Hypotheses testing (Week Summary 20/4-24/4)

This week we have been creating and conducting game tests in order to validate some of our hypothesis concerning fps UI solutions.

Our first test concerns (short-term) navigation. Our hypotesis is that a spatial navigational aid like Runner's Vision in ME are perferable to solutions like the one in BioShock (and perhaps that the beacons in ME's time trial mode are the most usefull - but might be considered to intrusive outside the scope of a highly competetive game mode.)

In this test players get to play the first level in Mirror's edge in order to experience navigating with the help of Runner's Vision. Next they get to try a segment of the next level, with RV turned off. After that they get to try playing a time-trial level, and navigate using the (much less subtle) beacons.

Finally they get to play the first 15-20 minutes of BioShock in order to experience navigating both with and without the games "Golden Compass".

After each short sessions the player will be interviewed about their experience with each navigational aid. How well they conveyed where to go, their level of intrusiveness, their level of helpfullness/usefullness and so on.

The second test is about "Meta Perception" - This time the players get to play brief, action packed episodes of Call of Duty 4, Battlefield BC, Killzone 2 and Halo 3 in short succession. The goal is to familiarize players with four quite different solutions of how to indicate that the player is taking damage (and the direction from where it originates). Players will then get to rank the games and elaborate around how well the solutions conveyed a sens of damage/injury/danger.

Our hypothesis in this case is; the more visceral the experience of being hurt the more immersive the game experience.