VideoGames

Video Games Usability Testing

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It's not so common to have articles in Gamasutra about usability testing in video games. That's the case this week with Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing by Sauti Laitinen.

The focus of this article is not only to tell why usability is important in games, but also to introduce two usability methods and the kind of results they yield. The methods are expert evaluation and usability testing.

It will be presented how these were applied in the development of Frozenbyte's Shadowgrounds (www.shadowgroundsgame.com) game. Adage Corporation (www.adage-usability.com) was responsible for the usability related activities in the project. Before moving on to the methods, the game will be presented briefly.

Why do I blog this? I am a regular user of usability tests to get insights about how people use specific games. The good point of this article is that is shows this can be applied to video game, exemplifying it with concrete examples. Connected Pasta people interested in this should also check the games user research page which proposes interesting and relevant references about this topic.

"Walkiebits" small turtle robots

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(via), "Walkiebits" small turtle robots:

new robots from Takara Toys, called "Walkiebits." They're shaped like little turtles, and while they don't offer a whole lot of robotic functionality, they will remember rythms tapped out o n their shells and walk to that rhythm. They can also run, play melodies, and so forth. (...) Put simply, "Walk," offers 8 different types of pattern depending o n speed and sounds that are played. In Rhthym Mode, the turtle will walk in synchronization with a rhythm that is "clicked" o n its shell with a finger. For example, clicking a 3-3-7 rhythm o n the shell will cause the turtle to walk in a 3-3-7 rhythm. It will repeat remembered rhythms three times, and can store up to 15 clicks. Race Mode will randomly cycle between "quick pace" and "slow pace" 6 times, allowing users to have races with multiple Walkiebits to "see how far they go."

Why do I blog this? I am currently in a toy mode for a research project!

Tamagotchi-Tamagotchi and tamagotchi-mobile phones interactions

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An interesting column in web japan about the Tamagotchi connection series:

. What makes the new Tamagotchi special is communication. Tamagotchi pets can now interact with each other, making friends and even getting married. A new series of virtual pets called Tamagotchi Connection went on sale a year ago, and 6.5 million units have so far been sold in 34 countries and regions throughout the world. In Japan, the product has continued to sell out whenever new stock hits the shelves, making the new Tamagotchi very hard to get hold of. (...) By connecting their virtual pets free of charge to one of the 20-centimeter Deka-Tamagotchi consoles (deka means huge) found in toy stores and supermarkets in 3,000 locations throughout Japan, owners can let their pets play games, buy things, and have fun in lots of other ways. (...) Version two of the Tamagotchi Connection series allows owners to play by linking up their virtual pets to their cell phones. These phones can be turned into a virtual Tamagotchi Planet, the pets' homeland. Messages can even be read from a parent who has returned to this planet.

Why do I blog this? I am interested in how the tamagotchi phenomenon is reshuffled by new paradigms like wireless communication as in this second version. What would happen when tamagothi will take advantage of social software (I should check whether this exists) or location-based technologies. Then we would have a curious second layer in real space filled of tamagotchi living their life.

Western Europe Serious Games Summit to be held in december

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I just had a meeting with the person at Lyon Game in charge of serious games. There seems to be a project to have a Serious Games Summit Europe in December in Lyon, France. It would a western europe summit since there is already the Nordic Serious Game Summit. However, the summit in Lyon will be less academic and much more industry oriented with both industries, institutions interested in serious games (defense, education, training...) AND big players, editors, developers, producers since the event will be a joint event of the Game Connection ( a convention which allows developers to present their projects, meet publishers...).Why do I blog this? I am in contact with the organisers, trying to help them on the R&D side (finding contacts, relevant and potential speakers...).

Level-Controlled Game Design

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(hey lau, I found this game which reminds me something about what we discussed once) Neverball is a game in which instead of moving a character, you move the "world":

Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course before time runs out. Neverball is part puzzle game, part action game, and entirely a test of skill.

Legal concerns of cheating in Online Multiplayer Games

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Nice masters thesis on Gamasutra: A Legal Analysis of Cheating in Online Multiplayer Games by Joel Zetterström. the pdf is here.

