Interactive Prototype Presentations I
From CS160 User Interfaces Sp09
Presentations on Apr 13, 2009
Groups Presenting
- Group:PALS - This game helps MCB 102 students learn their amino acids.
- Group:HCiiight - 1 sentence description of project
- Group:G - A drawing game that allows people to view and create artworks.
- Group:Interface Galactica - This is a news game designed to help sharpen users' current events knowledge.
- Group:OverDos - A fast-paced game that allows students to practice speed arithmetic skills while competing with others.
Maneesh Agrawala - Apr 13, 2009 09:44:57 am
Group:PALS - Feedback here
Group:HCiiight - Feedback here
Group:G - Feedback here
Group:Interface Galactica - Feedback here
Group:OverDos - Feedback here
Jeffrey Nichols - Apr 13, 2009 07:21:46 pm
Group:PALS - It was a short presentation, which was nice because you could take questions but also could have explored your game in a bit more depth (which we subsequently did through the questions). It seems like you have a fair amount of implementation work still to do as well, which is a little disconcerting. We do expect complete game for the final project turn in, which is less than a month away.
In terms of interface design, it feels like the user needs to take too many steps to play a game. Compared to flash cards, there is a lot of overhead in this design. Figuring out how to simplify things will probably also reduce the time you need to finish your development, which could be quite helpful. One way you can simplify is to remove the "Correct"/"Incorrect" dialog box, which requires an unnecessary click to dismiss.
Group:HCiiight - One of your group members was late. Your initial slides had a lot of text, and I think it would have been better to explain the game before showing the representative tasks (this is good advice for all groups). The video, though fun, was way too long and not on topic for this particular presentation. The goal of this talk is to show your interactive prototype, whereas the video was all about your lo-fi prototype. You definitely should not have played the credits or outtakes during your presentation slot, as they ate up several minutes of your short 10 minute slot, which you subsequently needed when everything ran late.
I didn't feel like I noticed any speed up in the presentation as you got low on time. It's valuable to be able to adjust your presentation style and content based on the time you have left, and would be a good skill to practice.
The current prototype of the game looked good, and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished version in a few weeks.
Group:G - I thought your initial overview of the game was good, with a clearly presented problem and solution. The presentation was mostly clear, except for a few points. For example, you have a web-based prototype and a Flash prototype...each fairly clearly do different things, but neither the architecture nor the planned functionality for these two prototypes were elaborated on.
I have a number of UI comments. Some labels need to be carefully considered. For example, "Save (HD)" is fairly non-obvious, especially because "HD" now has a couple different meanings..."Save Local" might be better. Categorical browsing doesn't really make sense to me, especially with categories that change over time on the main page. Seems like you should have a mechanism to get to categories that aren't shown. Once you pick a category, browsing within that category is also kinda weird. You seem to force people into a like/dislike mode for a few steps before you let them edit anything. How many steps is required? Why can't I just pick an image I want to edit if I see it right off? I also noted that the drawing environment is not exactly WYSIWYG. I appreciate that a drawing app is non-trivial to create, but it would probably be helpful to add that feature.
Group:Interface Galactica - I think it would have been helpful to show the demo first and then analyze the changes afterward. This would give the audience a clearer idea of what the game is before learning about what changed. The demo you gave was very clear however, and it appeared that you had most of your functionality worked out already. I think the scoring features, as I mentioned in class, will be somewhat non-trivial to implement, because you need to take into account how long people have played the game.
Interface-wise, another solution for "Create New" would be to move it above the login form. Changing it to a new link was definitely a good first step though. The error dialog for incorrect data seemed a little large and in the users face. Mimicing what other Internet forms do, especially the Ruby on Rails model of adding some error text at each line that needs to be changed, might be a better choice. I noticed one minor implementation bug, which is that the Edit screen should have data values filled into it to change, rather than being empty when opened.
Group:OverDos - Obviously the key failure of your talk was not bringing a power cord to the stage or even going back to your seats to get one when the issue became obvious. I thought you did well to talk through the blank screen, but a little more effort to address the problem would have been nice to see. After all, you had three people on stage, one of whom was not speaking.
I didn't find your problem motivation that compelling... I think that teaching people to do math in their head is valuable, but I'm not sure that's simply because using a calculator is inefficient. Overall, you need to work on the structure of your talks as well. It would have been a good idea to describe the game up front before starting the demo, and then once in the demo it would be best to show the key elements of the gameplay first before going into descriptions of features outside of the game. Your demo also wasn't very well coordinated and didn't seem to be practiced at all...You could certainly have done better.
UI-wise, it was somewhat unclear how things worked. Perhaps this was just because you didn't really get to describe the game before you lost power. It did seem like a bunch of functionality wasn't yet implemented. Keep in mind that we expect most of the features of your game to be implemented for the final version that will be due in about a month.
Shoeb Omar - Apr 13, 2009 11:24:00 am
Group:PALS - A game to help learning and studying amino acids that has both an individual mode and a multiplayer mode that resembles Cranium. I think the general layout of the game and flow were really easy to use with the two big buttons on the start screen and so on. I don't understand how the redesign of the option screen cleared up confusion all that much but it definitely looks cleaner and I like the little help section. what was weak in the presentation was the explanation of the games and clearly a lot was left to implement, especially in regards to different game modes. This unfortunately led to us being unable to get a real sense of how useful the game would really be if it was more complete.
Group:HCiiight - A competitive association game to help people memorize things (in classes like history or spanish) by competing with others and getting shocked if they lose. I really didn't think including the video in the presentation was a good idea. It's cool and funny but I think it didn't add to the presentation apart from take up too much time for the little humor it added. I do think your interface was really well designed and thought out and I like al ot of your design concepts like the color coding and placement of more important information centrally. I'm not sure about the premise of the game in that I don't see why people would play to be shocked or why they would think answering questions would be fun? It seems like if there were more twists and turns to the answering part of the game to make it more game-like that would add to it a lot more.
Group:G - Doodle is an application where people can make drawings, browse other drawings, and add more to existing drawings, sort of like a collaborative story for drawing. Your presentation confused me in that I was uncertain what the web interface was for in comparison to the game interface. I think having two interfaces just confuses things and that it should be more consolidated or integrated. That said I was very impressed with a lot of the things you managed to accomplish in terms of the drawing of images. The interface itself wasn't that intuitive though (browsing images was rating images also?) and your lofi prototype seemed easier to use. I think you perhaps just didn't have time to finish it all off though and it will be more polished soon.
Group:Interface Galactica - They call their game news trivia and it is a game targeted to helping people keep up with the news while making it fun also. I think the concept of your game is very interesting although just pulling headlines may be a little difficult as a choice of questions and perhaps implementing a level system (easy medium hard) would help also. I think there's tiny UI tweaks that would be useful such as highlighting the correct answer after a wrong selection and making the choices themselves link buttons so they afford clicking more. Furthermore, I think that links or opportunities to go read the article should be included on the question itself and should pause the clock when clicked. That way when people see an article they find interesting they can go read it immediately rather than having to wait until the end.
Group:OverDos - Trying to make sure that people can still do math in their head instead of being so reliant on calculators by playing an interesting card game that is won on quickness of mental speed. It was really sad that the presentation got cut off by the dying laptop battery because it looks like a really interesting concept for a game that we just couldn't explore fully. I think the UI was generally pretty easy to follow but a minor tweak would be using more blank space. For example on the home screen all he controls are cramped into the middle with a big border of space around it--use that space to your advantage.
Chao Michael Zhang - Apr 13, 2009 11:22:43 am
Group:PALS - On the questions screen some of the font is difficult to see, especially with the purple background and black font. The new options screen is actually a significant change from the previous one, and was implemented in the interactive prototype without confirming that it was an improvement. Perhaps doing quick low-fi testing on the new options page would have been wise before implementing a drastically different design change?
Group:HCiiight - Presentation seems neat and clean. Likewise, the design of the game itself is well done and quite clean feeling. On easier questions, won't it be very easy for a user to simply choose what most of the other players chose? This might possibly make the game less useful as a learning game, since users would simply be following other players rather than making their own decisions.
Group:G - Minimalistic design works well for the first few pages. On the pasterpieces screen, the font is very loopy and might make reading the information very difficult for users. Perhaps the main font that users need to read a lot needs to be more legible. The low-fi design was definitely too flashy and cluttered, so reducing that in the interactive prototype was a good change.
Group:Interface Galactica - The statistics page might have too much information and overload the user. It seemed like much of the design has been focused on generic functions that are not necessarily unique to the news trivia game itself. Things such as account management are quite generic, and might not be worth thinking about over more central aspects of your game.
Group:OverDos - The how to play button is somewhat difficult to read. The background is too dark. White font would work better. Perhaps the cards should be automatically unselected if you are interrupted and your selection is no longer playable? Having to unselect the cards yourself seems slightly redundant and unnecessary.
Yin-Zen "Johnny" Hwang - Apr 13, 2009 12:29:16 pm
Group: PALS
-practice amino-acid learning studying
flashcard style UI + Cranium
-lots of change between lo-fi and interactive.
-what is "fake pictures"
-game suddenly exits, pretty confusing
button sizes inconsistent
-cranium mode really well-designed
-lots of tabs in "options" but really well-organized.
-why are there checkboxes under the buttons in the "random" options?
Group: HCiiight
-connectrode: competitive association game (flash cards, etc) - used for memorizing stuff
-use joysticks and shocks to enforce learning (how to implement)
-horrible presentation - all tell no show
otherwise really good UI design -- reason behind every pixel.
-can users use their own avatars?
Group: G
-Doodle - used for drawing and creating drawings and edit other ppl's work
-wtf is the sudden high-five thing showing up?
-seems really incomplete? how are you actually browsing through images?
-what are the percentages for on Masterpieces? what's it for? what does it mean?
nice drawing tools. however, revert isn't (ctrl z).
-doesn't seem to be a lot of changes made
-color scheme is too saturated
Group: Interface Galactica
-news trivia: help ppl stay current with news
-create new account still slightly confusing -- should be put under Play As Guest
-button sizes don't match for different screens
-stats looks organized, but is canned
-graying out is nice
-playing game is done well -- but why doesn't it reset after each question?
-links to actual articles = pretty brilliant
-how will questions be designed? who designs them?
Group: OverDos
-math in your head - turn-based card game
-game table system
-don't get what's going on -- seems like you're just dumping random cards
-out of batteries... XD
-horrid game interface -- what's going on? how can you leave a table? when do tables get "recycled?"
-what do the colors for the cards mean? rules too complicated, need to explain.
Chunwei Lai - Apr 13, 2009 12:49:59 pm
Group:PALS - The individual and multiplayer idea seems good but people may have to wait too long for others to guess at the amino acid so a lower time limit should be specified as to not make others wait necessarily long. Interface is a bit simple and color choice was not the best (button with dark blue background and black text is not very readable). The use of the Accordion (I assume it's an Accordion) for the option menu seems unnecessary for certain settings as they only occupied a small part and the rest was blank - perhaps better usage of the screen space would be better.
Group:HCiiight - Reasoning for minimalism is not all that convincing as interfaces typically are visually stimulating. Good fundamentals but maybe more than four choices and perhaps a game mode to hide the cursor (if cursor is available and game modes does not deduct points from everyone except the first correct, it's a matter of who's the fastest). Explaining the answer is a good way to reinforce learning and the use of the Wii mote is interesting.
Group:G - Highlighting and clicking on the images is not obvious the first time (though not hard to figure out either). Reverting one change would be a good option to make available to the user. From the interface, I couldn't really determine the target users (it seems simplified for younger users but social aspects may mean an older audience). The color scheme in the original design was well thought out.
Group:Interface Galactica - The switch from button to a link was a good idea for the creation of new accounts, stats encourages people to try harder, and the interface is relatively straightforward. Allowing linking to the article is a good idea as a feature but be aware that some sites restructure their site or remove old pages (rare nowadays). Editing one's account should pre-populate old information and I don't think allowing the username to be changed is a good idea if you are keeping stats.
Group:OverDos - Good gameplay idea, table system is intuitive and definitely makes it easy for people to meet up and play. Since the idea was to base it on a type of card game, perhaps the UI should reflect that more. Perhaps the user should be required to click a key ('a' for addition and 's' for subtraction) before submitting so that they are not just remembering the number and ignoring the operation.
Saung Li - Apr 13, 2009 02:20:21 pm
Group:PALS - Targets MCB 102 - making learning amino acids more fun. The place where you fill out forms in the team game may be confusing because first time users may not not what to enter into the forms. If a player doesn't know the amino acid, will he be able to learn it from the game and still have fun? The option to choose which amino acids to use is a great idea because the user can choose what he/she needs to work on most. The game modes range from easy to very hard so they provide for variety, but we don't know how the games work from the there names. Perhaps include descriptions of them. Also, mention the correct answers in the games so players can actually know them. Lots of long term memory is required so support recognition over recall games, e.g., give a part of a structure and have the player fill in the rest, or have the player identify an amino acid from a list of them. There can also be a time limit shown to keep the competition up.
