The Indie Game Magazine June 2014 | Issue 38 | Page 12

THE USER EXPERIENCE by James Berg Game Analyst EA Canada www.ea.com/ca Hello! My name is James Berg, and I’m a Game Analyst for the User Experience Testing Labs at EA Canada. My team conducts games user research (GUR), runs playtests with gamers, and provides consulting on a variety of EA games – Dragon Age: Inquisition, FIFA, and Battlefield, amongst many others. Today I’m going to make the case for why you, the Indie developer, should be doing as much of my teams’ job as possible, and why you should probably be doing it right now. First, what is that? At its minimum, GUR is getting feedback about your game from people who have no vested interest in you or your game – not just “Is this fun?” feedback, but detailed information about how they learn to play, what they like/dislike, and anything that’s confusing or frustrating. Ideally, GUR is larger-scale playtests with diverse participants, including 1-on-1 usability tests and group gameplay sessions. The largest mistake that both Indie and AAA teams make is testing their game with real gamers too late in the project cycle. “It’s not ready” is no longer valid once you have a prototype or wireframes. When would you rather find out your core mechanic isn’t as much fun as you think it is – now or three months of development work from now? If your interface or menus are confusing, is it better to know that in wire framing, or when art is finalized? I playtest games for many months before they’re released – large chunks are frequently broken early on. By the time things aren’t broken, it’s too late to make major changes based on player feedback. As soon as you have something, you can playtest it. Wireframes are enough for paper prototypes. Placeholder art is enough for testing core gameplay mechanics and engagement loops. Next month, I’ll discuss methods in detail that anyone can use. For now, here’s some quick tips: - Gather both quantitative and qualitative feedback - People are terrible at knowing what they will like; get feedback about what is, not what could be - Always do your best to determine why you’re receiving a piece of feedback - Don’t ask groups publicly, ask individuals privately - Do your research on how to ask unbiased questions. If possible, don’t be the person asking them Have questions of your own? Ask them in the Indie Game Magazine forums, and we’ll select the best ones to answer in next month’s issue! Are you an Industry Vet? Have you been around the block? Seen more than your share of stuff and would like to share with the community? Our young developers would love to hear your tales! 12 Contact us at [email protected] and let us know! The Indie Game Magazine | www.indiegamemag.com