Ubiquitous Ambient Gaming - Paper prototype

From EQUIS Lab Wiki

April 14th, 2010

With a paper prototype, we can't evaluate the ambient audio interface, which is the core of the project. But a paper prototype can provide qualitative information on the fun of the game.

In order to make a paper prototype of the game, we have to modify it so that it can be played as a board game, but keeping the goal and the rules of the game unchanged. The modification will principally be having the player(s) moving tokens on a board instead of having them moving around outside (the tokens will stand for the players and the board will stand for the outside world). Moreover, to make the game easier to play on a board, time is divided in turns, the player(s) throw dices to know how far they can go at each turn.

The paper prototype is then evaluated by users who play it. Some results can be observed, such as the playability of the game (is it an easy game or a hard one?); some results will come from the participant's feedback, such as did they have fun, did they understand well the game.

This page explains all the steps of the first paper prototype, from its creation to it's results.

Contents 1 Description of the paper prototype 1.1 Differences with the real game 1.2 What to observe? 2 Test of the paper prototype 2.1 First play 2.2 Second play 2.3 Third play 2.4 Results 2.5 Conclusion

Description of the paper prototype

For the Logical Circuit game, we can't test the first part of the game, which is discovering the power sources by using the ambient sound. Still, we can test the interest of the game : is it too easy or too hard, is it interesting to play it collaboratively.

In order to represent the game on a paper prototype, it is necessary to change it. The players start with a full logic circuit, only all the power sources are off. Each team has tokens they can move on the power sources (the tokens are moved on a board that shows the power sources and ways to go around them) so they can turn them on or off. The power sources are more or less quick to reach (according to their distance in the field).

For the evaluation, two players compete.

• They seat in front of each other and move their token on a board in front of them.

• Time is divided in turns : at each turn , each team plays at the same time. The players are asked to think their next move before actually doing it.

• To simulate the different paste of the players, each player rolls a dice a each turn to know how far he can go.

Differences with the real game

The game played this way implies some changes regarding to the full game :

• The players are able to see each other.

• The game is played in turns.

• Moreover, each player knows exactly how long it will take him to go from one power source to another.

What to observe?

The paper prototype is done so that we have a first idea of whether the game will be appreciated or not, even if it is twisted by the fact that the game was a bit modified to be played on paper.

Questions to ask to the players at the end of the test :

• How often do you play boardgames? This could influence their liking of the game or their facility to play.

• Did you have fun?

• Would you play this game again?

• What did you think of the duration of the game?

• Did you have to elaborate strategies to win? What kind?

Additional questions if there had been 2 players in each team :

• Did you like having to collaborate with other people in order to win?

• Did you find it easy to communicate with your teammates?

Test of the paper prototype

We asked 2 persons of the Lab to come test the paper prototype. They sat in front of each other, having their circuit in front of them, and the board was in the middle. They were asked not to try to watch the circuit of their adversary. We explained them the rules.

First play

The first play went very quick, as User 1 only had to turn one power source on to win. And he didn't turn it on, User 2 did not knowing that this would make him win.

This first play highlighted the need to carefully create the circuits so that it is a bit more difficult to win. Moreover, when a team doesn't know the circuit of the other team, they can easily help the other team without knowing it. In that case, it even made the adversary win.

Second play

In the second play, we decided to let the players see each others circuit in order to be able to construct a strategy. We also made sure the circuits they were playing with were less easy to turn on.

The players played more carefully, they always looked both circuits before moving to make sure they wouldn't help their opponent. They both seemed to enjoy it, User 2 even said at one turn where she blocked Louis 'Ha, I got you!'.

Third play

In the third play, we had User 1 and 2 exchange their circuits, so they both knew well each others circuit. It went on like the second play.

Results

At the end of the test, we discussed with them about the prototypes. They both said the game was fun, but some modifications had to be made, such as making the game harder to win by making the circuits more complex, modifying the board so that they won't have only one way to get to a power source. The improvements that the game would need were :

• Being very careful when creating the circuits so that they wouldn't be too simple to solve.
• Making the circuits more complex, either by having more types of nodes, or by making nodes with several outputs.
• Being able to see both circuits, and since the circuits are powered by the same power sources, have them merged at the power sources so that it would be easier to read.

Both the players also mentioned the risk that logical circuit would not appeal to non scientific players.

NB : Some problems related to the paper prototype itself were discovered :

• The board was too easy, and did not reflect the reality of an outside game since there was only 1 way to move from one power source to another. The board would have given more possibilities if it had been a grid, and the player can go in any direction he wants.

Conclusion

After this evaluation, we realized that the idea of logical circuit was too complex and that finding circuits of same difficulty, not too complex and not too easy, was going to be difficult.

Moreover, it appeared that if the power sources are fix in space, the ambient audio would only be used at the beginning of the game to find the power sources, and then the players would rely on their memory to find them again.

In conclusion, we decided to rethink the game before going further.