On Monday, I experienced an intense catch-up period where my team and I worked tirelessly to finalize our version of Backchat in preparation for the playtest. In Friday’s public presentation, it was incredible watching real-world audiences engage with our product. Nonetheless, there was abundant user experience and mechanics feedback, which needs to be integrated. As the mechanic designer, I identified various areas whereby the users had difficulties using our game. One of the issues that stood out was the timing of the game. The speed of the game was too fast for most players. In response to their suggestions, we needed to develop a measure bar with a time duration of between 20 to 30 seconds as well as a pause button. Besides that, the mechanics of the game were not entirely comprehensible to the users. For example, some of the users never realized that the falling leaves could be moved out of position by pressing on them. The players kept pressing the spacebar repeatedly since they were unaware that the dialogue words would return once the mechanic ended. Finally, players asked why it was necessary to click the Teddy Bear to progress.
Our game had various problems related to the user interface and content. For instance, the football question was too short to accommodate answers, used the wrong capitalized word, and lacked narrative context regarding why “the boy” needed to head home earlier than scheduled. Our users requested that we include features such as a real-time friendliness score, a back button, and scene transition page flip animations. Even though there were numerous friction points, we got fantastic feedback from the players. They felt that our game should be extended beyond one day since they were excited about the story!