This Master Thesis deals with the legal issues of cheating in online multiplayer games, particularly in the three major game genres; First Person Shooters, Real Time Strategy and Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing games. (...) This paper examines and analyses legal strategies that can be used to combat cheating, ending with conclusions on how and when they can be used most effectively to limit the amount of cheats in computer games. (...) Because of the global nature of the Internet and the gaming industry, the legal focus is placed on the United States and the European Union. (...) The first part of the thesis describes the phenomenon of online gaming in order to provide a sufficient background on the subject for the uninitiated reader, but also to examine the mechanisms of, and structures behind, cheating. The second part examines the processes of how cheats are created and the legal measurements that can be used to prevent such creations, specifically copyright laws. The third part focuses on the spreading of cheats, if and how such spreading can be stopped with legal means. Trademark laws together with rules about the takedowns of websites containing illegal material are analyzed and discussed. The fourth part deals with the use of cheats in the games, and how such use can be stopped with contractual means. The validity of wrap agreements, i.e. electronic contracts, with specific examples is examined and their effectiveness evaluated. Part five of the thesis contains a brief examination about cheating as a crime, and criminal law pertinent to the subject is provided. The sixth part compares the phenomenon of cheating in cyber sports to that of regular sports, and if lessons learned in the sports world about cheating (specifically doping) can be carried over to cyber sports. The thesis ends in a conclusion part which discusses the findings of the above mentioned chapters in an effort to find the most effective legal strategies that can be used to limit cheating in online computer games.

Nintendo DS brain training

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I forgot to talk about this: DS Brain Training for Adults (non-) game impressions. It's actually a review of a Brain Training program for the Nintendo DS posted on the Gaming-Age Forums. Here is the review as done by a a forumer called Jonnyram:

It's based on a book with a similar title, written by Professor Ryuuta Kawashima. The book is designed to invigorate adults' brains, to sharpen you up.

You start by rotating the DS - there are settings for left- and right-handed people, and you hold it like a book, with the screens representing the right and left pages. The static screen displays questions and you write/draw your answers on the touch screen. There are some parts that require you to speak the answers too.

The (non-)game includes a calendar, and you can put a stamp on the calendar when you complete some training that day. You start off with three different types of training. 20 sums, 100 sums and reading aloud. As you play the (non-)game more, new training exercises will open, including syllable counting, people counting, and others I have yet to unlock. There are smaller bonuses, like being able to edit the stamp you use on the calendar, and things like that too.

You can also test your brain's age once a day. To do this, you are subjected to 3 random tests which differ from the exercises above. Everyday (at least so far), you'll start off with a test where you have to read the colours of words aloud. Say you have "black" and it's displayed in red, you have to say "red". There are four different colours. Another couple of tests and the software determines the age of your brain today, based on speed and accuracy of your responses.

Of course it's in japanese and I don't think it will be shiped to Europe/US but anyway... It actually makes me think about Scientific Brain Training (SBT), a french company that " fuses the latest developments in cognitive sciences, educational sciences and technology to develop a line of truly innovative products, programs and services that entertain, test and train the mental abilities-anytime anywhere.". (One of their product is happy neuron, a "Web-based mental fitness program and educational resource.").

Non-accessible mobile phone features, cannot be used in games

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A very insightful post by Greg Costikyan about various problems encountered by mobile game designers. Here are some relevant excerpts:

In essence, we've been using mobile phones as inferior GameBoys--and that's apparently enough to build a $1b market, and growing. But while there have been a handful of interesting attempts to do things you can't do on other devices (like Botfighters), we haven't seen many successful games that do something novel and interesting with mobile as a platform. (...) Forget about games for a moment: What makes mobile devices different?

Well, for one thing, they are first and foremost voice communication devices. And they store quite a lot of information about your circle of friends and business contacts, in the phone book

I fully agree with both statement, currently mobile game are often translation of old game or based on the portable console paradigm. Greg advocates for the use of cell phone features to innovate (he cites: voice/audio communication, address book). Therefore he claims that game design could be interestingly based on this 'social affordance', which is pertinent. BUT here is the problem:

Here, however, is the kicker: The technology that, today, allows us to build games for mobile devices, does not allow us to access the other features of mobile handsets. You want to use voice? You can't--a mobile phone can make a voice connection or a data connection, not both at once. You want to access the phone book? You can't--the phone book is its own application, in splendid isolation from any others operating on the handset. You want to access personalization information? No can do. You want to use the network? You're stuck with HTTP (usually) which, together with a G2 network, means you need to plan for 3+ second latency.