Group:HCiiight - Studying and memorization is boring, and this game that uses mental associations makes them fun. The minimalist design is nice and clean but it is rather boring. Making it more 'flashy' can make the game more interesting. If there is one very smart player that dominates, will others be fast enough to actually keep up and learn the concepts being taught? Would it still be fun for the losers? Having players choose to explain the answers may be boring. Making it the first to get the answer correct may cause this to happen; the losers would just be reading the answers like they're studying regularly. Players could also simply guess if they don't know the answer and may not reflect their understanding. Shocking is a good way to keep people trying, but it seems like a scary idea. Using a joystick does sound fun though.
Group:G - Doodle Website- make drawings, browse, rate, and modify art. Should add a way to undo the previous change to the painting. There should be more immediate feedback when drawing, e.g., highlight what brush and thickness is selected. The interface looks a little plain at this stage, but it could be designed to look more interesting for the next iteration; perhaps add in icons, pictures, etc. It may be interesting to show what is most popular for each category of art. Will there be any copyright issues? Make sure to automatically make a copy of the image that the player is modifying so that the original is saved; otherwise, things could get out of hand (e.g. the player could make the image look bad). The browsing should include a way to view more images in a thumbnail format so users can scroll through them more quickly instead of just one at a time, or just a better searching method in general, since some people may have an image in mind and want to find it quickly.
Group:Interface Galactica - NewsTrivia sounds like a great way to help people stay up to date with the news. It may be unclear how to choose an answer for the trivia game for users who are playing for the first time. Perhaps the mouse cursor when it is hovered over one of the answers to provide feedback and let users know that it is clickable. The stats page looks cluttered with the 2 big tables and big buttons. How will the system make headlines and figure out the category of question for the news collected? Perhaps let users submit news to share to reduce the burden of the game system and increase the amount of potential news entered into the database. Maybe users could also help design the news trivia questions. The percentages system is flawed because one player could just answer 1 question right and get 100% while others would answer more and get less than 100%. Adding the links to the news and creating an account is a very great idea. Users can easily access the news they want to read about. Be sure to make the button sizes consistent across screens so they look more pleasant to the eye.
Group:OverDos - Using calculators too much IS a problem (I have that problem!), so addressing this problem with a game is a great idea. The Turned based card game using speed arithmetic seems like it can help but the rules are very confusing. Be sure to have tips and help tutorials that aren't boring for new players. What are we supposed to click? Is there a limit to the number of cards a player has? The table system is nice since it mimics what people would play cards on. I suggest using actual pictures of a table as the background for playing the cards to make the game seem more realistic. Interrupting is a great way to spur competition, but may be confusing to new users because stuff seem to just happen on their own. The actual arithmetic operations should be shown so players know which operations are used. Players could randomly select cards without knowing what is going on or what the arithmetic is, so that should be limited, e.g., limit the number of clicks allowed. Is division and multiplication allowed? If not, then they should be to have more variety in the game. Lastly, the current arithmetic operation being used should be specified so players know what to do better. Be sure to keep button sizes consistent and lined up. A time limit and functional chat option could help with the game play.
Jeffrey Patzer - Apr 13, 2009 07:06:45 pm
Group:PALS
- Your ReadMe is not too helpful. For anyone else run the InteractivePrototype.mxml file to get the game going.
- So to clear up for those above me and the people after me MCB 102 is a microcell biology class that involves a lot of memorization. My bit about this is why do you have to limit yourself to this one thing? It seems like the content will have to be user entered anyway so you could expand this idea to a lot of things that involve memorization.
- Home Page
- I think your title is hard to read. People read horizontally, not up and down. Maybe it would be better to keep the big letters, which look really good, but put the small text right after the letter. It will still look like a word but the large letter will still emphasize the acronym.
- Help button doesn't offer any help to explain what the game does. Also the help button hangs around, does the help it offers change screen by screen?
- Options
- You currently have a single/multiplayer tab option. Is there any way to combine these? Maybe a single/multi checkbox
- Time Limit and # of allowed guess both have a bunch of white space, can you combine these?
- Random is a bad title. Be more specific with the option that it is tweaking. You should be able to look at the tab and understand it without having to click on it to understand it.
- Individual Mode
- The colors make things hard to read.
- Your explanations are unclear as to how to different games are different and played.
- True Names
- Question screen is too big for Canvas
- Colors are once again hard to read.
- After I run out of guess I end up being taken back to the Menu. If I were really playing this then I would want to go back to the game selection screen.
- Should there be a time clock here to reflect the time limit in the options.
Group:HCiiight
- Be careful of time guys. Definitely ran a little over time. The video was funny, but a little too long for what you needed it to do.
- For some reason the color scheme bugs me. I understand what you are trying to accomplish with the Green and Red buttons. But I feel like they clash with the black and yellow of the title above. Maybe you can find a way to unify these differences?
- Rules button doesn't explain anything to me. Under the options button however there is explanation for the various options. Could the rules be combined with those like things?
- I like the idea of the avatars, however I am having trouble understanding why they are in the corners. I guess that since you didn't have a proper joystick the metaphor isn't as strong. You might want to model this more on like a first-person shooter set-up where each player has their own slice of the screen. Not sure. Just a thought.
- Why exactly would people want to be shocked? Maybe you could try positive enforcement like a rumble when you get an answer correct. Which brings up another concern, do any players ever have the chance to do well? Is there any positive feedback? Or are you only ever staying at the status quo or getting worse? (sounds like an undergrad CS course)
- I understand you guys are still working on your implementation but it was hard to test due to the keyboard commands required.
- How is the information submitted? Does the user have to create the content?
Group:G
- Is there anyway to test your guys thing? I couldn't find any source to download or site to look at.
- To be honest I didn't exactly understand the purpose of your game. To be more precise I am unclear if it is actually a game. It sounds to me like some community based art facebook app. Where does the user compete against the system or other users?
- Your Doodle headline is a little pixelated. Can it be made to look a bit more professional?
- Start Page
- Color scheme is nice. Focuses on the header and the start button. The screen is clean. However, I have a problem with the WWW button. What on earth does that do? I noticed that you mentioned you changed it from a ? to a WWW. This is still unclear as to what it is supposed to do. Am I expected to click and just figure out what should happen?
- Help button appears to explain the game to me. That seems fine.
- Category Screen
- I understand the create a new image screen, but what exactly am I choosing to do? Find another image to edit? Be given a stock image to draw on?
- After a category is selected
- Why are the images offset? Is this supposed to be artful? Any reason they can't be side by side? If they are offset like this it might create optical allusions of size, shape, or what have you.
- Lets say I choose to edit another's doodle, do they get to approve this? What stops me from messing everything up? Or is this now a separate image that becomes my doodle?
- The Save(HD) button is highly ambiguous. During your demo I guessed this to be hard disk, but if people are playing this who are computer engineers will they understand that? I think people only need the word Save and that adding the HD might cause some hesitation and confusion.
- I like the idea of being able to comment about another person's doodle.
- WWW Button
- Once again as a first-time user it is extremely unclear to me that the WWW button takes me online to see other doodlers. Also was I rating images that were online when I was not online? This disparity is very confusing.
- Do I just get to see who the top doodlers are by clicking this button? Why do I have go to a separate window/program to see this small bit of information?
Group:Interface Galactica
- N/A
Group:OverDos
- Home Page
- Cosmetically nothing is lined up. The Title, text fields, and buttons are lined up in anyway. Just kind of under one another.
- The big red button is nice. Especially because from this screen it is unclear as to what this game does. The title doesn't really say anything to me.
- Main Table Page
- Like the list of tables. Looks good. However the Number of Players column is not wide enough.
- How do I logout?
- The Random button really is random. What sort of Random action does it perform? If I hadn't seen you demo this, then I would have no idea that it was picking a random table. You might want the button to say just that: Pick a Random Table.
- Not sure if the How to Play button should be top and center, unless people need to click it a lot. Could be moved out of the way? Also from neither the first or second screen is it clear to me what the heck this game is supposed to do.
- I can't select a table to play on if it is listed. Even if I double click. Is this a bug or is there no button to select yes for the table.
- Gameplay
- The colors are too bright on this page. Why are they neon? Also the blue tiles are pretty close to the background color.
- There is essentially no feedback for what is going on here. Am I supposed to sum something to zero? Am I adding, multiplying, subtracting, dividing? When do I click play? When do I click draw? When is it my turn? Why did the computer play automatically? I have no idea what is going on with this screen and shouldn't have to read your wiki to figure it out.
- Also lets say I put cards up and play them. Now there is a row of cards. What am I supposed to do with them? Add them up and calculate that number with the numbers in my hand? What if I can't? Is it the number on the left that I am supposed to be summing to?
- Also is Draw supposed to cause the game to cease or give me a new card?
- How do I gain points? How do I see how the other players are doing? Is there a time limit?
- After Table creation
- This screen can't really be accessed after it is left. But the elements it has are quite good. I can see who is playing and talk to them. The chat currently doesn't work though. Also, why isn't this feature available while playing the game? I feel like game play and this screen could be combined.
- This is definitely one of your better screens though.
Bernardo de Seabra - Apr 13, 2009 07:50:14 pm
Group:PALS Text hard to read on dark color buttons. Multiplayer mode screen looks too cluttered. Buttons too "squary". Making buttons with round corners would make it more appealing. Too many tabs for options. Could be condensed in fewer tabs. Help information at the bottom of some screens is quite useful.
Group:HCiiight
There wasn't much of an interface shown and interaction with the user. What was shown seemed good.
Good icons.
The question for the game is not very clear since only a picture is shown. Perhaps a verbose question should be shown.
Group:G
Labels on buttons seem too small. Perhaps problem of the projector.
Website has non contrasting text. Difficult to read.
Not very clear on how to select a picture or browse. It seems like clicking does two different things.
There should be an undo option rather than reverting completely.
The feedback screen seems to be too cluttered with icons and decoration.
Group:Interface Galactica
There should be some more containers in the "Stats" and game screens. Elements are too lose on the canvas.
Good input checking.
It's a little confusing having both links and buttons. Everything should probably be a button.
Group:OverDos
Screen after logging in has buttons that are too tall.
Red button with black text is hard to read.
Good read balloon to notify that table has already been created.
Blue cards too close in terms of color with the background color.
Ian Hildreth - Apr 13, 2009 08:56:10 pm
- Group:PALS - I was a little bit confused in the beginning during the individual mode -- what was the difference between true and fake pictures? In both modes, you never reveal what the correct answer is if you get it wrong; that's definitely something that needs to be changed. Also, I had some difficulties seeing everything clearly on the screen, possibly because of text size, or possibly because of contrasting colors, just something to consider. I like the idea of a useful game targeting just college students, most games are targeting a much larger audience so it is neat to see something with a very specific purpose.
- Group:G - This was a very visually pleasing project, nice to look at something that wasn't build in that piece of shit Adobe flex. Maybe I missed it, but I was a little unsure to what the "game" aspect was to this program, it seems more like a neat utility... Also, why is there no option to "udno" or "redo". Those options would be more useful than simply wiping the picture clean.
- Group:Interface Galactica - I liked this project the best, just the concept of a news game aimed at keeping people connected with current events is an excellent idea. One thing I thought you guys were missing was a select/unselect all link or button to check every box on the choose topics screen. Also, if you are playing as a guest, why do you need a username? Can a guest keep logging in with the same user name and update their stats, without ever actually creating an account? I really liked the created account feedback screen, very natural and good design idea. I also liked your ability to make buttons inactive when a user isn't supposed to proceed. Very good idea, makes it clear that there is something else left to do on the page. One thing to consider though is the top score of other players seems a little irrelevant unless they choose the same geographic region and categories. One thing you could do is give a player a score breakdown in each category and use that to compare to other peoples. Another thing -- if you choose to edit an account, the information in your account should be populated for you in the text boxes. It doesn't make sense to have to reenter things you don't even want to change. What if you accidentally misspell something? does it invalidate your account? Finally, an option to let users enter questions would be fun and would help you populate your database of information.
- Group:OverDos - I like how you drew similarities to uno, but this game confused me.. I really had no idea how to actually play it. One thing, the "how to play" button on the menu screen is a little weird. The fact that its round and red makes it look like an exit button, not an explain button, so users might think of it as a red stop light and try to click it to exit. You definitely need to add titles to screens so users know what they are doing and are reminded at where they are in their process (i.e. create games screen). Back to actually playing. Are you playing against other users online? Who actually interrupts you while you are playing? Do you have to wait for enough players to join your table, like an online poker room? Also, you guys need to change the color scheme up, there is way to much contrast which makes the program look old and primitive. Just because Dos is in your name doesn't mean your program should look like it. On the gameplay screen, you guys should show the arithmetic operations, or make them enter it. Lastly, it'd be nice to know how many cards the remaining players have, or at least an alarm when a user has one card left or something, like in uno.
Chunwei Lai - Apr 13, 2009 12:49:59 pm
Group:PALS - The individual and multiplayer idea seems good but people may have to wait too long for others to guess at the amino acid so a lower time limit should be specified as to not make others wait necessarily long. Interface is a bit simple and color choice was not the best (button with dark blue background and black text is not very readable). The use of the Accordion (I assume it's an Accordion) for the option menu seems unnecessary for certain settings as they only occupied a small part and the rest was blank - perhaps better usage of the screen space would be better.
