Design Review - May 25, 2006

Location: Stanford University, Graduate Community Center
Time: 2:30 - 3:45 pm
Participants: 2


I had an 1 hour and 20 minute review with two young adults today. I had a review with a heavy gamer. Owns an xbox, gamecube, DS and PS2 lite who is a single male. In the same room was a non-gamer female with a small family. They both reviewed the game. I recorded the entire conversation. During the test they observed the 5/21 prototype and the game structure diagram.

Here are some of the highlights:

Interface

• Menus should not obstruct the game screen, use a sidebar and restrict the playable area
• Blink mission icons need more information - Have missions pop up with titles and then fade away, List mission on lower right
• Vaccine game art is counter-intuitive. You should use the dropper to drop vaccine on populations
• Don't mix photo realistic and illustrations. Only place you can do that is on a map
• Be consistent with the use of colors across modes when displaying game stats
• consider using a pie chart to display people's health status. they identitfied 4 states - contracted not dead, immunity, dead, and don't have it
• hospital beds feels to granular, too specific. maybe call it healthcare infrastructure
• Game needs a dashboard, some homebase
• Should integrate the mini-game locations into the main screen so they are on the same screen
  

Gameplay

• Sim levels feel like a multiple choice test. Need to clearly choose between what type of simulation will be presented. Will you manage complex situations in real-time as in (SimCity) or turn-based like Civilization or will you get a series of screens you click through.
• game needs integration; too disjointed.
• God view gets boring, having the family helps, but they want some familiar characters across the mini-games
  
• introduce collectibles that relate to the goal of the mini-games to encourage play
• collectible ideas:
• something pretty, photo for the desktop
• interface change
• music
• trophy or medal
• access to harder mini-games or challenges
• new characters
• new tools - a better vaccine
• personal mementos or pictures of lives you have saved that you keep on your dashboard
• have extra challenge missions that are sub-plot to the main story that are very challenging and require higher skill
• okay to play the virus just not in the main game

Learning:

• Must scaffold learning. important to teach people about the pieces individually without throwing them into the full-functioning sim. Too confusing
• Must provide goals, can't be as open as the Sims
• Mini-games give the player as well as the designer a way to track and asses what they've learned; formative assessment
  

Other games to check out:

• Startcraft - an RTS game
  
• Rampart
• Civilization - turn-based strategy game
  
• *priority* Black and white 2 - has minigames and simulation
  
• ACT Razor - strategy game with concrete goal
  
• *priority* Trauma Center (DS) - has a challenge where you tackle a flu virus as a doctor
  

Recording
They have given permission to post this recording online.
Listen to the recording now