4.2 Evaluation of Usability Features

Effective

Feature No.	Description	Success/Fail
1	There is a sufficient amount of gameplay to enjoy	Partial success

Whilst I did not expand the game and amount of content as much as I had intended with the initial goals of the game, however the results from question 1 in Usability Testing the results were either neutral or positive. Despite the mixture of results no player said they did not enjoy the amount of gameplay but some had implied there could have been more ideally for more to do and play through. Therefore in my future development I aim to expand the amount of content whether that is areas to explore or new quests to complete.

Efficient

Feature No.	Description	Success/Fail
1	Different areas of the game are easy to find and access	Success

Feature 1

I believe that this criteria was a big success with everyone who tested, as seen in question 4 in Usability Testing, agreed with the prompt that areas of the game and map were easy to find and access. This can always be improved on however with small indicators to make it easy as possible for the player but at the moment is not something I am choosing to focus on for near future development.

Engaging

Feature No.	Description	Success/Fail
1	The game keeps players engaged	Success
2	The visual style should be attractive to keep players	Success

Feature 1

I looked into this feature through my Usability Testing and found that almost everyone had agreed with the given prompt in Question 3 saying they remained engaged. This can link back to other categories whether that is sufficient content to enjoy or a range of features to use whilst playing. I believe this goes quite hand in hand with the other prompts of sufficient content to enjoy since I believe that was a major reason why players were all not fully engaged. This is why I am putting this near first in future parts of the program to finish in future development since this is a key feature for an enjoyable game.

Feature 2

As seen in my Usability Testing and overwhelming majority strongly agreed that they believed the visual style of the game was appealing leading to them playing for longer or getting someone to play initially. This is something I believe I did well with my development is a key aspect of my game and how it attracts players and keeps them from moving on to another game with similar features.

Error Tolerant

Feature No.	Description	Success/Fail
1	There are no bugs that break the game	Success
2	The game should be consistently over 30FPS	Success
3	The game should not crash or freeze	Success

Feature 1

Whilst this was discussed in Usability Testing and had reports of users finding bugs that were either visual or affected the direction of the gameplay, none of these stopped the experience as a whole or broke the game. This means I still believe this passes the criteria due to the game remaining enjoyable and playable.

Feature 2

This was outlined earlier on in the Testing for Function and Robustness section where the framerate was consistently above the 30 frames per second marker I outlined early in the project for an enjoyable experience. During my testing I found consistently on a range of devices the number was closer to 60 almost doubling the original criteria.

Feature 3

During the Testing for Function and Robustness section even putting the game under a wide range of unique circumstances and situations intended to put the machine and game under stress in no situation did the game crash or freeze. I believe this is a big strength of the game since having this error handling early on can allow for an uninterrupted experience in the gameplay.

Easy To Learn

Feature No.	Description	Success/Fail
1	The controls are intuitive and easy to understand	Partial success
2	The menu is easy to navigate	Success
3	The combat mechanics are simply and easy to understand	Success

Feature 1

Whilst a small portion of the users felt neutral on the first prompt shown in the Usability Testing you can see however a large majority of users claimed to either strongly agree or agree that the controls are easy to use and intuitative. Whilst I did not have the time available to make a menu or tutorial displaying controls due to other important features needing priority according to the survey it appears that a majority still had an easy time figuring out the mechanics due to the nature of the simple controls.

Feature 2

As seen in Question 7 of the Usability Testing survey I had created, an overwhelming majority of users strongly agreed with the prompt on that the menu is easy is navigate. I think this is due to the simplistic design of the menu with not too many buttons or options that can confuse the player.

Feature 3

The original feature was outlined first in the Success Criteria with evidence to show the users experience in the Usability Testing for criterion 13. As you can see from the survey results all players either agreed or strongly agreed with the prompt showing that this is a strength of the game design that the players found that the combat system is intuitive and will not confuse the player due to its lack of complex controls.