Group:HCiiight - Reasoning for minimalism is not all that convincing as interfaces typically are visually stimulating. Good fundamentals but maybe more than four choices and perhaps a game mode to hide the cursor (if cursor is available and game modes does not deduct points from everyone except the first correct, it's a matter of who's the fastest). Explaining the answer is a good way to reinforce learning and the use of the Wii mote is interesting.
Group:G - Highlighting and clicking on the images is not obvious the first time (though not hard to figure out either). Reverting one change would be a good option to make available to the user. From the interface, I couldn't really determine the target users (it seems simplified for younger users but social aspects may mean an older audience). The color scheme in the original design was well thought out.
Group:Interface Galactica - The switch from button to a link was a good idea for the creation of new accounts, stats encourages people to try harder, and the interface is relatively straightforward. Allowing linking to the article is a good idea as a feature but be aware that some sites restructure their site or remove old pages (rare nowadays). Editing one's account should pre-populate old information and I don't think allowing the username to be changed is a good idea if you are keeping stats.
Group:OverDos - Good gameplay idea, table system is intuitive and definitely makes it easy for people to meet up and play. Since the idea was to base it on a type of card game, perhaps the UI should reflect that more. Perhaps the user should be required to click a key ('a' for addition and 's' for subtraction) before submitting so that they are not just remembering the number and ignoring the operation.
Stephanie Shih - Apr 13, 2009 09:51:02 pm
-Group: PALS:: That was my group, lolol.
-Group: HCiiight:: Where are these questions coming from, anyway? Who decides the subjects? There didn't seem to be a concrete subject that the game focuses on, so do the users make their own questions and use those to study? Or is the game just going to have a random medley of subjects? The usage of colours was good though. However, one questions whether using a joystick is also a good idea in a speed-based competitive challenge - wouldn't that give advantage to those more used to a joystick? (At least the question regarding multiple use of same icon was covered.)
-Group: G::
The buttons don't seem to fit with the theme of the program at all, and comes across as jarring. (You have a very loopy font for your title, and then the buttons dont' match at all.) Also, there was a revert option, but there didn't seem to be an undo option? Would you allow the traditional keyboard shortcut of ctrl+z for undo, as well as an undo button? Also, more to do with the website, but what happens when someone trolls an image? Say, a user posts and image, and then another user comes along and completely defaces it. There didn't seem to be any indication that one could flag the user/defaced image. (Or, say, someone takes an image someone else posted, makes an unnoticeable change, and then posts it. Would the image come up as under this user's name, or would there be some way of linking back to the original poster's work? I also hope that you don't allow uploading image files from a user's HD, given that you'd also have to deal with potential art theft.)
Basically, what sort of moderation do you have, because the rule of thumb on the internet tends to be that People Are Assholes. And anyway, this seems more like a combination of Tegaki + oekaki than a GWAP? The only thing that seems GWAP-like is the ranking, and that's such a small part of the whole thing...
-Group: Interface Galactica::
It might have just been because you guys sped through this part, but it seemed that in the options menu, when you unclicked all the subjects and then clicked the "Go" button, all but the first subject checkbox got greyed out? Is that supposed to happen? (Er, did that happen?) Because if that happens, then that's really inconvenient. Also, when editing the profile, it would have been nice if one could have the information one had previously entered to sit in the checkboxes, so one could have some idea of what one was changing from.
-Group: OverDos::
The biggest issue I had was that there didn't seem to be any way to join the table of one's choice from the table list; there was only the random table button that one had to click, and then one automatically got joined to that table. As well, is there any way that, when you select your cards, you show what equation you're making with the cards in the first place? The player's brain will already have to keep track of the latest number one has to make, as well as any interruptions, and still keep in mind what cards one has and which to use to make the latest number, never mind calculating the number in the first place. The game in general seems just... way too complicated.
Siddharth Shah - Apr 13, 2009 09:51:41 pm
- Tasks did a good job of covering the tasks.
- I liked the different modes of play.
- The black text on blue background was hard to read.
- The choosing of different number of teams was difficult to understand. Why am I limited to a maximum of 4 teams? Why is it that to leave a team out I leave the name blank?? I feel like I should be able to enter a number of teams and go from there.
- The OK button on the Correct screen was really small. It should be bigger, or maybe consider making the whole Correct screen a button (with a message saying click to continue).
- I liked the video; it was funny. However, the outtakes and other useless parts also took up some extra time, and this group went significantly over the time limit.
- Game seemed relatively simple, but well designed.
- I'm interested in seeing how it works out with that shocking joystick instead of just the WiiMote.
- I'm confused about the ability to start the game without logging in first. It seems to me like you should have to log in first before you can do anything.
- I was disappointed by the fact that the Revert button reverts ALL changes; is it not possible to just revert the LAST change?? Also, the current implementation does not guard against accidental clicking of the Revert button; that one mistake could cause you to have to redo the whole thing.
- The buttons, despite your attempt to improve them due to your users' feedback, are still really really ugly from where I was sitting. Gray on orange is just a horrible combination.
- I was confused about the difference between a named Guest account and a registered user. What are the benefits of registration? Why not have a single anonymous Guest user?
- It seems like you should allow people to input their information and then click a "Register New Account" button?? That way the effort of putting that info in doesn't go to waste just because the user didn't realize that s/he needed to register first.
- Maybe have a "Select All" button for the Region and Subject, just for the users' convenience.
- Consider putting in a unifying, persistent header with a logo or something. Right now, the welcome screen is split right down the middle... just not an appealing look, to me at least.
- Presentation could have been smoother, maybe with more practice.
- Login screen is very cluttered. Position of Play as Guest button is awkward.
- It was pretty hard for me to understand the game itself; maybe it's a really complicated game, or maybe you just did a really bad job of explaining it. The laptop battery running out didn't really help things.
- Playing an audio clip every time the player is interrupted sounds like a good idea. Animating the cards is another good one that your users gave you.
Anatol Tsang - Apr 13, 2009 09:55:18 pm
Group:PALS - This was my group.
Group:HCiiight - The presentation was entertaining and I liked the game concept. The game sounds like something that would be fun. I know that the group didn't have time to cover all the game modes, but only having one game mode is a bad idea (what if someone was good at Spanish but wasn't very coordinate with the joystick?). In general, the interface was straight-forward and clear. Is there a one-player mode with the game?
Group:G - I really liked the functionality with the art images, especially the ability to revert all the changes. I'm a little unclear on the point of the "game". Interesting concept with the users picking which art pieces they liked, and having a general consensus among the community being the deciding factor of the quality of a picture.
Group:Interface Galactica - I like this idea a lot! As mentioned, the scoring system may be a problem. Perhaps the user is given a certain amount of time to finish a set of questions, and if he finishes all the questions, the amount of time left is used to add to his score?
Group:OverDos - The card game is sort of confusing just from the audience standpoint (perhaps it would become more clear to a person playing the game). The colors and numbers are confusing at first, but I guess someone who knows what they're doing can function well in the game. Are the colors used to help the user speed through calculations? Having addition and division signs make the game simpler, but may slow the time it takes to input something (something the group might have already thought about).
Derek Liu - Apr 13, 2009 09:56:33 pm
PALS:
- Good job of describing their game and interface.
- It was unclear how the different types of games were played
- Does multiplayer allow for more than two players?
- Will the program enable users to upload their own questions?
- How do you decide which questions are important for students to review?
HCiiight:
- Liked the idea of the minimalist design, prevents users from getting confused.
- Liked the thought of using a joystick and I can see how that would be optimal.
- Electric shock idea was funny, would love to see this implemented.
- Are wrong answers penalized more than no answer at all?
- The video made it seem that only the one who loses the round gets shocked but presenters seemed to imply that shocking happens after each question to those who did not get the question right.
Group G:
- The interface looks pretty bare right now.
- Definitely needs more drawing options, for example instead of only 3 separate brush sizes use numbers instead.
- Should implement an undo button since that tends to be what I use the most when I am drawing on my computer.
- Target audience is pretty broad, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- This type of program reminds me a little of deviant art.
Interface Galactica:
- I like this idea a lot, allows people to become more informed about what is going on in the world.
- If you're only providing headlines for people to guess, it seems they would need to read the news a lot in order to get the answer correct.
- Some kind of overall high score would probably a good idea for more competitive play.
- Liked the links to the articles at the end of the game.
Overdos:
- Creating a table was confusing to me. When you left the table, the table had 0 players but still existed. This could become troublesome if every table created is preserved even if players leave.
- I feel some sort of keyboard support may be helpful because mouse movements can become a bit slow.
- The games' rules were confusing, not sure what the different colored cards did at first until you explained.
- As everyone already stated, the laptop dying didn't help much.
Matthew Can - Apr 13, 2009 10:51:15 pm
Group:PALS - It was nice to hear you talk about the changes you made when you went from the low fidelity prototype to the interactive prototype. I still think you could have spent a little less time on the slides though and more on the demo. Your options menu seemed really overwhelming. Maybe there's a way to reduce some of those options? The game concept looks interesting. Just keep implementing and it should start looking good.
Group:HCiiight - Your game concept seems really fun. I've seen similar arcade games. But what I'm wondering is how well this style of learning works. It seems that positive reinforcement would work better than negative reinforcement. In any case, whether this is a good way to learn or not, it still makes for an exciting game. I liked your minimalist design. The red and green colors worked fine during gameplay, but I don't think they make good colors for your buttons in the main screen. Maybe make the colors less saturated. As for the presentation, you definitely should have spent too long on the slides. It was not at all necessary to show the video prototype again. It simply took too long.
Group:G - I thought your idea was very creative. It seems to me that your application definitely serves a purpose. The only problem is that it doesn't seem very much like a game. Who are the players? What are the rules and procedures? What are the conflicts and what is the outcome? I think you should focus on making it a little more game-like. Other than that, I liked what I saw. You did a very nice job on the design.
Group:Interface Galactica - You did a good job on your prototype demo. In fact, maybe it was a little too thorough. The time you spent showing the validation of text fields and such was probably better spent on Q&A. That aside, the prototype looks well implemented. I like the way you highlighted the correct answer to make it stand out. The interface comes off as very user-friendly.
Group:OverDos - As was mentioned in class, you should have clearly explained how the game worked before showing the demo. It was hard to see what was going on. It might help to make a tutorial for new users.
Sean Kim - Apr 13, 2009 11:39:09 pm
- Group:PALS - Fonts inside buttons is so small that user is hard to see it. I think that will be even better if they have an interface for indicating a time elapsed. And since this game has an educational purpose, I think it can be better if it shows the correct answer in the case user choose a wrong answer.
- Group:HCiiight - I think they spent so much time in the limited time to show the lo-fi video submitted previously. And I am little confusing about the color of the outlined of answer box. If one of users got a correct answer and rest of them didn't select any answer yet, they lost a chance to try solving that problem because the answer is surrounded with the green color. I think that will be better if there is a option for showing a color or not.
- Group:G - Compared with the background, the main interfaces look too simple. or background was too colorful. And I hope they have a relative image for tool buttons in the drawing window.
- Group:Interface Galactica - Personally, I prefer the idea of this group rather then others. And if user can get a chance to see any hint for that problem such as a category or a press, that will be even better.
- Group:OverDos - Unfortunately, their laptop was out of battery. (Even Windows7 was useless in no more battery) So I am still confusing how the game is playing. If user can see an instruction for playing a game such as showing what each color exactly means, it will be much better.
- Anyway, Great job, all! I really enjoyed that time.
Joseph Tsay - Apr 14, 2009 01:21:02 am
Groups Presenting
- Group:PALS - This game helps MCB 102 students learn their amino acids. Maybe consider having some sort of learning screen where more information, or at least the answer, is displayed when the user exhausts all of his guesses, rather than just booting them out to the main menu. The options screen still seemed kind of cluttered, although separating it out into tabs was a definite improvement.
- Group:HCiiight - The video was definitely funny, but pretty unnecessary. The game looks pretty fun though, I like the concept. Too bad it's probably only good for studying vocabulary and other simple memorization-based subjects.
- Group:G - Collaborative artwork. Maybe have some way to view and rate the changes made by each user. Should probably have some way to report users as malicious users who just mess around with the pictures.
- Group:Interface Galactica - This is a news game designed to help sharpen users' current events knowledge. Interesting game. I agree that users should be able to submit stories, maybe similar to how it is done with digg. I don't know how much of an incentive users will have to keep playing though.
- Group:OverDos - A fast-paced game that allows students to practice speed arithmetic skills while competing with others. Animated cards would definitely help so that users can see who played what cards when. Color schemes, button placement definitely needs a lot more work.
Meiying Li - Apr 14, 2009 02:20:58 am
Group:PALS - The "Select All" checkbox in the options screen is not obvious enough, since it is listed with other regular checkboxes. Probably placing it higher than the regular checkboxes is a good idea. Also in the Choosing game screen, the buttons' background colors are too sharp which make the text on them hard to read.
Group:HCiiight - Fonts of the answer choices are too small. But anyways, I like the idea of using the Joystick and the "shock" effect.=) Also it reminds me of an old typing-learning game in which you shoot the moving balloons by typing the letter on it. Maybe letting the choices move around would add more fun to the game even in single player mode.