His technology is somehow a bit so-so:

In other words, we've now built the technical infrastructure to enable a mobile games market to exist and thrive--but we haven't built the technical infrastructure to allow truly interesting mobile games to exist. And fundamentally, doing that does not mean introducing novel, futuristic technologies like LBS, G3, video communication, or RFID--what it means is exposing technologies that already exist on mobile handsets to mobile applications--and reconfiguring the network side to allow them to be used.

New Scientist about Location-Based Games

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Science E-Zine New Scientist has a good piece of location-based games: Gamers turn cities into a battleground. The article summarizes the best-known project such as "Uncle Roy..." or "Pac-Manhattan", "Digital Street Games" and the game designed by It's Alive. It also describes next avenues. Some exerpts:

While many of the first real-world games involved using separate GPS receivers and handheld computers, mobile phones and PDAs that integrate such technology are catching up. "There's an evolution using the mobility of the phone to create completely new gaming experiences," says Tom Söderlund, who worked as a games producer for Swedish games company It's Alive, based in Stockholm. "I think we are going to see more and more games that blend with our real lives."

Definitely, instead of transposing console games to mobile devices, the crux point here is to take advantage of the handheld features (mobility, voice, positioning...) to design innovative game scenarios.

The end of the paper is the msot interesting since it describes what's next, focusing on Gizmondo's plan:

Games console makers are also embracing the trend. Portable console maker Gizmondo is soon to launch Colors, a gangland game where players play a conventional arcade game to earn credits and money. These are then used to buy turf in the real world - Soho in London, say. Walk into a Soho cafe and attempt to play Colors, and the GPS embedded in the console might tell you you're playing on another gang's patch, and you need to beat them in a virtual fight to claim the turf and continue.

The company has even bigger plans, developing a game that exploits a digital camera already built into the console. Virtual creatures live at specific GPS coordinates, and when a player views the location through the camera they will see the real world with a three-dimensional animated digital creature laid over the scene.

Finally, it points the many problems that arise with these location-based games:

For some games to work, you need a quorum of players. "If I'm a good terminator trying to find a bad terminator to fight, and the only bad one lives in Sweden, then I'm not going to see much action,"

And in Uncle Roy, for example, not only does the game involve innocent bystanders - the woman dressed in black who Matt followed had no knowledge she was taking part in the exercise - but it culminates in the street player climbing into a stranger's car, which means the player has to trust the organisers.

game designers face the challenge of how to preclude "cyber-stalking", and protect the safety of the public and players, especially children, who might wander into unsafe situations or places.

A very interesting summary of what's going on lately!

ACM Computers in Entertainment about Pervasive Gaming

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ACM Computers in Entertainment does not have a lot of issues, but the next one is about Pervasive Gaming (thanks Trond Nilsen for pointing me on it). There will be interviews with Ken Goldstein and Seamus Blackley + full interviews and papers on multiplayer games, pervasive gaming, wireless games, Xbox 360, et al. Stay tuned. Papers will be available here (you will need an ACM account).

Alternative game controllers

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Gamasutra has a good piece from 2004 about alternative game controllers.

very once in a while a truly unique input device, either co-opted from another industry or a completely new invention, comes along that makes people sit up and take notice. Even with the computer industry in the doldrums, the past year has seen the launch of a half-dozen different input devices, and if the devices I saw in Kentia Hall at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo was any indication, it looks like the next year or two in games is going to be very interesting.

The game controllers there sparked some ideas of how they could be used for creating innovative games, and bringing back a few classic toys of our youth. Some of these concepts may be little more than interesting distractions, but I hope this article makes a few game designers--as well as the controller manufacturers--sit up and start thinking about designing some cool games to go along with them.

It focuses on accelerometers, Virtual Arm Wrestling, force feedback and so on. My favorite is the katana sword game controller ( from Hori Japan):

Origins of the Joystick

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Video Games article in the IHT. It's about the origins of the joysticks. I picked up the relevant part:

