Testing

Measuring Playability:

To measure the playability of the game one must first consider the following factors:
1. Age of participants
2. Difficulty of game
3. Aesthetics
4. Controls

Whereas the participants must fall within the Teen-Mature age bracket as defined by the *ESRB; the difficulty can neither be so low as to not be a challenge, nor to high as to become tedious; the game must appear pleasing to the eye and the scenes should be easy to interpret; the controls must be straight forward and easy to learn.

To determine playability, each participant will be issued a survey at the end of the testing period, where they will rate the program from 1 – 10 across these several factors through a series of 20 questions. A score of 1 indicates “poor”, where as a score of 10 shows the player found the game to be “excellent” in that specific area. Depending on the scores received, the game may need to be revised to better appeal to the audience, or left as tested if reviews are overwhelmingly positive.



Plan of Action:

1. Testing will performed by the second week of February 2008.
2. If necessary, the game will be revised and participants will again perform survey
3. Process will repeat until product receives overwhelmingly positive reviews
4. Game must be completed by March 15, 2008





Testing Procedure:

1. Prepare demo of game for testing specifications, i.e. ensure sound and video functions and control schemes are adequate, and it can be completed in two hours or less.
2. Submit game to fifteen subjects, each over seventeen years in age. The game will be on a CD Rom, along with a survey document to be completed upon finishing testing
3. Subjects will play game until completion, upon which they will fill out a survey describing their experience and recommending any changes.
4. Game will be revised according to specifications of original subjects
5. Process will repeat with new subjects until all parties are satisfied with the overall experience.

Expectations:

The game will most likely have to endure several rounds of testing before being submitted. However, any necessary revisions will not be major, and the process should run smoothly. Ultimately, the game should appeal to audiences due to its content and appropriateness and will be a prime candidate for submission into the TSA Competition.





Results:

The testing of Willowbrook went smoothly. Participants were chosen from online, as well as classmates, and other peers. They were all from a 15 – 25 age group, so their opinions reflect that. Each individual was instructed to fill out a short, five-question survey following their play-testing to evaluate their experience (See Figure 1-3). The majority of participants found the experience positive, and it is a viable game. However, the problems that did occur will not be rectifiable, due to the limited time following testing and the end of the school year.






Figure 1-3: Survey

Please indicate your response to the following by circling one of the corresponding numbers. One represents extremely poor, while ten indicates perfection.

1. How would you rate the game’s overall playability?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2. How effective where the graphics in conveying the overall theme of the game?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3. Rate how easy the story was to follow?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4. How enjoyable was the game overall?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please indicate your answers to the following open-ended questions in the space allotted.

1. What was the most memorable/defining aspect of your gameplay?










2. What are some suggestions you would make to improve the overall experience?