Group:G - It is not a good idea to clear the whole picture rather than allowing the user to undo just one step. Also using animated icons for the drawing options ("brush", "line" etc) maye be a better choice than just using text buttons, since reading text will take more time than reading a relate-to-reality-object picture.
Group:Interface Galactica - The statistics screen is too cluttered. Also if the purpose of this game is to help people read more news instead of to test how much they have already known, will it be better to put the links of the relavent news before the questions so the user can read them before answering the questions?
Group:OverDos - I have problem understanding the rules of the card game. If it is not that you have made them too complicated, you have made them sound too complicated. The color of the cards are too sharp and might annoy the player for a longer play. But anyways, I would love to challenge myself by playing your game when you have fully implemented it (with softer colors though, lol).
Ling Chen - Apr 14, 2009 03:37:21 am
Group PALS: Yours truly~ =]
Group HCiiight:
- Connectrode- competitive association game
- I thought it was refreshing because it involved a joystick, which was different from everyone else's, definitely would be interested in seeing how it turns out
- The video was definitely fun to watch (no complaints here), but that took up too much of the time, maybe it wasn't that necessary since we are presenting our interactive prototype
- Slides were way too long and that caused the presentation to go over time and the demo to be rushed a little
- I like how you can change the shock option
- Make the difference between the moving avatars more clear? Maybe When it's your turn, your avatar will be highlighted or be flashing or something?
Group G:
- Doodle - browse and create artworks
- I like the game idea! I like doodling, so I might be a little biased
- collaborate to create master pieces, this would be interesting to see
- Can I not browse the artworks and start one myself from scratch?
- Can I invite my friends to collaborate with me on a picture so we can create our "master" piece?
- The color is way too bright for the website: hurts my eyes, don't really want to look at it.
- It could just be me, but the font on the home page is a bit too fancy, hard to read
- The color of the game is different from the website on purpose?
Group Interface Galactica:
- News Trivia - stay current with news
- When creating account and the user makes a mistake like mismatched password, it would be nice if the fields need to be corrected is highlighted somehow
- I like the disappearing of the "Go" button when not enough boxes are checked
- I was surprised to see a blank form When editing the account info, shouldn't the fields be already filled in with the current information? At least I would like that, so I just need to change the stuff I want to change.
- It was cool when the link went to the actual article
Group OverDos:
- Math card game
- Practicing basic mathematical operations is a good idea - my middle school students definitely have the problem of relying on calculator too much
- The color difference between the table screen and the game play screen might be a little too much, was that on purpose?
- The colors on the game play screen are too...saturated. I don't think I would want to stare at that screen for too long.
- Explaination of how the game should be played and what everything meant could have been more clear
- Sorry to say, but I was really confused during the presentation, not sure what was going on, it was worse when the battery ran out (remember to plug the computer in next time)
Denise Ngai - Apr 14, 2009 12:48:43 pm
1. Group:PALS -- amino acid learning game
- UI based on old fashioned flashcards and Cranium
- Changed "Back" to "Main Menu" to avoid confusion
- First Task: Play individual mode
- Second Task: Play Multiplayer mode
- Unclear categories -- speaker had to explain them
- "fake pictures?"
- maybe have clearer category names
- UI very simple; perhaps make it more visually appealing?
2. Group: HCiight -- Connectrode
- competitive association game, exercise mental associations, text or image based questions and answers
- exercise use of long term memory
- provide additional info after each question
- went for minimalist look so ppl would focus on what they were learning.
- i like the life bars
- clean and simple, but looks impressive
- looks like lots of work/research was put into it (in terms of joystick controll/wiimote control)
- would love to see it work with the backordered joysticks! :)
- put username under avatar so user won't forget his avatar
3. Group:G -- Doodle
- browsing and creating artworks
- collaborate to create masterpieces
- new system of image rating
- provide enjoyable imagery
- provide platform for sharing artwork
- website aspect
- nice interface
- i liked the doraemon picture ;)
- just looks like online version of Paint :/
- not sure if i actually like this game because of its similarities to MS Paint.
- why not just... make a Paint photo and upload?
- i like the ink bottle
4. Group:Interface Galactica -- News Trivia Game
- 1st task: creating a user acct - 2nd task: selecting trivia categories - 3rd task: playing the game - play as guest option --- good idea - I like the stats view so you can see how you did based on category, region, and percentile amongst everyone else - I like the functionality of the game/interface, but the design needs some work. make it pretty!
5. Group:OverDos -- OverDos - turn-based card game
- objective: get rid of all cards
- fun and competitive practice in speed arithmetic
- design
- authentication
- game table system (like yahoo! games)
- easy task: logging in and joining game
- medium: creative a new game table
- hard: exposing user to game controls
- GUI not very pretty; make more visually appealing
- instructions in game? hard to understand how to play
- i tried to listen in on the instructions on how to play the game, but i'm still confused. :/
David Burban - Apr 14, 2009 01:22:57 pm
1. Group:PALS -- amino acid learning game
- MCB 102? - What are fake pictures/true names? - The black font on the blue background is appalling. - There seems to be a LOT of space in the options menu. Maybe combine screens to reduce number of clicks? - Board game idea is a nice mapping from the real world, lowers the learning curve. - You didn't remove the border around the text on the main screen... looks weird when you click on the text. - No option to give up. - Review mode suggested in the user study, but unimplemented. - Support recognition over recall in other modes.
2. Group: HCiight -- Connectrode
- Build upon flash cards, something that people are already familiar with. - Show video from prototype? Took too much time, especially with the outtakes. - Way too many slides, why not explain while looking at the app? - I think the idea is flawed, as one person will learn and the others will not by seeing the right answers. - Did not set up beforehand. Too much presentation, too little substance. - Does the UI change when there are only 2 players? - How about a single player mode?
3. Group:G -- Doodle
- What do you do about people defacing the artworks? - Start button is too over-embossed, with the text not being large enough. Maybe do a clickable image? - Only titles show up on the website. How do you edit those masterpieces, or copy them and make your own (i.e. fork)? - Only 3 thickness settings. What if you want to do something in between? - Weird language pops up on the buttons as a hint??? - Titles should be more descriptive than bmp001.bmp - Obviously its easier to revert back to the original than to have an undo button. Weak explanation for being lazy and not implementing a modification history.
4. Group:Interface Galactica -- News Trivia Game
- I think its made to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Its very easy to stay current, especially with google reader and news, and social networking site. - Is this program automated, or do people have to constantly update it with "current headlines"? If so, then it won't be very up-to-date. - If you fill in the user name and password and then on the link, then it should forward at least the username to the registration. - Why do you lose 20 points when you get one wrong? - Huge variation in text sizes, on the buttons vs. on the labels on the stats screen. - No database to date. - Colors seem to play together nicely. - Maybe do a user submitting articles?
5. Group:OverDos -- OverDos - turn-based card game
- Vague task explanations. - I like the help button, it stands out by being red and more circular. - How do you check for uniqueness? What if you have a malicious user that creates games with other people's names? - Unprepared - Battery died. - I'm confused as to what's happening. I'm not familiar with this type of card game. - Should have explained how to use the game before showing it. Much better use of time than showing us the changes from the low-fidelity prototype. - Computer should ALWAYS be faster than the player. I don't see the point of playing a handicapped computer. - I'm confused as to the arithmetic operation that's going on. - Is this turn based? Or is it a free for all?
Cuong Ngo - Apr 14, 2009 02:08:36 pm
- Game interface seems to be easy to use.
- First-time users wouldn't have to look around and figure out what to do next.
- UI elements were a bit cluttered though. Other than that, everything else looks good.
- Presentation was carefully prepared.
- Presenters demonstrated their game features clearly.
- The idea behind the game is great.
- Learning through playing has never been so convenient.
- The project itself was well planned and designed.
- Building a bank of questions would be tedious.
- The video was funny.
- The presentation went a bit slow, but the speakers got to their points.
- UI design is user-friendly thanks to its colors, fonts and layout.
- User feedback could have been better if selected options were highlighted.
- Browsing can be improved by using thumbnails.
- I wasn't sure if logging in was required.
- Slides were nicely organized.
- Demo was pretty straightforward, demonstrated all the supported features.
- Speakers kept eye contact with the audience.
- The game is a quick and easy way to stay updated with the news.
- Statistics screen could have been simplified to reduce unnecessary information presented to the user.
- Presentation went fairly well.
- Demo showed what's been done and clarified any confusion the audience might have had.
- Interface is fairly simple.
- Background color was a bit dark.
- Game play could have been improved by keeping the players informed of the progress.
- Not sure if the colors of the cards had any meaning.
- Well chosen pictures to illustrate the points.
- Game rules not fully explained and somewhat complicated
- Demo not very engaging, lost the audience here and there.
Alan Young - Apr 14, 2009 01:46:48 pm
Group:PALS - The problem for helping MCB students is clear and I think the game can greatly help them memorize stuff. The multiplayer mode seems especially fun and interesting. Maybe you can include a practice mode with all the amino acids listed with their picture and properties so people can just search for one specific ones that they need work on.
Group:HCiiight - I find the idea/solution to be very fun for a real problem. Personally, I wouldn't want to get physically shocked but would rather see a quick flash or some visual animation on the screen that can mean the same thing. Otherwise, the solution and the game is clear.
Group:G - I like the look of each different page and the design seems very easy to use. However, I'm not sure if it can be characterized as a game. To me, it seems more like a tool or utility for people interested in art.
Group:Interface Galactica - The scoring system seems too complex for users, otherwise the game is straightforward.
Group:OverDos - The idea is good but I wouldn't aim it at high school kids. Aiming at kindergardeners or young kids makes more sense to me and seems more like a relevant problem. In addition, the rules for gameplay seem more complex than necessary, even for, or especially for high school aged people.
Phiroath Chan - Apr 14, 2009 04:15:04 pm
Group:PALS - My group.
Group:HCiiight - First game so far to have an actual controller. I really do hope the shock controller comes through. With that i think the gameplay screen lacks identification properties. I found myself constantly trying to find myself on the screen. The idea of having a way to make your test and questions is a great addition to the gym. I think it will make it more useful and open to more potential users.
Group:G - I might be wrong about this but, when searching through the images the image you click on sometimes move location and sometimes even disappears. I find that a little confusing since if i like a picture and want to select it by clicking it and the image disappears i would get frustrated. Having the concept of having similar images is a good idea, but having the actual image u click staying in the same location is a plus. When drawing maybe develop a layer system where u can draw on separate layers and flatten image later. Having a undo last step is a plus in addition to the undo all feature.
Group:Interface Galactica - When going back to edit your account have the already entered info on the user already displayed in the text boxes so the user can easily identify what he/she entered last time. How is score determined? I think the user will benefit from knowing this.
Group:OverDos - The cards do move up when selected, but it was still hard to see which cards u selected on screen with all those cards on the screen. I saw a lot of cards on the screen and some were in different colors. The user will definitely benefit by knowing what the colors mean. One can learn and try to guess what the colors mean as play progresses, but that might cause a lot of frustration on the user's part. From what i saw the game is not very easy to pick up so maybe some tutorial feature for new users might help.
Dwij Garg - Apr 14, 2009 04:42:29 pm
- Good idea to have a UI based on Cranium and Flash Cards - This makes it very easy for the user to understand to interface. Moreover, it is something the user can relate to, thus reducing the learning curve
- Good change to replace "Back" with "Main Menu" - makes the interface less confusing
- Nice board game style multiplayer feature
- Levels should be more descriptive and clear - makes it easier for the user to understand which level is best for his/her current knowledge
- Great game to make "learning shockingly fun"
- Good use of different formats and methods for placement of the Question and Answers - based on fact that eye always looks to the center
- Considered important factors for UI Design - minimalism, symmetry, use of color, and focus on what is being taught. Make sure all four aspects are kept within limits though, as too much of any could potentially reduce the fun in the game
- First group that actually made use of Wii Controllers! Great concept and good job in putting it together!
- Explain Answer feature at the end of each question does not leave the user clueless if the answer is wrong
- Health bar and shock features are good, but make sure to label the avatars with usernames or players so that users can know which one is which
- Good idea! One that will definitely be used by students getting bored in class
- Maybe make an iPhone/iPod Touch version so that it is accessible everywhere? - Website aspect could be useful in this
- Great "artisty" interface - goes well with the theme and concept of the game
- "Revert" button makes it easy for users to undo whatever changes have been made
- Could be just seen as an online "Paint" game with a browsing/showing aspect - maybe add some unique features that differentiates it from Microsoft Paint. People might not use Doodle to draw, as they could just do the same and more on Paint
- Good idea of a News Trivia Game - will help many keep up to date with current events if they find reading the news and/or newspaper boring
- Many games require Registration. Good idea to have "Play as Guest" feature
- Could provide player statistics at the end or throughout the game that shows how well/poorly the player did in each category
- UI needs a little bit of spicing up - the design is very bland and not too attractive
- Buttons and representations do not seem logically organized on the game screen
- Could turn out to be very competitive in practicing arithmetic
- Good idea of Casino style "Table System" where users can join, leave, or start a "Table"
- UI is simple and easy for the users to use and understand.