Robert Esnault-Pelterie. Yet millions of gaming enthusiasts, and crane operators and cellphone owners and even the captain of the world's largest, longest, tallest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, owe the early 20th-century French aviator a debt of gratitude for his invention: the joystick. It was first used for aircraft controls, but much else about its origins - both mechanical and etymological - is a matter of debate. (...) "I would say that it was the 20th century's distinctive contribution to the interface between people and machines," said Tenner, who is the author of "Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity." He is documenting Esnault-Pelterie's unsuccessful patent battles with American manufacturers of similar devices in the fledgling days of aviation. (...) In fact, the joystick moved easily from the mechanical world of planes and cranes to the digitally mediated world of computers: from the red nub at the center of an IBM laptop, to the navigational pads on some cellphones and the mushroom-like thumb sticks that still occupy a central place, amid the buttons and triggers, on today's video game controllers. The joystick's translation of human movement into machine movement elegantly satisfies what Ben Bederson, the director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland, calls the three virtues of an input device, or device that feeds information to a machine: simplicity, efficiency and control. (...) As for the debate over who invented it, Esnault-Pelterie has an interesting rival. In 2001, after the H.L. Hunley, a Confederate-era submarine, was pulled from the waters off Charleston, South Carolina, archaeologists discovered that it had a sophisticated single-stick steering device.

Why do I blog this? Besides the fact that it's a recurrent story (european invention... us patents...come on europe wake up!), it's interesting to see how it evolves. Of course, I am dead interested into how it will evolve; whether tangible interactions would (or would not) be thrown to the market. Currently, the pad is the standard and does not seem to change a lot judging from what has been shown at E3.

Paper, playstic and playsation: adaptation of game across technologies

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Via tom hume, this interesting powerpoint document: PAPER, PLASTIC OR PLAYSTATION? Adapting a game across a wide range of technologies by Scott Kim. It's actually a talk at the People, Computers, and Design seminar at Stanford University, Oct 8, 2004

Scott says: "As a puzzle designer I work in a wide variety of electronic and nonelectronic media, ranging from paper and physical toys, to the web and mobile phones. Working in many media helps me keep a fresh perspective on the strengths and weakness of each medium. In this talk I will show how a game mutates when moved from medium to another, and discuss how to take advantage of the unique capabilities of each medium while being aware of its limitations."

Another video game authoring tool

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Thank you Aram for pointing me on Powergame Factors. It is basically a software for Mac OS X which allows people to make their own side-scrolling shooters by plugging in their own artwork, using a level editor, and controlling some variables. In the same vein as the DIY MMORPG.

Power Game Factory is a satisfyingly complete side scrolling action game development tool. Here we'll introduce you to each major component of Power Game Factory and explain what can be done within each of the program's various windows. There's a lot of ground to cover, but you'll gain a solid understanding of Power Game Factory with no trouble. For example, making characters is easy once you've learned how to design projectiles; both are created using similar sets of animation and sound editing controls

Why do I blog this? because it's a great example of giving power back to the users! Besides, I heard that the next Nintendo console will allow amateurs to author their own games (anyone would then be allowed to run his/her own code. That's a good move: give power back to the user and then the pro-am debate will be more and more relevant!

A Web interface that can be used to create an MMORPG

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A good step towards easier video-game authoring tool: phpMMORPG:

phpMMORPG is a Web interface that can be used to create an MMORPG with a back-end which permits users of the interface to create their own games. It features real-time chat, a map editor, a template system, a quest box, PVP, PVE, a loot system, and other functions. Except for the use of "marquee", it uses 100% XHTML 1.0.

Why do I blog this? because every attempt to democratize game authoring is relevant and interesting in terms of "bottom up" innovation. Game companies are so marketing-driven (due to editors which do not like risk) that they develop prequel/sequel/look-alike. Would game authoring tools can recreate the initial burst of innovation video game design lived in the 80s? Of course the layout is simple and the interaction are fairly limited, but it's a smart step.

Update since this is very relevant, I translated few more information about this DIY MMORPG: the author wants to have the following features:

  • real-time chat
  • 2d + 3d iso (pixel art) map
  • flexible interface with a template engine
  • PvP/PvE and quest system
  • members management
  • integrated forum

For any questions, you'd better contact the author, a 20 years old french guy using this form. Support his work, it's of great interest for the community!

Tangible Computing versus Standard Game Controllers

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There seems to be some papers that compare the difference between physically controlled game controllers and standard ones. The following one tackled this issue with regard to how appealin is it for the players to use these 2 kinds of interactions: Johnson, D. M., Gardner, M. J., Wiles, J. H., Sweetser, P. M. & Hollingsworth, K. A. 2002, The inherent appeal of physically controlled peripherals, in Entertainment Computing: Technologies and Applications, eds R. Nakatsu & J. Hoshino, Kluwer Academic Publishers, USA, pp.371-378.

