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Why did we decide to do new tests?

We decided to do a new round of tests right after the first ones, mainly because we were missing 2 tests for our delivery. So we thought it would be good to make some changes that, in theory, would go a long way to make the game better and would be easy to implement. To then test these changes to see if they solve our problems.

What were the main fixes from the #1 round?

The fixes we did had to be easy to implement but meaningful to the players.
So we decided to:

• Fix the radio. The player was able to hear the radio in every place of the room where the radio was. We made it so the radio sound is only heard close to it, as any other sound would be.
• Take one of the kitchen faucets away.
• Move the microwave away from the rest of the machines.
• Move the coffee machine to the middle of the room.
• Delete the drying machine sound and the ability to have sounds.
• Delete the mini freezer.
• Delete one of the vinyl players and one of the radios, and give the remaining vinyl player the deleted radio logic.

Take a look at the old sound distribution map.

An here is the new sound distribution map.

Why were these fixes done?
All of these fixes were mainly related to the overwhelming feeling the players felt during the gameplay. This is our fixing priority as it is what defines if our game is playable or unplayable.

What were the objectives of these tests?

The research objectives of this new round were:

• Do players need, and can they memorize, every sound? ​
• Do players get lost while trying to correct an object? ​
• Is the number of objects on the map and in each room good?

What did we take away?
Compared with the #1 round, we took the following objectives away:

• Is the space in the house enough to traverse? ​
• Is the jump useful or misleading? ​
• Is the number of slots in the inventory good? ​
• Are the objects difficult to aim at? ​
• Are the sounds difficult to relate to the objects present in the game?​
• Are the players able to distinguish between important objects and non-important ones? ​
• Do the players get the right feeling while looking around the house? ​
• Are the menu and UI easy to use?

Why did we take those away?
Most of the objectives that we took away don’t need to be tested anymore, as we already got the responses we needed. Others are not related in any way to the changes we did, so we didn’t want to test them.

Here is a video testing the new Togglable sounds and finding some bugs.

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What did we get from the #2 round?

The main thing we found, and we weren’t expecting, is that, because we made the house less overwhelming, the players were able to stop, hear the sounds, and think where they should be. This was always what we intended for the player to do. Before, because they couldn’t think properly, they basically just relied on trial and error.
We also found that the changes in the kitchen were for the best.
Some things we found and are already working on are:

• Players need to hear what sounds they have in their inventory.
• And players were confused because we were using object names for the sounds.

What are we posting next?

Next week, I want to give you an update on our art. As Orlando (game artist) has been working a lot.