- However, UI is also a little boring - Could add color and energy to the design to make it more visually appealing
- For first time users, the game is very hard to understand - add an "Instructions" button on the main screen that leads to a well detailed "How To Play" screen
- Describe a way of showing which card is on top of the pile - maybe an arrow point to the card that says "Top"
Victor Lum - Apr 14, 2009 06:27:49 pm
Group PALS: You have a very specific target user group, which makes it a lot easier to optimize for their needs. I think it's cool that it's based on Cranium, so it'll be familiar to people. Maybe the names of your categories could be a little more descriptive. I'm not sure what any of them meant at first glance. And having the answers would after getting something wrong would be good, I know that's how I learn.
Group HCiiight: I thought your video was funny, but it had more to do with your lo-fi prototype than your current version. It was awesome that you got it to work with the Wii-mote, although I don't remember you showing that many interface aspects. Your game idea is cool, but if you make it all about speed, wouldn't it be kind of hard for the people who didn't know the answer to learn the stuff?
Group G: I'm not into drawing, but I can see why people would like your game. I think that having people highlight pictures seems to be unintuitive. And having undo and redo buttons would be really helpful (I think those are buttons I use the most in image editors).
Group Interface Galactica: I like how you guys keep stats for each region/category, but a percentage might not be the best indicator of how well people do. And how would you guys come up with questions? I don't really see a way to remove keywords unless it was done by human.
Group OverDos: Power failure for the loss. But from what I did see of your game, I didn't really get what was going on. It just kind of looked like you were picking random numbers. Maybe you guys should also show what operations are being used, or something to ensure the player actually knows what he's doing, and not just clicking around.
Eric Hernandez - Apr 14, 2009 08:47:02 pm
Group:PALS - The implementation of the game seemed to work quite well, except for how there was only one amino acid question. One problem I see with the game though, is that aren't there only a few types of amino acids? That seems to limit the game. It would be cool to generalize the game to any sort of molecular structure or other field of study.
Group:HCiiight - While the video was quite funny at times, it did seem to eat up a LOT of presentation time. Humor is great in a presentation (which was fine by me), but I'm sure the people grading you couldn't appreciate it as much as the general audience since at times it had no function in regard to the goal of the presentation. Other than this, the interface is very simple after a player is familiar with it. It's also nice since it can generalize to help players learn just about anything.
Group:G - Good presentation and implementation. The only question I had during the presentation was, how is this really a game?
Group:Interface Galactica - This implementation looked more developed than any other group that presented on Monday. The presentation was also good. The only bad feature that stood out to me in the interface was the need to select the region and subject. If no check boxes are selected in subject, then maybe you could just randomly grab questions to use. This way the minumum number of button presses is one for this screen.
Group:OverDos - Overall a pretty cool idea. I don't understand why power was an issue during the presentation though. This made me have to go to the assignment page and read how the game works. Out of all the presentations today, the rules of this game are the most complex, but pretty cool after understanding how it works. Maybe you should include a tutorial.
Sean Hansen - Apr 14, 2009 10:54:07 pm
Group:PALS- I think that making the correct/incorrect messages interrupting pop-ups is unnecessary; the user will look to see if he got the answer right or wrong without prompting, especially since learning the material is the goal. Also, you should consider using icons to represent teams in the multiplayer mode instead of names since icons can be recognized more quickly and won't take up too much space. That being said, I thought the redesigned options screen looked very good.
Group:HCiiight- Have you guys ever played Lightning Reaction? It's similar, but instead of answering questions, the goal is to be the first to press a button on the joystick after the signal light turns on. The point is, it's good times. Anyway, have you guys considered moving the player icons into the answer boxes instead of near them? I think that'd make it marginally easier to recognize which answer you've selected. The other thing is that you should probably highlight the players' points a bit more, since they're so vital to the players' well-beings.
Group:G- Gotta say, the whole project looked very good. The only thing I have to say about the aesthetics is that that website button was a bit unclear as to what it did, so you probably want to find a universal internet symbol (even as I'm saying it, I can't imagine what that would be) to label the button.
Group:Interface Galactica: I like the idea, and wish you all the luck in the world getting it working well. Just a few nitpicky things: 1. In the account creation screen, when you somehow fill out the form incorrectly, what I see most websites do is go back to the form, highlight the fields that need to be corrected, and maybe offer a few notes about what the user did wrong; I suggest you use this method. 2. As for answering questions, I think the answers being actual buttons instead of selectable text is the way to go, as selectable text offers no pushing affordance.
Group:OverDos- My initial reaction was "an arithmetic game for people over 8?", but after seeing it, it does look like it could be a lot of fun. After all, most speed card games don't exactly have complicated rules either. So, in the interest of keeping things quick, I suggest implementing hotkeys (maybe have each card correspond to a number based on position) and have a player's selected cards become unselected if the player is interrupted by another player's move (so the player doesn't have to revert his choices before he can begin forming a new move).
Nalditya Kusuma - Apr 14, 2009 11:25:05 pm
PALS
too many steps in playing the game
what is amino acid anyways i haven't touched chemistry in a long time probably a lil explanation about it before the gameplay is good
what is true, fake pictures?
i like that there are different game modes
multiplayer mode -- any limit to player number?
G
clear voice presentation
i could cope with the speaker throughout the whole presentation
the drawing output looks like window's paint app
definitely have the undo/redo button in the final version
INTERFACE GALACTICA
on the page when there are lots of checkboxes to choose region & newstype there should be instruction (min. 1 region & 1 type,etc)
when showing the question, I think it's better to show where you guys get the news from? So I'd say it shouldbe like "According to Nytimes.com, blablabla..." because news isn't always 100% true and different sources sometimes contradict each other.
u guys showed some error input checking--like that.
i think the gui widgets are too simple. are you guys gonna make a nice/slick gui for it for the final version?
OVERDOS
the game demo is too fast
i still can't understand the gameplay even though your speaker explained it, i think it is much better if you could've played the game while explaining it
I don't agree on couple comments that the key failure in your presentation is for running out of battery power--u guys had 9 mins battery left and 5 presentation mins to go so i think its suffice BUT HOWEVER you guys turned off the laptop too soon it gives the impression that you didn't carefully prepare the presentation, should've let it run during Q&A to help answer questions.
i like the calculator idea and the purpose of the game seems wise--but since the game looks complicated u may want to put some video demo in your help page?
Rohan Dhaimade - Apr 15, 2009 12:32:30 am
Groups Presenting
- Group:PALS - This game helps MCB 102 students learn their amino acids.
I think an explanation of how Cranium worked would be nice. I didn't remember how to play it at all so I was confused on what you meant by it plays like Cranium. Please don't assume people will know how certain things work. Your colors on the buttons were almost impossible to read, or at the very least very hard. Do you make sure to handle case insensitivity with the answers, is Glycein the same as glycein? During your presentation, you didn't seem to know what you were doing sometimes. Or you said, I think this is how it works kind of thing. That seems very unporessional and it seems that you don't even know how your own program works. The setting thing was very nice, it was well set up with tabs and drop downs. The different games are kinda confusing, I'm not sure what they were exactly from the name.
- Group:HCiiight - 1 sentence description of project
I'm wondering two things, do you get more points off for getting wrong vs not answering at all? Because I would think you could just guess over everything and the game could be luck based on that scenario. The 2nd thing I'm wondering is why not let everyone answer the question? Why add the element of speed and first guessing, isn't the point for everyone to learn how to do it and not just one guy who already knows how to do it. If there is one imbalanced user, who always gets the right answer then nobody gets to really learn by guessing/reading everything. Do you enforce that there is no way to choose the same avatar? I would think having the same avatar would be kinda confusing and be annoying b/c you might know who wins. I recommend instead of adding text or something, you could add a color border around. Blue/red/green/etc for each of the player. Eventually, the user will start associating the color with his player number along with the avatar. THis helps solve the same avatar issue. Dont show your low-fi prototype at the interactive prototype presentation to take up time.
- Group:G - A drawing game that allows people to view and create artworks.
The www button should be something specific rather than www. No undo Can you upload images that you draw yourself, I think that would be useful. Maybe use the program to make annotations and stuff rather than purely drawing things. The tools you have are currently for very limited drawing. What's percent in Masterpieces page? How many people like it, percentile? Do you factor in the # of reviews into the calculation. Your button needs styling, you should make it smaller and flatter, the big recentangle button looks weird and annoying. The app seems to be a drawing social interactive site. I'm wondering what hte relationship between the site and the program is though, it seems that your repeating yourself?
- Group:Interface Galactica - This is a news game designed to help sharpen users' current events knowledge.
Data validation isn't something you show off at an interactive prototype. It is something that is normal and should be there, don't try to present it off as something useful. It just makes you look like your filling time up. Why don't you show region/category when your playign the game itself, that would be useful for giving a hint on identifying what you might be failing in yourself. You might also add a skip button if the user doesn't want to wait till the coutndown. The create a new account link doesn't fit with the rest of the theme of the page, a link vs a button. I know you had trouble separating them according to your low-fi. I suggest you put create a new account above so they can see it first instead of thinking that the create a account thing is using those fields. The button above it would be a lot better and won't look so out of place.
- Group:OverDos - A fast-paced game that allows students to practice speed arithmetic skills while competing with others.
Your game makes no sense, I didn't understand what to do at all. Maybe add a tutorial so people can figure it out? If you are a user, why aren't you yourself on the online list, remember to add that or else it would be weird issues. Battery ran out of power, seriously? That is totally unprofessional especially since there are outlets there that you could have plugged in easily. I would think adding a game to Yahoo games or another API would be better than doing you own. Yahoo games and ohter sitse have their own rooms interface and other things, you should see about integrating your accounts with Yahoo accounts or something, kinda like Facebook connect for games.
Moonway Lin - Apr 15, 2009 01:27:50 am
Group:PALS - I like the concept, although it's unfortunate that much of the interactive prototype still isn't working at this point. There are 20 amino acids to learn. Do you really need that many different modes? Also, do you flip and rotate the chemical structures to make things more interesting for the players? The interface seems very cluttered, with way too many options to choose from. During your presentation, you could have gone into more depth explaining the various modes you have in your game and how to play each of them.
Group:HCiiight - The teaser video sounded more like a commercial than an informative presentation...was it really necessary, given the time constraints? It's an interesting concept to be sure, especially the Wii Remote integration, but why exactly would people want to be shocked? The idea of punishment just doesn't seem that appealing to me, although some more adventurous people may like it. Overall, the interface design looks quite clean and intuitive.
Group:G - Overall, the presentation was clear and well-paced. Instead of forcing users to doodle using the limited tools available within the game, would allowing users to upload images from their hard drives (produced/modified with advanced image editors such as Photoshop) leave room for more creativity? How are you going to deal with people drawing potentially inappropriate images? Given the viral nature of these community websites, a prank could turn into something very widespread and nasty. How do you plan to stop vandalism?
Group:Interface Galactica - A very good presentation, and an interesting concept that appears to be promising. For the purpose of getting into the meat and potatoes of the presentation, you could have skipped the whole login thing, as it's trivial compared to the main application. However, the main application was explained well. As someone suggested in class, being able to retrieve live news feeds from CNN, NY Times, etc. would be very beneficial. You could use a dictionary database and use simple heuristics to determine which words are proper nouns and subjects to turn into blanks. I don't think it would be that difficult to get an automated system working with at least 60% accuracy.
Group:OverDos - The laptop running out of batteries was unfortunate, but I really could not understand your game. The rules of the game are not obvious, so you could have spent more time explaining how to play, even using the whiteboard if necessary. Your goal is to encourage people to practice their math skills without calculators, but the gameplay itself only involves adding/subtracting single-digit numbers? If this were targeted at adults, it seems far too trivial to me...maybe elementary school students would be a better audience?
Sum Sum Wong - Apr 15, 2009 12:27:11 am
- Presentation is short and clear.
- Seems like it is quite complicated to play.
- Should provide answer after several tries to a question.
- Maybe also include reason for the answer, or a system to analyse the wrong answer and provide a corresponding hint.
- The purple button to me is a bit too close the words which are in black. Maybe you can make the purple less saturated.
P.S. I am not very sure how the multiplayer mode works.
- Nice interface and very nice video.
- The presentation is a bit too long.
- Maybe the "<" and ">" button in select avatar screen can be made larger to avoid mis-click.
- Overall a nice presentation.
- Oops, its me.
- Easy game, straight forward enough.
- Nice presentation.
- I'm not sure if the login system is useful.
- Just a suggestion, since the "next" button after answering question is the only button user can choose, you can just set it to be "click any where to continue".
- The options are nice.
- A bit hard to understand the game.
- Very good problem choose and target user group.
- Blue card is less visible on blue background.
Mark Dhillon - Apr 15, 2009 02:37:19 am
Group 1: PALS
- Read off slides a little too closely
- Was stricly targeted towards MCB 102, I hope they use the fruits of your labors...
- Why does it exit without telling you the answer? It ought to offer some clues...
Group 2: G
- Anonymous Doodle is a cool idea, I like it.
