only difference is the density of pixels. Obviously, the pictures contained in the game style page are with higher resolution and apparently with more recognisable details, but essentially, they are both made out of pixel points, so my answer is there is no mismatch in terms of the art style."

Summary: The chosen art style of the game matches with design of characters, because they are both pixelated.

Q2: "As for colour schemes, I think they are quite matched too, because based on the descriptions in the game style page, one of the characteristics of Retrowave style is the wide application of neon colours. And in the design of those characters, you can also see many of bright, vibrant colours were being applied widely. Including bright yellow, blue, green and so on. I think the combination of those neon colours perfectly reflected the theme of Retrowave, especially for that pair of shoes, it caught my eye straight away."

Summary: The chosen colour scheme matched with Retrowave theme, because they both apply bright & vibrent colours in a large portion.

Q3: "In terms of the animation, I think generally speaking, they look pretty cool in game. Again, I must admit that my eye was caught straight away when they are actually moving, especially for those isometric textures, they successfully set up a dynamic vibe for the game. Hmm, I suppose the only comment that I have is that when I stopped pressing the key, the character will just stand like frozen. I mean, I know that the character should stand still if no command was received, but it is kind does not match with the general vibe of the game … they look a bit strange to me, because you know in many of the games, even if characters or NPCs are not moving but standing, their will always be some animations and similar things being triggered, like they will move their arms and legs for a bit or do things like yawning. You know what I mean? I figure if similar thing could happen for characters in Retroactive, it will be pretty cool."

Summary: The forzen status when characters are standing highly contrasted with the dynamic vibe and atmosphere of the game. It has been suggested that additional sprites should be created to make the standing characters animated slightly, which will make the animation of characters flows smoother.

Q1: What did you think about the green outline of this boy character? Do you think it can show the buffed mode?

Answer:

User1: I think it looks very outstanding with this light green outline. I pretty like this because it feels powerful. It make me think about the v energy drink, which has a very similar colour. User2: It looks good. The green outline looks very powerful same as the hulk.

Q2: Is the green outline match the background colour?

Answer:

User1: Yep, It is pretty matched. And it is very outstanding.

User2: I think so, just it is too light. Maybe?