The author used an experimental setting to compare how players used 2 game controllers with 2 games:

Users were given the opportunity to play two Sony Playstation 2 games, SSX Snowboarding (an arcade style snowboarding game) and Time Crisis 2 (TC2; a shooting game), with both a standard controller and an alternate control device. The alternate control devices used were a Thrustmaster Freestyler Board (a snowboard shaped device which the user stands on and shifts their weight to control) for SSX, and a Namco G-Con 2 Gun (a hand held imitation pistol which is aimed at the screen) for TC2.

Then players had to use those 2 controllers with the 2 games, one after another. They used a 9 points Likert scale to evaluate the appeal of each (+ open ended questions). The results are interesting:

The qualitative findings indicate that physically implemented controllers do not always offer a greater quality of control than standard controllers, nor are they necessarily more realistic or intuitive. The findings across the two games support the first hypothesis, that the quality of control experienced by a user will be improved by physically controlled game peripherals which offer the user a more realistic or intuitive interaction. (...) It is important to note that while physically controlled peripherals seem to consistently lead to fun on the part of the user they do not necessarily lead to greater ease or quality of control.

There is also an account of the quantitative findings:

Overall, the ANOVA results suggest a consistent set of findings for TC2, and more complex patterns for SSX. For TC2, the physical controller (gun) was preferred over the standard controller for game performance, level of control, fun, ease of use, and overall preference. For SSX, the standard controller was generally preferred, except for ratings of fun. Also, ratings made by inexperienced and female users tended to be more equivocal than those made by experienced and male users respectively. (...) Overall, the results indicated that controller preferences are not simply determined by the nature of the device (standard versus physical) but instead that preferences are moderated by amount of control, intuitiveness and degree of realism experienced, and also by demographic factors of gender and experience level.

Why do I blog this? I'm interested in how people use game controllers, especially with regard to specific game play. Recently, tangible interaction is more and more trendy but there is a strong needs to evaluate how it can fit to peculiar game design. This kind of study is then very relevant for game designers to take crux decisions.

Consumers’ Understanding of Mobile Entertainment

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Understanding Consumers’ Understanding of Mobile Entertainment by Karenza Moore and Jason Rutter, Proceedings of MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT: User-centred Perspectives, 25-27th March, 2004, Manchester, Uk.

This paper looks at the consumer perception to developments around mobile entertainment. After providing a brief overview of the current state of the mobile and mobile entertainment markets this paper details focus group research undertaken in the UK, Sweden, Finland and France involving actual, potential and non-users of mobile entertainment. It highlights six recurrent themes emerging from the research: ‘Clarity’, ‘Compactness and Coolness’, ‘Complexity’, ‘Convergence’ – the four Cs - and ‘Access and Affordability’, ‘Age and Context Appropriateness’ – the two A’s . Moving away from the digital optimism of commercial market analysts the authors argue that there is utility in understanding consumer perceptions of the use of current and future technologies and micro-level behaviour in order to inform planning and foresight at a macro level. Implicit throughout the paper is a belief that a particular focus of users’ understandings and practice had significant value in supporting development and implementation of mobile entertainment.

Why do I blog this because this paper is relevant in terms of understading mobile game users. I like this "it is not always clear to consumers exactly what ‘mobile entertainment’" claim :)

Monkey prefers playing video games over grooming!

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Washburn, D. A., and D. M. Rumbaugh. 1992. Investigations of rhesus monkey video task performance: Evidence for enrichment. Contemp Top Lab Anim Sci 31(5):6–10.

In this paper, the authors describe an empirical study of apes playing video games using the joystick I already pointed out here. A surprising result is the fact that apes preferred playing video games overs grooming!

Here is what they found (actually this summary is described in this paper)

How can one determine whether a monkey enjoys a computer task and whether the task improves psychological well-being? First, we examined each animal’s preference for engaging the joystick tasks relative to other favored activities. We found that playing the specially designed computer games is a highly preferred activity for the nonhuman primates, occupying a substantial portion—over 9h per day, on average—of each animal’s daily time budget (Washburn & Rumbaugh, 1992). The monkeys choose to engage in the tasks even when other attractive manipulanda and activities are available. The activities that get replaced in the daily repertoire are predominantly maladaptive and stress- or boredom-related behaviors, such as stereotypy, overgrooming, and aggression.