V5 NEW FEATURES

This was the most up to date version of Cogshel that we tested. My team member’s younger sister (9 years old) was happy to playtest, however, she was shy and preferred if it was just him with her. To overcome this, I sent Muhammad three questions to ask her:

This was the first time she had seen the entire game since earlier stages of development so this was a good chance to gather a genuine reaction and get her opinions on the revised version. We didn’t get the chance to build it onto an iPod so we tested on a PC. She still got a clear understanding of the game and how it works, as well as what it looks like and how it feels to play.

PLAYTESTING - CBT ACTIVITY

CBT activity Khadijah_1.mp4

This was also the first time we play tested the CBT activity with a child in our target audience age range. She also states that she gets quite strong bursts of emotions when she is feeling angry, which makes testing much more accurate as this game is intended to help children who are feeling overwhelmed, low, frustrated etc.

Overall, this was a great playtesting session and she provided very helpful feedback. I am optimistic that the game has fulfilled what I proposed as she felt that Cogshel was relaxing, calming, and helpful. There are just some minor points that need to be adjusted.

PLAYTESTING - SHOP, MATCH 3, FEEDING/PETTING/PLAYING

Playing Khadijah_1.mp4

QUESTIONS

Questions Khadijah.mp4

Below is a summary of the positives and points of improvement that she commented on, as well as what I aim to do next:

POSITIVES SUMMARY
Visuals were cute (animations especially) She got excited when she saw the tiger eating, playing, and sleeping. She also enjoyed the intro cut-scene and said it felt very inviting and sweet.
Fun to look after the pet She repeatedly said that she felt like she really wanted to help the tiger feel happy, which is a successful outcome as she was simultaneously helping herself feel better through the activities by helping the tiger. This was a big part of the design aims.
Helpful (CBT activity) She found the CBT activity helpful and liked taking some time to think about her emotions and thoughts.
Calming feel Overall, she said she would describe the game as ‘calming’ which successfully fulfils another of our core design aims to make the game relaxing for players.
Easy to navigate She knew how to get to all of the different scenes like the shop and close up tiger profile. This is good because everyone was confused by having to long click in the previous versions in order to open the close up scene, which we removed and replaced with an avatar icon/button because of this feedback. This is proven to much more efficient and easy to understand.
TO IMPROVE SUMMARY NEXT STEPS
Mini-game graphics She said she prefers the previous graphics because they looked nicer. More on the mini-game visuals can be found here. I will to redesign the icons for the WSA and London shows. She liked the simplicity of the others, but they should still have strong links to CBT or mental well being, so I will have to do extra research for this.
Make bars go down more quickly She waited for the stat bars to decrease before she fed/played/rested the tiger. This was because she felt no need to if they are already full. She also said she wouldn’t want to wait a long time if she was only playing the game for a few minutes before she went to bed. I will change the amount that the stat bar decreases by so it reduces faster slightly. If it moved too quickly, it might do the opposite of relax the players and instead stress them more and turn them away from playing.
Make shop hitbox larger She knew how to navigate to the shop because of the shop sign in the home scene. She also didn’t confuse it for a button as it was in previous versions which was good. However, she had difficulties clicking on the very edge of the screen to get to the shop. I will adjust the size of the shop hitbox so the tiger doesn’t have to reach the exact edge of the screen to change the scene.