Bullet Time - Testing Summary

This week was an important milestone for the project, as we were able to get valuable feedback on our game prototype from our peers, including ideas for improvement and general thoughts on the various gameplay aspects. The prototype for testing included one playable level, a complete user interface, and had the major elements of gameplay implemented, including the bullet controls, time control mechanism, score system, and level goal (a.k.a. the “boss” at the end of the level).

During the testing sessions, we had at least two of our team members stay on call at all times to facilitate and note down any observations regarding how the testers played the game, and what they found difficult to understand. Some of these observations included:

• The time control mechanic was not obvious enough and had to be explained to testers.
• The goal is not immediately obvious enough. Testers were not sure of what to do until they played around enough to figure it out.
• Controls seemed difficult to get the hang of. Testers failed often on their first attempt.
• The game/scene starts too abruptly, there was very little time to figure out what was going on before you hit the first target.

In addition to the observations made by our team members, we asked each of the testers to provide anonymous feedback about the game in an online form we provided. The questions asked were mostly in the form of a scale from 1-5 regarding different aspects of the game, like how much fun the game was to play, and how easy certain gameplay elements were to understand and apply.

There were also some closing open-ended questions asking the testers for general feedback and potential areas of improvement. The answers we obtained from this part of the survey generally pertained to the following areas:

• An option to select/deselect inverted controls
• More variety of powerups
• Scoring more influenced by bullet speed
• Ability to aim and fire the bullet, rather than automatic start
• Less restrictive movement

We will look to implement the first three of these suggestions for this prototype, and hopefully the fourth as well.  We will experiment with the movement to try and find a balance between maintaining the gradual curve of a bullet’s trajectory and enabling more possible options for players to approach a level.

Taking into account all areas of feedback we received through testing, we have thought about some of the ways in which we can improve the game. While the feedback received was generally positive and encouraging, there are clearly aspects of the prototype which can be improved in order to enhance the player’s experience while playing Bullet Time. The user testing feedback has helped us to identify these aspects.

Thanks to those who helped with testing and provided feedback.