- Undo/Redo would be nice
- Do you have to click 3 images before you can edit something? I hope that's just in this prototype
Group 4: Interface Galactica
- News game, interesting idea...hard to implement
- Buttons aren't aligned in your prototype at all, little off putting
- Why not offer more information during a certain headline as well, instead of just at the end. That way a user doesn't have to slog through all the questions if they really want to learn more about a particular headline.
Group 5: Overdos
- Turn based card game
- Seems really similar to traditional dominoes
- Buttons not grouped on tables screen
- Not clear when you get interrupted, or what mathematical operation was being done.
WE SHOWED OUR LO-FI VIDEO BECAUSE WE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO IT AND IT CLEARLY SHOWED THE GAMEPLAY MECHANICS. WE DID NOT SHOW IT TO EAT UP PRESENTATION TIME, I AM OFFENDED BY THAT STATEMENT.
Kevin Nakahara - Apr 15, 2009 03:30:50 am
PALS: • Good, narrow target user • Black on button color difficult to read, use less saturated colors • Good layout for multiplayer • Need better differentiation for singleplayer buttons • Nice option selection dialogue uses button, creates mental connection
HCiiight • Lots of empty space • Clear buttons, easy to read • Good use of red and green
G • Liked the color choice • Lots of empty space • Could use some instructions • Drawing screen fairly straightforward
OverDos • Bright colors are distracting • Operations unclear
- Couldn't see much else since the slideshow ended early...
William Cho - Apr 13, 2009 10:17:09 pm
- Group:PALS - The game purpose is clear and specifically for MCB students... nice. The layout is generally simple and clean, although I felt that some of the colors were out of place. I feel that for an incorrect guess, the answer should be shown so that the user can learn from his mistake. I noticed that the purple textbox displaying 'True Names' for the 'True Names' game is editable, which was, I think, not intended. Also, when clicking on 'Main Menu' while in multiplayer mode, it acted a bit glitchy.
- Group:HCiiight - The presentation was cool, the interface is good and easy on the eyes, there's a spelling mistake on your wiki page, "followign." The lesson management portion seems solid.
- Group:G - The consistent background color scheme is a nice thought. It seems like your game keeps track of every image ever doodled, but there seems to be no way to moderate offensive doodling, which may be fine with you guys, but perhaps not for everyone else. A 'report' button could help; if x number of people report the image, it is put in queue for an administrator to look at, or something like that. Also, it doesn't seem like your game keeps track of revisions and who revised what.
- Group:Interface Galactica - Overall, the graphical layout is simple and intuitive. Like others have mentioned, when editing account info, the pre-existing entries should be shown to help the user remember what to change. Does the gameplay quiz on news article titles only? Sometimes, it might be too vague, even for someone who has read about the event.
- Group:OverDos - Like a lot of the other projects' faults, the gameplay layout looks amateurish. But that's okay, since it's just a prototype. I was confused on how to play, so I wanted to read the 'how to play'. Although it wasn't implemented, I hope it explains how to play better than the info currently on the wiki.
Shendy Kurnia - Apr 15, 2009 03:53:00 am
- Colorful
- Good use of visualization
- Rich and powerful options feature
- The game exits right away after a wrong answer. Could have had a better transition
- Electrical logo. It kind of makes the player try hard not to make mistake. Otherwise, electrified
- Good use of color. Green for new game and red for the quit button
- The use of avatars gives a different experience in multiplayer game community
- The interface, I think, is cheerful. It supports the goal of the project that is to make people easy to remember or learn due to the positive atmosphere
- Well put start button. Intuitively I might put the start button under the login fields, but that would make people think login is not optional.
- The choice of font and orange background match the purpose of the game
- It is more a quiz than a game
- Use of images or icons can improve the interface a lot.
- Why the how to play button is in red? People should not push that button?
- It is good to have the how to play button always available during the game
- Great navigation control
- Good use of visualization of a card game
- A useful mapping of colors
Aaron Hong - Apr 15, 2009 04:45:48 am
- The target user group is very specific, and they have a nice pool of people to test with.
- Accordion design is much superior than old design with everything on one page.
- Select all button for choosing amino acids to test on?
- Making the players more distinct on the board (colors or icons?) Didn't realize they were players the first time I saw it.
- Like how menu buttons are grouped.
- The answers during game play have tiny font (solution: make bigger).
- Wii-mote is cool, but I'm not too sure about the shocking thing. This is just a joke right?
- If a player is wrong, there is immediate feedback... but would that give an advantage to a person who waits one answer?
Group:G -
- Interesting idea.
- The browsing portion was a bit confusing (how exactly do I edit an image?)
- Make sure there is enough contrast for text (red text on orange section)
- Undo... I heard you guys are working on it.
- Make sure font on start button is bigger
- Instead of getting rid of "select all," it can just look different from the rest of the checkboxes
- Make answer clicking more affordable... we're on a tight budget!!! (haha... sorry)
- Game is very test like. Work in some more game-like elements, for example aesthetics and goal.
- More graphics/pictures!
- Making the top card of the deck more prominent, maybe make the cards stack.
- More notice on your turn.
- Maybe simplifying the rules of the game?
- "How to play" button stands out too much.
Adit Dalvi - Apr 15, 2009 06:16:32 am
- Your fonts don’t contrast well with your background and color scheme. This makes it really hard to read the text.
- Was multiplayer across computers or just same computer with multiple people?
- You should provide the answer if they get it wrong too many times.
- What happens when there are no amino acids selected? Do you enforce any checks?
- The last thing I wanted to see was your low fidelity prototype in all its glory. This was like the third time I was watching your video and being kinda sleepy in the morning, it wasn’t really what I was hoping. You guys should have concentrated more on showing your prototype.
- Do you enforce that there is no way to choose the same avatar?
- Maybe add text under the avatars to indicate which one each player is (usernames shouldn’t be too hard to implement right?)
- How would you get multiple people to play on the same computer, connect four joysticks to one computer?
- Are wrong answers penalized more to discourge random guessing?
- Are you using tag cloud kinda thing or are you choosing predefined categories?
- What was going on with the clicking? I did not understand at all how you said that clicking chooses another picture and then clicking chooses the picture you want to edit. Is it magic?
- What's "percent" on Masterpieces page? Is it the percentage of people who liked it?
- There is no undo of a single action?
- Can you upload images that you drew yourself?
- I think your game is basically MS-Paint with the ability to upload images to your website. Is there anything special I’m missing and supposed to be looking for?
- Overall, I have to say that I liked your interactive prototype the best among the ones I saw in lecture. I guess you guys had the most number of features implemented and so had something interesting to show, not just say “Oh, yea, we’ll be implementing that later and it’ll work like this …”
- I think you should have shown the demo first, and then switched to some comparison snapshots between your lo-fi and interactive prototype. I completely zoned out when looking at your slides, cause I didn’t know what you were talking about.
- Maybe show the region and category while playing the game?
- Why do you separate "choose new categories" and "play again"? Why didn't you just let the user go back to the category selection again and have him click next if he didn't want to change things.
- The create a new account link doesn't really fit with the theme of the of the rest of the page (Link vs buttons)
- Running out of power? Seriously? That’s not what should happen in a presentation, especially when you’re being graded on it.
- I had almost no idea what your game did during the entire presentation. I spent the entire time trying to figure out why random cards in random colors were popping up on the screen.
- Also, why do you show all the cards when only the top card matters?
- How do you make a private game without a password?
- This game seems like it can be hacked really easily. I could just write a brute force algorithm that takes all possible combinations of cards with addition and subtraction operations and play the cards that help me win. How are you going to protect against people using bots to win?
Salman Rahman - Apr 15, 2009 07:03:37 am
Group:PALS - I am a former MCB 102 student and I think your choice of target user is way too limited. Most 102 students would not need or want to use a game like this to memorize the amino acids. The game doesn't actually help them in the initial steps of learning the amino acids, it just tests them to reinforce the material. There are only 20 possible amino acids so the game seems very limited in what it can actually test. Sure, you can test 20 different amino a bunch of different ways, but in the end I'm not sure how much benefit is added to the user. Anyways, students in 102 don't even need to know the a.a. like the back of their hand which is what I feel your game is attempting to do.
Moving on to your presentation, you mentioned that this game is in the style of cranium. I don't know what cranium is so it was very confusing when you were explaining it. You kept saying "Just like cranium blah blah.." and so I was lost because I had no idea what you were talking about. It seemed everyone knew about the game implementation (this was evident from the question and answer session).
Your options screen with the expandable categories looks so weird. So much white space is unnecessary. I know this is just an initial prototype, so you might want to change it. It's very unappealing. Also I think during your demo you had some categories of questions which were on a blue background with black text so I couldn't read it.
Also I don't understand what you mean by "fake" amino acids. What the heck is that?
Group:HCiiight - I remember I read your wiki for the initial low fi prototype and was impressed by your video because it seemed like you spent a lot of time on it and it was hilarious. But I don't think it was a judicious use of time to show it during this presentation, esp. showing the credits. You guys wasted so much time and ran over by so much. I think Jeff's laptop started clapping and then you finished like 8 minutes later. It's unfair to other groups that you get so much time.
I actually thought your implementation was extremely interesting because you were using the WiiMote interface. That is what you should have spent your time on instead of showing the video. I think I am beating this point to death so I'll just say one final thing about it. The demo would have showed your game play mechanics along with UI and implementation-level details whereas the video did not do that.
You spent a lot of time in your presentation talking about UI choices using design principles we learned in class which I think was another waste of time. The point of the presentation is to convey a.) what problem you are tackling b.) how your game addresses it c.) game play and interface of your game (mechanics) d.) changes made to your design as a result of low-fi prototyping - again this just ate up so much time.
I really wish I could have seen more on the WiiMote stuff because that is really cool.
Anyways, I think you guys all had a firm understanding of all the topics and were able to answer questions well. I think that one guy's comment about your avatar was pretty stupid because I don't see how someone will forget what his avatar is after 20 seconds. Also, like Mark said about Mario Kart, you just move your joystick to see what person you are. Damn that was so dumb.
I liked your interface and idea for the game. It's kind of a novel way to do studying. The way you have set up game play, you are in direct competition with others and there is a penalty (physical penalty) for not winning the game so the game would really motivate players. I'm really excited to see what you guys make for your final implementation.
Group:G - I think your speaker did a great job up there. He was clear, concise, and projected well. I think overall, the idea seems pretty novel and interesting but I don't know how you have the time or resources to implement anything but a very infantile incarnation of it. Just from your prototype, there were just a few basic tools - not even all the basic tools were present. Why would someone use your program to do basic editing when they can just doodle with photoshop or paint which has a much wider array of tools. Your game also lacked the redo/undo option. I don't know - I guess I just don't understand who your target group is; I'm not sure if you were entirely clear on who that group is.
On the positive side, I liked your title graphic. The button WWW seems confusing. Also, having a gigantic start button is weird. Very strange layout indeed. Your "or choose from" and then all those buttons may be confusing. You should have some sort of 'choose from the following categories to browse'. It's weird to have both a website and an app, you should combine the two. Your website layout looks much more exciting than the game.
I guess my biggest piece of advice is to add more tools for users to use to paint on the object in order to motivate them to use your program vs. an existing program which can do a much better job.
Group:Interface Galactica - I like your idea for the game because I think I would fall into your target user group. Having a fun game to play that allows me to keep up with the news would be great. I like that you have options that allow you to select what topics you want to be quizzed about. Maybe there should just be a quick option that is "Major Headlines" that hits the major headlines of the day.
My biggest piece of advice:
The major problem right now that I see with your game is that the questions are too broad and difficult to answer because they lack any kind of context. Also, there seems to be a circular logic in your game motivation. Users want to learn about the news by playing the game. In order to win at the game, users have to know the news. The only way for them to learn about the news in your game is after they get all the questions wrong and end the round. Then, they only learn about the news items that were quizzed so that cycle will repeat for the next round when the questions are different. If users need to read the news first before playing the game, why would they want to play the game? You need to figure out a way to address this because your game is not addressing the problem that you were targeting.
I liked that you were able to create an account from within the same interface and you don't get bumped to a webpage.
Group:OverDos - OMG this game is so confusing. You guys did a terrible job of explaining what the game was. Then your laptop died. Then I tried going to your website to run the interactive demo and I have no idea wtf is going on. Your "how to play" button doesn't work. I don't see why you couldn't just type in how to play the game because you already have a pop up message. That doesn't even involve any work. WTF. I'm actually pretty angry because I spent actual time going to your site after class to try to understand the game and I couldn't.
Really? IT JUST TAKES TWO SECONDS TO WRITE IN A "HOW-TO" FOR THE GAME ... YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CODE BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE A POP UP WINDOW. JUST FILL THAT WINDOW
I don't even know what kind of positives I can say for your presentation/group. The UI is confusing and unpleasing to the eye.
