The Non-Gamer!

Today I tested with a further 6 people, out of which 1 failed the test again. The one that failed didnt manage to figure out that the symbols were actually able to be activated and was confused about the whole endeavour. Whereas everyone else who comepleted it managed to all complete it within a 5-10 minute margin this time round.

Out of the other 5 people that tested it all reacted as I had hoped, not knowing what to do for the first few minutes then eventually testing out things e.g. seeing if the symbols can be interacted with, then realising the walls moved. Once they realised that the walls moved they generally figured out the puzzle shortly after. Everytime they sat down to play, they always asked me what they had to do, but when I wasnt going to say anything they then started to explore for themselves. Every one of them again went to the switch from the start to which they all answered 'It was the only thing that seemed to be interactable' which was the reason they tried to press it.

I got a 7th and final player to test it today also, a player that doesn't play games atall! And to my amazement, she completed it! The test took her 30 minutes, so a while longer than some of the more hard-core testers, but still learnt exactly the same way as they did. One very interesting point was, where the ones that failed it were frustrated or confused, this tester was very relaxed while trying to figure out the puzzle. The only things I had to tell her (due to her not being a PC gamer) was that 'E' was interact 'WASD' was move and the mouse was to look around. Once this was understood she then explored the level and managed to match all the symbols, and even realised that some had to be added together. The walls that threw a few players, were thought about a lot differently also. This player at first thought that if she went to the smaller symbols above the walls, that maybe something would happen that would harm her so was hesitant at first; but after realising they didnt tried to see if something else happened even if something opened somewhere else. Finally as every player has done thus far, even this player went straight to the switch...because it looked like a button...

Next I have an idea that is going to use line of sight triggers in a level to see how players react to that, but so far these tests are a great help!

The Stanley Parable

Moving onto a little bit more research, I have recently bought and compelted a game called 'The Stanley Parable'. This is a brilliant game for me to look at as it breaks almost everything we know about the narrative of a game. The Stanley Parable  'looks at those parts of first-person gaming that are least easy to design for – exploration and messing with the game’s engine – and foregrounds them. It takes the very limitations of traditional gaming narratives and uses them to ruthlessly expose their own flaws' (Hiller, Brenna, 2013, www.vg247.com) Having palyed this myself this is exactly what it does - alongside being absolutley hilarious. One thing that got me, and made me feel like id properly beat the system was - If i dfied the storyline to a point where I was faced with a phone the narrator told me to answer...but I didnt want to answer it to see what happened. I then noticed that the phone was plugged in and I thought wouldnt it be cool if i could unplug the phone! And to my suprise, I could and I ended up getting a different ending - This made me feel like id accomplished something that the game didnt intend for me to accomplish, but ofcourse design wise it was doable.

Looking into this game though, seeing how it breaks everything and gives the player that choice to break everything through their own exploration is a great help, especially for the small test im going to be creating next. As it also plays on the players sense of noticing things e.g 'something was there before' or 'that wasnt there when I came through here last'

Laters taters!