Crit

Overall, we thought the crit went well. We were able to produce a well-developed concept and a working game. Also, we were able to play the game successfully to our tutors.

Final Game:

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The game and its experience were very enjoyable to play, as its a multiplayer game allowing people work together to pass the level.

When playing the game, we were able to spot elements that we would like to change/ think about in the development of the game.

We also received feedback from our tutors:

• Using different colours for the shape (our group had previously said that we needed to change the outline, however, due to some communication errors we were unable to add this to our final design)
• Getting people to test the game.
• Thinking about proportions of the shape and person.
• Images being more “human” like as some shapes looked too wide/thin.
• Thinking about how shadows can be clearer to get a more accurate shape (think about lighting).
• Making unusable shapes rather than generic ones using  – making the game harder.

Whilst playing the game, I found some elements of the UI that I would change myself:

• Removing the pass/indicator notifier – I don’t feel that this was necessary as I didn’t pay enough attention to it to see if I had passed or failed. I paid more attention to the transition of the next shape and the time out.
• Adding less generic shapes such as a flower and instead using objects to from that shape to add a level of difficulty.
• Conducting further testing on the shapes prior to the crit to get proportions right – whilst creating the shape of holding a bird, I found it difficult to form as the arm was much larger to the amount of space/room I had to create when using the light. This also made the shadow a lot fainter which made it hard to see if I was doing it correctly.

Testing/ UI Redesign

A group member wanted us to try and different way to project our work instead of using tables and a projector as there were some difficulties/ problems that we wanted to overcome. We decided to hang a sheet on the wall and on opposite sides was the projector (to show the shapes and main UI) and a light (to create shadows of the player).

The original UI used a white background alongside a white outline for the shapes. We used the design but found it was too bright for any shadows to be made and it created too much light in the room which washed out the UI. We decided to do some tests found that darker colours worked better.

This led to the conclusion that the shape fill and the UI needed to be black as well as the shapes having a white outline in order to be visible to the player.

UI Redesign:

I have changed the background colour of the interface, to give a better experience for the user as well as make it clearer when playing the game.New Additions:

We also introduced a start, win and loss screen to give the user more context. This gives the player an idea of when the game will begin.These screens above will be shown at the end of the game in order to tell the player whether they have won or lost.

Development

We thought of some ideas which we could use when playing the game, we got the projector again and we brought in some shapes that the player could copy.

From here I was able to take images to help me sketch out how each shape would look by taking note of proportion, width and height of different shapes when drawing them digitally.One of our shapes was a person feeding a cat. I was able to place this in Adobe Illustrator and use it as a guide to sketch around and then work with proportions to look make it look straight. During the last session, it was suggested to fill the shape with a colour in order to create a difference in colour between the shadow and the shape being displayed on the wall.As for the main interface, my peers from games design have created a coded and working version using Unity. This includes a working timer and a pass or fail indicator which will work when selecting the top and bottom keys on the keypad.

Prototyping/ Development / Final Design

In this project, I am responsible for the UX/UI and have created the main interface design.

Prototype:

I thought about the key components that we could include in the game such as level, time, shape, pass or fail indicator.Development:

I started thinking about layout and proportions of each section as well as how each component works together.Initial Design:

I have created two designs that I feel could possibly work. They both use the same elements but have been designed differently. I should think about if a leaderboard is really needed for the game as its an analogue game, not digital. Furthermore, I have brought in a hierarchy by specifically, making different sections bigger or smaller based on their importance.

In this design I have changed the size of the name, removed the Fail indicator making the Level, score, time and leaderboard more prominent. However, I do think an indicator should be shown. I need to make this fit with the design well.

Development of Final Design:

I have shown my peers my final design and received some feedback, such as removing the leaderboard as we don’t feel its necessary and enlarging the time due to it being a key part of the game.

 The next stage is to develop this further by filling any gaps in the design.

Testing

To understand the set up of the game and find the correct location for it to be played in our group conducted some testing.

My role for this game is to design the interface and shapes that will be projected. Due to our theme being The Usual Suspects, I created a prototype based on this theme.

The user should stand in this shape and find the objects, in this case, a knife and hat to pass the level.

Test 1:

We decided to visit a few locations, the first one being in the media block to see how the shape would be projected.

Test 1

Test 1

We soon realized that the space was too small due to how close the projector needed to be to the wall, in order for there to a reasonable size for the user to fill. Also located on the main wall was a door, this disrupted the image a greatly.

Test 2:

We changed room as the previous one didn’t work for us. We were able to find a much larger room, that worked well with the distance of the projector and the person filling the image.

Test 2

Test 2

Again, due to our theme being The Usual Suspects, we needed to think about some designs for each level. After some thought, we decided to change the name of the game to Above & Below as we found it quite complex to come up with designs that specifically linked to this. Above & Below allowed us to have a range of shapes and greater range of ideas.

Brief & Pitch

Brief:

Design a game from a selection of names and conditions. The game should be set up within time minutes and play time is no longer than 15 minutes. Also, there are restrictions: the game should take place in the area indicated on the map provided or a single area, it can be either indoors or outdoors and contain digital elements.

Game:

Players must match to a shadow on the wall (police line-up–themed) to score points and win.

Name: The Unusual Suspects

Condition: Without Light

Pitch:

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Overall we thought the presentation went well, however, we should think about the digital side of this game as its a possibility that it will not work. The next stage is to do some prototyping/ user testing to find out if it will work properly when designing it digitally.