BIG PIECES OF ADVICE:
- IMPLEMENT THE HOW-TO BUTTON AND MAKE IT CLEAR
- CLEAN UP THE GUI AND MAKE IT MORE VISUALLY PLEASING
- YAHOO GAMES-STYLE TABLES IS GREAT, WORK ON IMPLEMENTING IT FULLY
- ENABLE A CHAT FUNCTION BETWEEN USERS AT THE TABLE
Anjana Dasu - Apr 15, 2009 09:06:24 am
Group:PALS - To be completely honest, I didn't think your interactive prototype was as effective as it could have been. Sorry to be so blunt. I mean, as someone said earlier, there are only 20 amino acids-- you could have easily implemented a few others. I didn't think it was enough justification for you to say, "oh, we're not pre-meds, so we don't know anything about it." Well yeah, that's true, but seriously, this is something you could have pulled up on google in a matter of 2 minutes. You don't even have to consolidate information in this case because I am sure there are tons of websites that have tables with the picture and the name of the AA. Also, I don't know if wizard of oz (or more like pre-decided functionality) was really justified in your case. I think you could have easily looked up how to get a random number and then chosen an amino acid based on that (had you implemented more than glycine). The reason this was of so much concern to me was that, it felt like whatever I did when I played with your online prototype, I got the same effect. It didn't seem like different discrete actions led to a unique outcome.
More specifically on the interactive prototype:
- When you select individual mode and choose a question and then answer it, you go back to the choice of modes. If this really is supposed to be like flash cards, the player should go through many questions sequentially. I get that it's supposed to be like the user chooses how he/she wants to learn, but I think it would be disturbing to the learning process to have to choose in between each time.
- When you go to the second page of the menu with a bunch of buttons, there's no back button to go back to the main menu. A player might have accidentally selected the wrong mode and want to go back immediately.
- I am so confused about fake pictures. Is that supposed to be like you show a bunch of pictures of possible structure and then the player has to select the correct one? Whatever it is, the name is very misleading.
- It would have been nice to see an example of each type of question implemented so we could get an idea of your game.
- I don't think you should have HELP written on every pane of the accordion. That's not help, that's the description of what the category is and could just be put at the top.
- Did you even implement any of the options? I mean, I know the professors said that not everything has to work, but I don't think you can call it implementing a task to put up a couple combo boxes and checkboxes that the user can change and then hit save.
- I don't think the multiplayer mode is working effectively. I don't know if you should have to enter the names of your opponents. I don't know exactly how you meant it to work either. Do people get grouped randomly at the time that they select multiplayer or do players decide to play together and input each other or what?
- I don't think your UI is aesthetically appealing or follows informal design conventions-- its weird having buttons on the bottom left, the buttons for those don't look nice with the mode option buttons, the panel doesn't match with the colored buttons, the options screen has too much white space, and a lot more. I know it sounds trivial to say that components didn't match, but your prototype is ugly :(
On the presentation: I thought you explained the game premise of the game clearly-- a multifaceted way for a specific target group to learn amino acids. The game itself is pretty easy to understand (it would have been less confusing for some people if you had left out the cranium reference).
BTW, I'm sorry if I sound mean :( I just think this game has so much potential to go beyond what you showed us.
Group:HCiiight
HAHA you guys are funny :) But yeah, like everyone and their mom said, maybe showing the whole video esp. the credits/out-takes was a bit too much. I thought your project was the most interesting on Monday because you guys took up the challenge of working with the Wiimote. It would have been cool to have more demo with it. Or even just more demo in general with the keystrokes. I thought your presentation was informative, but a lot of stuff you told us like green means go forward, red means go back, or whatever was just not the main thing I wanted to hear. Also, I felt like you went through the actual playing part (choosing your answer) a little too fast.
On the interface, it's very clear cut but it's too square for my tastes :\ It looks like you barely customized anything from flex. Well ok, you changed the color of like 4 buttons to fit your go back go forward theme... but as a result, your interface is visually inconsistent. I think the quit button being in the bottom left is kind of weird. The instructions are separated really far apart. I don't think you need the names under your avatars... seriously, you don't have time to read those when you are learning by speedily answering questions! I mean, when you're playing monopoly, you don't have a cheatsheet with your coin name... just as long as no two people can have the same thing, I think you're fine.
Yeah your project is pretty sweet but I think you guys already know that :)
Group:G -
Your idea is different. It's not just another learning game (!). That's cool. But I still don't get how it's a game at all... it seems more like a share folder for painters combined with paint (not even photoshop because your options are pretty limited).
On your interface: I don't know if the second selection screen is the most effective-- maybe the user should just continuously browse and then there could be a button like modify picture. I don't like the What's next screen because you have doodle again and then "something else"-- can it get any more vague than that? The save to local option is pretty cool. I think the standard buttons look weird with your orange background. I also think your lo-fi prototype is ten times more visually appealing than your hi-fi. I'm not sure I agree with the use of that huge button in the center of the main page. I think the cute crown thing could work if you made the image have drop shadow/made it look more 3d. In the selection screen, its weird that you don't have a title and have the "or choose from..." really big in the middle. Again, your lo-fi screen looks way better. For the editing screens, I don't think text buttons are effective-- you should try to do icon buttons à la photoshop/paint. the wow you've just doodled, what's next, makes me want to say i'm going to disneyland!
Your game idea was pretty interesting and useful. It made me wish that I was better informed about worldly issues. Hopefully your users will feel the same way.
Your speakers were really clear and enthusiastic, which I liked.
As to your interface, I felt like it was just too textual and I would rather just read the news than read your terms and conditions. There were so many buttons and grids and then that text box... Also, I don't know if I like it opening up to the players stats right away. One of the comments above me mentions that your game seems circular because you already have to know about the news to play and the point is you want people to learn about the news, maybe the front page could start with links to headline news? When the user gets a question wrong, you should probably bold the correct answer in choices and also change the color or something of the word in the fill in the blank to really make it clear what the correct answer is. In general though, I thought your UI was better than a lot of the other groups because it was consistent and visually pleasing.
Ok sorry, but I was just so confused. I don't even know what pseudo-insightful comment I can give you on your game itself because the only thing I really understood was making a table (maybe because that was the part you showed us before your laptop died). Personally, I thought the point of these presentations was so we didn't have to read all 30+ pages of wiki text to understand each other's games. You could have at least have given us the instructions in how to play.
The UI starts out fine... typical flex stuff. Then, once you get to the whole cards thing, it gets ugly and confusing. It doesn't make sense to me that as you're playing a game, you have to click play. I mean, yeah they say "play a card" or whatever during card games, but I don't think this translates well to a computer game. The game board doesn't look nice with the flex standard components-- I didn't like that. I tried playing your game online and I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be learning. I remembered something about arithmetic but it would be good to have the exact rule you were supposed to follow somewhere on the game, at least in the how to!
David Jiang - Apr 15, 2009 10:13:06 am
- A lot of the buttons are inconsistent in size
- Use of 'accordian' for options may be unnecessary because there is so much extra space
- Show the answers after players select an answer
- The design is too plain and simple, try to make the interface more interesting
- Video was awesome! But you guys went over time and some parts of the video did not have to be shown
- Game looks really interesting!
- Needs more options (e.g. brush sizes)
- Need a step-by-step undo button
- How is it a game though...
- Have some sort of scoring system to make the game more competitive
- Will benefit a lot of people...but I feel like only people who read the news a lot will play
- Have links to the stories after the game
- Good idea for the game!
- Make your interface more appealing to the users (play with the colors a little...add some pictures)
- Better instruction on how to play
Chris Thompson - Apr 15, 2009 11:06:21 am
PALS: Good reduction of clutter there. Nice use of previous user feedback (home instead of back). A 'Roll' button without involving dice doesn't make a lot of sense. Is the answer system case sensitive? 30 seconds seems like a large minimum time -- I think things would be more intense at 15, and experts should have the option of something crazy (like 5).
Connectrode: Nice cheesy video. Good, competitive design idea (only the first player gets the rewards, everyone else gets punished). Outtakes silly and awesome but technically not informative. Good as advertisement, I suppose. Informative/competitive, but what if you don't have 3 friends in the same area?
Interface Galactica: Good to have create account feedback screen. But this game promotes becoming an expert in news, and I think most people just like to browse news as trivia.
OverDos: Does join random join an existing random game? Because if it does, then I wouldn't expect it to work with no games in the list. What are the rules of the game (they weren't explained well early on)? The update rule could be obnoxious if there are enough players. Also, it seems like a winning strategy to just hold 1,1,2,3 on ready and drop it as soon as you see a 7 (or something like that. Lower cards are inherently worth more than higher cards, and it's easier to dump cards when it's not your turn than when it is).
Timothy Yung - Apr 15, 2009 11:15:54 am
- PALS
- Clean and developed UI even though it's a prototype
- The description for each category should describe what kind of questions you will be answering.
- Correct answers should be provided to the user after number of guesses is exhausted.
- Connectrode
- Well designed gameplay screen.
- It's not clear what happens if you don't choose an option.
- The rules for each scoring style is not clear, descrption?
- Doodle
- Cool idea to incorporate a website into the program.
- It isn't clear how images are placed into categories and whether or not all pictures can be fit into only one of those categories.
- It isn't clear what the currently equipped tool is when doodling.
- Interface Galactica: News Trivia
- Cool idea of having statistics on what the person knows and his/her percentile.
- Suggestion: Sign Up can still be a button, but it can pre-populate the fields of the form on the next page.
- Underline the word that filled in the blank to make it easier to figure out what was added.
Carolc - Apr 15, 2009 11:27:07 am
(Comments originally posted to individual group pages)
- What's MCB 102? Can you give the complete course name? - Good idea to include both Individual and multiplayer modes. - Nice change from cluttered view to tabbed view. - Can't read the black lettering in the blue boxes in the Questions Screen. - Origin of number of allowed guesses unclear. Hidden behind a tab. - How many players do you want screen is confusing (team 1, team 2, etc). The wording is weird. Maybe "Players per team" would have been clearer. - Cool that player moves in board game style when getting a question right! - Might consider changing bright colors to more understated colors unless you're targeting children. - Why choose amino acids you want to be tested on? The ones you're least familiar with? Seems like a marginal case. - Would be good to give user feedback eventually as to what the answer
- Hilarious video with catchy music! - Nice touch with the individual icons, and fizzling when you get burned. - Seem to be based on the basic idea that fear drives you to perform better. Hmm... I've read that positive reinforcement works better, but still, fun idea. - Can more than four people play? - Clearly thought about UI design and use of screen space - good. - Good that you explained the answer. - The demo went by so quickly I couldn't follow how players were making their guesses. Assume it's done like conventional video games. - Would be good to provide a unit for the "life" each player has left.
- Open source art? :) - Original art can be deleted in the process if modifiers change it too much... - Theoretically, what's popular isn't necessarily what's good. - Start button is way too large, especially given the size of the word "Start" - Do the original artists choose the category? Can something show up in more than one category (like tags)? - Would prefer to see masterpieces not by titles but as a list of thumbnails - Since it's a drawing program, brush, eraser, ellipse, etc could be represented with pictures/icons rather than words. - Commentary label should be "Comment" rather than "Description"
- Cool premise - people have trouble keeping up with news - Why would people who don't have time to scan the headlines play the game? - Play Now! button is so large - No option to skip a question - All the important info (score, time left, points earned) on the top - great - Good use of green for correct, red for wrong - Nice that you can see the original article - When you figure out how to pull questions out of news, would be good to choose from a variety of sources to avoid bias
- Nice 'table' idea - Hard task is so vague "Exposure to Gameplay Mechanics" - I don't remember the use of color in Uno. What do the different colors mean? - The purpose of the box before "Search" is unclear - Not sure what's happening during the gameplay... what's being added, subtracted? How do you know whether you're adding or subtracting? If another player interrupts you, what just happened is confusing. What about if both of you make a play at the same time? - If you do implement the animation of cards moving, make sure it's slow enough that people can recognize what is happening. - Make sure to state the objective of the game, maybe in an About the Game page
Colin Downs-Razouk - Apr 15, 2009 11:16:21 am
PALS
Your interface is really colorful, and the large buttons are pretty welcoming (to me.) In the multiplayer board game, it’s not clear whose turn it is (I didn't see any text telling the user it was person 1s turn). The different game modes aren’t as clear as possible (i.e. there are pictures in the true names game and in the fake pictures game?). The text on the game mode buttons is difficult to see on the projector because the black of the text is so close to dark blue and purple of two of the buttons. Also, it was confusing why you weren't capable of randomizing the question within the category selected.
CONNECTRODE
It's pretty cool that you guys go the wii mote working for your demonstration. If you could get the IR functionality of the wii mote working, that would make the game really fun, I feel (you could really point the wii mote at the answer and shoot.) I have some questions:
-What player has control during the “Explain Question” screen? -What does Garfield mean? -I'm not sure how the health works. It's not quite clear if you want more white from the top, or more grey from the bottom (I think you had numbers in some of the slides, but no numbers in other slides.) -Can you only play with 4 people? If so, how do you do so?
In terms of your presentation, the video was pretty funny, but because it made you go over time it kinda detracted from your presentation, and our ability to ask questions.
DOODLE
Info: Your interface seems really colorful and creative. Props to you guys for getting some of that drawing stuff working, I bet it's pretty hard to create. Here are some questions:
-How do you prevent a malicious “collaboration”? -Why do you get different menu options every time you click start? You guys had problems with it, so I can imagine users would have a problem with it. -Can you doodle over photos, like on the dsi? -Why does it stop browsing on the third click? Seems like a confusing mode. -What does the percentile mean?
