{"id":505,"date":"2026-02-17T15:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/?p=505"},"modified":"2026-10-06T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T13:33:09","slug":"week-4-reflection-collecting-analysing-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/2026\/02\/17\/week-4-reflection-collecting-analysing-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 4 Reflection &#8211; Collecting and Analysing Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday 16th February we had another guest talk from friend of the course Venezia Georgieva, this time on the topic of playtesting\/user testing games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We were taught about the differences between QA testing and user testing: how the former revolves moreso around technical issues\/bugs and documenting them, and the latter for observing the behaviour of players and using it to critique specific parts of the game design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smoke testing was another key topic; tests to ensure the fundamentals of a game are working as requied. We were shown examples of them and a list of requirements &#8212; they are typically made using spreadsheets, one for each individual test, and document the steps to achieve each requirement, as well as the expected result, the actual result, and a pass\/fail mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We were also briefed on the many stages of user testing. Without going into too much detail, they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>01. Paper Prototype &#8212; the quickest way to playtest, particularly suited for 2D puzzle games, RPGs and narrative games<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>02. Greybox &#8212; used to test function, usablility and flow without requiring any high-effort visuals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>03. External Players &#8212; test with around 5-6 players, ideally first-time players. Record screen, ask them to think out loud; pick up on subtleties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>04. Results Analysis &#8212; people will try to be polite &#8211; beware of apathy! Some players might love something unexpected, so if they do, lean into that!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regarding development of our game, I made a decent level of progress on the peacock minigame I tasked myself with developing; I did some further research on shaders in Unity, and gained an understanding of how to implement them in the game to achieve the painting mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I also made the challenging decision to rewrite my code for the minigame from scratch, as I had since found some new resources that gave me a new, clearer view on how to build the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My code was also quite convoluted and messy, and was providing a challenge with a range of bugs that I didn&#8217;t understand. Because of this I felt my decision would benefit me in the medium-term, especially when me and Misty would work together to implement it in her build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The script is now much more consise and understandable, in my opinion, and should provide an easier experience for myself and others going forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday 16th February we had another guest talk from friend of the course Venezia Georgieva, this time on the topic of playtesting\/user testing games. We were taught about the differences between QA testing and user testing: how the former revolves moreso around technical issues\/bugs and documenting them, and the latter for observing the behaviour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-class-reflections","category-y2-parent","category-y2s2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/om3g24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}