Exercise
● Video a minimum of 5 users playing your game. Do not answer questions. Let them suffer. 

Reading

"Why Should Indie Devs Care About Video Game Usability Testing?

Game design usability testing obviously differs from usability in websites and apps because we're focusing more on the "fun" in play and the challenge for the players to reach the outcome. So there should always be questions of how they perceive those elements. If we start the iterative design process from the beginning, the product will for sure come out in better quality than if we didn't since we are always interacting and analyzing feedback from the target audience we are designing for (target audience over diversity).

Parameters to identify your audience that you cn present as a questionnaire 

• Age/Gender
• Favorite genre
• Favorite platform to play
• Playing habits (How long? How often? Using pause/resume? Using power-ups or extra lives?)

Guerrilla Usability Testing: just do it, it is an informal usability testing to get fast feedback about a prototype, it's reccomended to do this when you at least have a "Dummy level" or something playable. Generally testing up to 20 is the most optimal number, but test with what you have

1. perform at a comfortable pace/space, ask if people if they want to play your game for a few minutes (don't push it)
2. explain the experiment and its context, but keep it casual 
3. questionaire, honestly this parts kind of awkward because if they don't pass you'd just be like okay thank you for your time goodbye, maybe you could open with casual talk about if they play games and what kind of stuff they play
4. have your game prepared
5. follow the think-aloud protocol
6. finish the testing in a reasonable time frame, if you have the budget reward them for their time

Questions you may ask about the game during the testing

• Does the character move smoothly inside the scenario?
• Do controllers react the way you expect to your movements?
• Do you think the character’s movement is fluid?
• Does the character move too slowly/fast or does it jump too high/low?
• Do you think there is a clear difference between enemies and power-ups?
• Are you aware of the level’s goal from the beginning?
• Are enemies too easy or too difficult to beat?
• Do you think like there is too much information on the screen?
• Would you play longer? Why/why not?

On-Site Testing: where a person from the dev team guides a user through their testing of a game, forces the player to go through the critical parts of the game and allows the team to observe and analyze these interactions, professional recording would record the user, the user's screen and the environment being tested in. To make the most out of the testings, the game should be almost finished (completed gameplay and structure and levels - or at least the ones you want your players to test, main screens)

1. set up a space for the user testing with the game installed, be sure you have enough battery on your machines
2. explain the testing process and that the user will be recorded, remind them to speak aloud (the user should be talking more than you)
3. decide the level of guidance you want to give your user, a checklist of the paths you want to evaluate and let them roam free, give a general and clear goal and observe how different players perform in reach that goal
4. Answer their questions and help whenever they ask, these are flag in usability testing
5. write down keywords the user says during the playtest
6. informal chat of overall impression

Subjective questions to ask during the user testing:

• Is it clear enough how to advance through the game?
• Is it clear enough the final goal of the game?
• Do you think it is too easy or too complicated to advance through the game?
• Do you think the stages have a right length?
• Are you able to go easily to the main screen?
• What element would make you play this video game again?
• What element would make you not play it again?
• Have you played similar video games in the past? What makes this better/worse?

Beta Phase: final product that contains major features, still not perfect, bug-fixes

• Surveys: provide reawrds in order to promote honest and interesting responses, Typeform
• Quantative data: Google Analytics (behavior flow, Location and other nitty bitty details, level complexity, rentention, crashes)
  • heat map: visual representation of where on the HUD is frequently pressed
• Session duration

Typical question to ask users:

• Do you think the story behind the game play fits well? Why/why not?
• Do you think the increase of challenge is progressive?
• Have you stopped playing for a while? What made you or did not make you go back to play again?
• Have you felt frustrated at some point? Why?
• How many times did you feel blocked while playing? Did you overcome those situations?
• Do you think the reward system when you reach a goal is fair?
• Would you recommend this video game to a friend?
• What is the main thing you would change?

Research
● User testing. Document the best practices that makes sense to you. Plan for a structure you can re-use in other semesters and projects.