Testing the Idea...PART 3! - Return of the Test

Sooo, as you know I've been testing my level all week so I know what things to change to get players to understand the rules of my game better. Up to now the tests have been relatively successful with a few things that failed here and there, but nothing that can’t be fixed or updated! (There have still been a few problems with the Kismet scripting, but they should be all sorted now...I hope!)

Anyway, moving onto the new tests that have worked and what has been changed!

Currently this week we have had two people complete the level, with a further 2 that would have been able to complete the level given the time. However, since the completions I have made a few adjustments to the level to push certain ideas...Though most of it remains the same as explained in the last update!

I also created a little tally while I was in uni the other day, just tallying up how many people have played to how many of them have understood what we set out to achieve. Although not all of them have completed the level, the guidance implemented and the designs implemented almost all of them have understood, with the odd one that doesn't.

The main area in the dark and light.

The second person to complete the level this week was Bleu Dickson. It took him about 2 hours to complete and he understood everything about the level. This includes the guidance, alarm light guidance, codes in the dark, jumping in the jump room (Now that the crates have been added to the hallway before the room) the holograms in the botanical gardens, the 'E://...' on the computer (and also prior experience), that the water tank puzzle had something to do with bubbles, learnt his way around the level and finally that all the lights had to be turned on in the main room to complete the game. 

Bleu's is the best test yet, and after him we had two others, Luke and Sam who have also had brilliant tests, where everything was understood. Sam will even be continuing where he left off next week, as he had to leave to time constraints.

Luke however didn’t manage to complete the level due to not exploring to the generator room. This was a strange event as he has been the only person to not walk down the hallway to this room, instead he looked down it and diverted away every single time. he was also the only person to note the map down on paper (note: Every tester is given a piece of paper they can write things on should they feel the need to, but only a certain few seem to write things down)

We also had some foreign exchange students in class this week, from Germany, so I thought it would be a good idea to get at least one of them to test it (again they had time constraints as it was about...6pm when the test began and they had to pack their bags to fly home! also, for some reason the game decided it was going to crash every 5 minutes which hadn't happened until this test...) the one who tested it was called Ray, and as far as he got, seemed to understand most things he saw. When he saw the generator room, he understood something had to be brought to it, although at the time didn’t know due to him not finding an object to pick up. The only thing that didn’t work exactly as intended but still worked was the chevron guidance. He used them as a guide, however only linked the green chevron to the plants...for obvious reasons.

The new updated crates, No longer using UDK's stock crates.

Finally, some things that didn’t seem to work as intended have now been changed. As mentioned in my last blog update, the jump room now has crates before the player enters the room; this has definitely had an effect as players learnt that jumping is actually a mechanic that can be used in the level before they get there.

Main Room lights Before.

Main Lights and door now.

Another that didn’t work as intended (mainly because it wasn’t properly finished yet, as we didn’t have an ending to the level until recently!) were the lights in the main room. Most people who came across these thought that the codes would make the lights change, indicating somewhere was open. However the lights are there as an indication to when a puzzle is completed. It is understandable that players thought otherwise though! BUT! Now we have changed it I expect there to much more understanding as to what the lights do, which is open the door below them once all the puzzles have been complete.

The Updated Generator Room

The generator room seemed important for most players, but again as mentioned in my previous blog update we were making a change to the texturing of the generator to show the symbol of the 'Zero-G' room, so there is a link between them both. This again definitely made a change and players now understand that something from elsewhere in the level needs to be placed there. 

Updated Generator texture.

The new 'Incorrect' texture for the Plant Pods.

And lastly, the botanical gardens plant pod holograms have also been changed! They are now actually visible! The tester that made it there one the chance was made was Sam, and he instantly went to read them, and noticed some where different to others, which gave extra help to which vials when in which pod. 

  

The new 'Correct' texture for the Plant Pods.

As you can see the difference between the two is that the bottom pickure has '////Blue_2291.011....' which means its as simple as placing the blue vial in that Pod, whereas the others do nothing. 

Below are the links to some of the tests we have currently conducted, Some are in two parts as theyre too lon gto upload as one!

Jack Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7rqkx1kRss
Jack Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuYRKHwVwBc&feature=youtu.be
Farron Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbdoarcAn5Q
Farron Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUlndnQzBzw
Josh Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HWsDcUac-I

The rest will be uploaded in the My final Blog post!

The final hand in for my MA is next Wednesday and I will be testing more on Monday and Tuesday to make sure everything is working correctly for my hand in!

Thanks for reading so far! =D

LATERS TATERS!