Survey Time Sadness

Survey Results

Despite what the title suggest this is not another doom and gloom post ^.^

Responses from the survey data were largely positive. With encouraging feedback about the concept and the viability of the physical lock mechanic. With one user stating that "I still like the idea, and the game mechanics is fine". This adds to the continued belief that the core concept is strong and the resulting game mash-up is both interesting and fun. Test suitability of a physical lock style controller was one goals of the session.

Responses to survey question three also revealed important information about the difficulty of understanding the controller interaction. With the majority of testers having a clear understanding of how the lock should function in the game context.

Q3 Result

However, the results from question four were largely unexpected given the technical issues faced during the prototyping session.

0 Representing unsure 5 Representing Completely Sure.

I feel like this result was heavily influenced by way users focused their attention on the screen rather than the physical controller. This was observed during the testing sessions and the survey responses to question 5 corroborate the evidence.

From these findings it is clear that the physical lock does not need to accurately represent the lock on the screen. There is no need for the physical lock to have the same number of points it just needs to ensure it has the same feedback. 

Q5 Results

Also encouraging was the result from question 6 which showed that the prototype provided acceptable levels of tactile feedback. Testing the feedback of the controller was one of the major goals of the testing session.

Where 1 is completely dissimilar and 5 is completely similar

However the biggest finding coming out of the session was that the actual controller was physically difficult to rotate. My obsession with making something that was sturdy backfired as the lock would only rotate with a significant amount of force. This may have been due to the fact people thought they would break the prototype but it is something that will be looked into for the next iteration.

Other tester frustrations and pain points included:

• Changing directions
• Lack of sensitivity
• Points missed
• Points skipped 
• Level of audio feedback (Too quiet)

TLDR Testing Session Goals and Outcomes Recap:

Testing Goal: Is a physical combination lock style controller suitable for the game?
Outcome: Yes, though the prototype needs to be refined

Testing Goal: Does the prototype provide an intuitive control system?
Outcome: Yes, the control scheme is easily understandable

Testing Goal: Does the physical controller dial accurately represent the digital lock dial?
Testing Goal:  By how many points to the two dials differ?
Outcome: Unimportant, users spend majority of time looking at screen to show lock position.

Testing Goal: Does the physical lock provide enough tactile feedback when moving from point to point?
Testing Goal: Does the physical lock accurately represent a real lock?
Outcome: Yes and yes. If anything it provides too much feedback and requires too much force to use.

Testing Goal:  Does the physical lock make the game more or less difficult?
Outcome: Unclear, at this stage the current prototype is more difficult due to the force required to rotate. But the actual control system could be harder or easier than keyboard.

Testing Goal: Can the prototype complete a testing session without repair?
Outcome: Definitely not in its current state.

Testing Goal:  How many locks can the prototype open without issue?
Outcome: Zero