ENGRC Discussion 3
Nondigital Workshop

During today's discussion you will be working on your nondigital prototype, which you will present in class this week. We have arranged the presentation schedule so that each group will have its discussion section before having to show off the prototype.

Look at the directions for the nondigital prototype to see the types of questions that we will be asking you in class. We particularly want your prototype to show a clear sense of progression. When we see the easy, medium, and hard level, they should clearly be different and indicate that your game has enough depth to be interesting.

Also due at the end of this week is the milestone document. This is your first attempt at laying out a workplan for the semester. Many of you have done this before, and understand that the first draft is very rough. Traci will hand out some materials to help you with this process, but we do not expect you to spend much time in class on this document. Focus on the nondigital prototype and its testing script

Testing Script

The new thing we are asking this year is a testing script for the nondigital prototype. These were covered in 3152, but not not everyone has had that course. Here are the notes that Traci presented last week on this testing script.

The testing script should be in a Google Drive document. Teams should brainstorm and write out what specifically they are testing for with this prototype. Examples are below, but these are just starting points:

• Do players understand the core mechanics?
• Do players understand the goal from the moment the level opens?
• Do players understand how to get to the next level or progress?
• Did we have to intervene in order for players to “get” our game idea?
• Was the game’s play clearly evident?
• Is it clear how the characters/avatars should move?
• Do the actions of the enemies make sense in the game’s context?

In that same document, the team should have a clear plan for responsibilities:

• Who will explain the game to new players?
• How will this be done? Out loud? Written instructions? Something else?
• Who will remind players of the talk-aloud protocol?
• Who will be watching the players (and not interferring or interacting)?
• Who will take photos or video of the testing? Where will those artifacts be housed/uploaded?
• When will the team changes tasks so that everyone has time to test some games in the room?