In terms of your presentation, don’t stand in front of screen. Also, during the “changes to the interface presentation”, you kept looking at the screen, so it was hard for us to hear what you were saying.
OverDos:
You guys should explain the gameplay earlier. None of us understood how to play the game. Once I understood it, I realized its a lot like crazy eights or UNO, but with math. You should include in your title some sort of association with Crazy 8s or UNO. Maybe call your game Crazy (7+1)s or MathmUNO. Bummer about your presentation. You should have borrowed someone else's laptop.
Adam Kauk - Apr 15, 2009 03:26:05 pm
Group:PALS - I was confused about what were the differences between the different question types. Your idea is good.
Group:HCiiight - How can we add our own questions in order to build our own quizes?
Group:G - Collaborative anonymous masterpiece maker. I would implement something where the author of an image can control the evolution of an image.
Group: Interface Galactica - Instead of a show score button, I would just show their score; then you can have something like "Compare score with others" link. Also, you could show the the score during the game.
Group:OverDos - I would put the play button closer to your hand so that it is quicker to play.
Also, you could have a little floating thing which follows the mouse which tells the player what the current top card it. Then it would be easier to know what is the current target number that you are aiming for.
--
Sorry this is late. I posted it on the team's pages first.
Prahalika Reddy - Apr 15, 2009 02:42:58 pm
- The idea of the game is interesting, but it seems very specific to one class the way it's presented
- The big colorful buttons to decide which categories to choose are easy to read and visually appealing
- In the individual mode, instead of having the random option, I think it would be easier to just have checkboxes to choose multiple categories
- An instructions page before choosing a mode would be nice
- I don't think I quite understand the point of the board in the multiplayer mode - and what's the point of the different category boxes in the corners? Are they buttons? And why do the players move around the board at all - is there a goal to go around the board?
- In the individual mode, needing to click "ok" between questions seems kind of annoying - maybe just have the score appear next to the new question
- Names of the categories seems kind confusing - "true" name vs "fake" pictures when both of them are just guessing the name/picture of an acid
- The game seems ok, but not so realistic in terms of the shocking - is that really going to be implemented?
- I like the clean interface. The use of the red and green is nice.
- On the "options" page, it's not intuitive that clicking "done" will save the changes when you start a new game. There should be a "start game" button directly on the "options" page
- The avatars seem overly complicated. The level of detail in the drawings for the avatar don't scale well to the small images used
- There should definitely be something stopping two different players from choosing the same avatar
- The rules of the game aren't too clear to me - Does a round end when someone chooses the correct answer, or when everybody chooses an answer?
- How does the scoring work? Do people get negative points for not guessing at all, like they would if they got the wrong answer?
- I like the option of "explain answer" between the questions
- The collaborative aspect of this game is really nice
- I don't quite understand what the game is - a website or a separate application?
- How many "choose favorite" screens are there before one final one is chosen? Wouldn't it be easier to just have the user pick on favorite from a group instead of only two?
- IMO the drawing toolbar should be on the left side. I am more used to toolbars in general being on the top, bottom, or left, but not usually on the right.
- There should be an option to undo single changes
- Is there an instruction page that's easily accessible before the game is started?
- How is this really a game? Is there any scoring or an actual end to the game?
- The idea for this game is good, seems useful
- I like the way interface used looked. It was clean, and easily readable.
- The option of playing "as a guest" is nice
- Is there an instructions page before the game starts?
- The confirmation page for creating an account is useful
- Always having to go through the stats page seems kind of annoying if you play the game often
- The settings page should have options to select/de-select all
- Needing to click "next" after each question can get annoying, though I like that the correct answer is shown when you get the answer wrong
- When showing the screen saying whether a question was answered correctly or not, it would be useful if the answer chosen was green/red and the correct answer put in the question line should be indicated by being underlined or bolded
- Is there a time penalty for guessing incorrectly?
- I think it's a really good idea to allow people to read more about the news at the end of the game, though it might be useful to also allow that while the game is going, so people can immediately decide if they want to read more instead of having to wait until the end
- The problem this game is supposed to solve is interesting
- The "how to play" button doesn't need to be so bright and red
- I don't understand what the "tables" are used for
- I like that the "cards" are colorful, but the white writing is kind of hard to read
- What do the different colors of the cards mean?
- How does a player know if it's their turn?
- How exactly does the game work? The presentation didn't explain that well enough for me.
Szu-Chun Mao - Apr 16, 2009 01:35:08 am
Group:PALS – “Multiple Properties” was very hard to see with the blue background used. I thought the screen where it asked you “how many players do you want?” was a little bit confusing. I was unsure of what to enter into the form you provided. The game is well organized; however, I did not like the use of color in your UI especially the screen to choose a game. I like the game options where you are able to select the time limit and # of guesses allowed.
Group:HCiiight – There are too many different colors on the main screen. The video shown during the presentation is very fun to watch; however, a bit too long. I like the idea of using a shocking joystick in the future prototype where it can make the game more fun to play with. Is there a way to exit from the gameplay screen? I did not see any button for exit.
Group:G – The overall design is very visually eye pleasing. I actually like your previous design better. I think the big crown start button looks better than a big boring rectangular button. I agree that the crown button does not exactly look like a button to some people; however, it gives your game more personality. And a quick photoshop editing can make it look like a better affordance. For the task of selecting the masterpiece, it would be better if users can browse a wider selection of pictures on a single page and not having to keep picking a better picture from the only 2 pictures offered.
Group:Interface Galactica – The overall UI design is straightforward and easy to follow. It is nice to be able to login as guest without any registration. The stats screen shows players’ performance which gives them motivation to improve and help them identify their weak spots. I did not see any way to quit the game while playing and I would suggest adding a button for players to skip questions so the players aren’t forced to answer something that they have no clues about and then the system can assign score accordingly.
Group:OverDos – The layout for the login screen can be improved. It seems unnecessary to have a BIG red button for “how to play” link. Likewise, the components in table creation screen are not lined up. In the main table screen, I didn’t see any links or buttons to quit. I was also quite confused about how to play the game during your presentation. What does each color represent when playing? It would be nice if you can provide a slide to explain about the game rules.
Gregory leshner - Apr 16, 2009 03:23:16 am
PALS – You might consider changing the names of your games. For example, why True Names and not something more straight forward like Name that Amino Acid? What I am trying to say is why “True”? Do you also teach untrue names or nick names for the acids? Similarly, I don’t understand the “fake” pictures or “multiple” properties. These could all be simplified to Names, Pictures, Properities, and Ultimate Challenge. It seems like only the True Names part of the game is complete. It will be interesting to see the other styles of game play. Would the questions all be prewritten by the game designer or are there any facilities for others to create questions or expand the game?
HCiiight – I am part of the Connectrode Team. We are taking a lot of heat for having played our entire video. In hindsight I wish we had stopped it at the credits. The extra 45 seconds of comedy at the end was not needed. We could have done a better job focusing on exactly how to play the game and its rules. However, we were the second team to go, and at the time I thought we were supposed to focus on the design aspects of the interface more than on how the game play worked. We did get some good feedback. Many of the questions that have been raised regarding the value of negative feedback of the shocking joysticks and when do players get shocked we have actually already addressed in our earlier write-ups. If we had to do it over again, I would have spent more time on those aspects at the expense of the comical video. Live and learn.
Group G – Doodle. – I thought you guys did an amazingly artistic job with your interface. However, I felt that calling a draw program a game is a little bit of a stretch. That said, you did a good job of it. I think you could have kept your artistic button fonts by implementing them as images on the buttons. Similarly if you had given your start image some affordances of a button, made it raised up around the edges, etc or put the image inside of a more traditional looking button, then people would have recognized it as such.
Interface Galactica - I really liked your game and your presentation. I think you did an excellent job. I think your approach of multiple choice fill in the blank to headlines is very flexible. You can have both challenging choices as well as funny answers, which keep things entertaining. On your stats page, I think the three buttons on the bottom of the page are just a bit too large and overpowering. On the game play pages, you might want to try putting the question into a box to set it off from its surrounding. On the page with “Read More About Questions” you may want to show the links to articles with a line under them like traditional hyperlinks so people see the affordance of a hyperlink and know they can click on them to read the article. Also I think the buttons on the bottom of this page are a bit too large as well. Lastly, as I commented in class, I think if you created a facility for people to submit questions you would solve issues of where will the content come from. My comments are more nits than anything else … great job.
Group: OverDos – I believe by the end of your presentation I finally understood what your game was about and I look forward to seeing it with implemented with where you can get a better feel of what is happening. The big problem was no being able to understand what other players were doing when it was your turn. So having other players represented onscreen and being able to see how many cards they have will really help. Making the current card prominent and downplaying the rest of the discards would really help. Actually do you even need to see the rest of the discards, once they have been played aren’t they just gone. I didn’t see any strategic benefit in being able to see what has already been discarded … would I hold onto an “8” rather than use it in a subtraction because I don’t see any other 8’s in the discard pile so I know there are lots in play? My point is, if there isn’t any need to see all the discards, kill em or make them really small so you can focus on the number in play. Also, from a marketing standpoint I don’t understand the game name. Initially I thought the game was a play on Overdose … or maybe something to do with an operating system Dos … but I cant make any connection between the game and the name.
Timofey Titov - Apr 17, 2009 12:20:25 am
- When you combined components into categories you also hid a lot of information. Maybe a step-by-step walk-through instead would be more useful?
- Big buttons and dialog boxes throughout; standardize size?
- When you click and EditTextBox, the default text "Name" should be automatically cleared
- Confusing nomenclature; instead of "True Names" maybe "Identify Acid Names"?
- black on blue text
- I think you went overboard with color encoding. You color-coded buttons, but not the health level? I'd prefer it the other way around. Also, lime/red colors are not very appealing for the eye. This also conflicts with your minimalist philosophy.
- I am looking forward to see how users can manage their own lessons and add questions.
- Consider the trade-off between how much fun a person gets from the game and how much they can actually focus on the material.
- "Start a game" is already the first button, no need to make its size bigger.
- Color scheme seems to be off. Red on orange is not very readable.
- huge start button
- nice artistic font that fits the audience/context :)
- how will you deal with users who will mess around with paintings?
- Maybe rename the registration link to "No account?", so that users will click only if they are not registered.
- some buttons have huge size
- error dialog looks too playful
- Consider making successful registration completion followed by a dialog box instead of a dedicated page.
- Why is the "How to play" button round, red and huge?
- Blue background with lime and red looks like 90s interfaces.
- Hard to understand the game rules.
- When you select 2 cards show what operation was performed like (9-1=8) and make it fade away. You're probably familiar with strategy game tooltips that show how much a given unit has lost health during a hit..
Alexander Cho - Apr 18, 2009 03:06:27 am
Group:PALS - I like how your group has a very specific user group. Making a game to help study amino acids is a great idea, I remember having to learn some of them during AP BIO and CHEM and this would come in handy. I think it was a good move making the game like cranium because many people know that game, it is popular, fun, and award winning. It is very good that you allow individual or multiplayer options because studying and playing games is much more fun with other people. Your placement of the go back button was a good idea and a feature that many groups forgot to put in. It was a good idea to reduce clutter, which can often intimdate and scare users. The UI is very clear in general. I was impressed by the graphics of the board game and the pieces moving. The randomization is nice feature and will improve gameplay. I like the selectability of which amino acids you want to study, that will be very useful for specific studying. Also the choice of what kind of questions you are asked is very nice. Lots of choices and options make users content in general and the layout of the options made it very easy to understand. Like the professor said you should tell the answer after all guesses are up for quick studying. The big colorful buttons make it seem more playful and it is a good idea to make it seem like more of a game. Maybe you guys could add more board dynamics (special spaces?) to make it more fun and appealing, although this might add some complications. Perhaps users could choose certain board layouts (thinking about mario party's concept).
Group:HCiiight - I think you guys have a very great and appealing purpose, studying and memorizing is very boring and it would be great if it could be fun. Are questions customizable? I think it would be a great idea to allow users to add their own questions and answers, maybe even put past midterm questions on there. The life bars are a very nice touch and it really adds to the feel of a video game. The avatars are very great idea and it makes it more fun and appealing. Could these become customizable too? Games with customizable avatars usually do well, but I guess this is secondary. Will this be a console game or a pc game? I guess all the customization options would be a lot easier if it was a PC game. I liked the novelty of your layout design about the center to outskirts information hierarchy. The wii-motes were quite impressive. Who gets the control of whether to go to next question or explain more? Would this just be the first player or any player than punches in a button? Perhaps you should have the players vote if they want to see more information on the question. The font is kind of small for the answers and it would be nice if it was enlarged
Group:G - You guys mentioned this already, but I think the first thing I would suggest is to allow stepped undo's instead of having a completely undo everything. This option would be nice to still have though. So I would suggest there be an option to undo by steps or undo completely. I was wondering if there is any prevention of some jerk just scribbling all over all the drawings. Could this be thwarted? Perhaps have a flagging system of abusers because there are lots of bored jerks out there online and it would be terrible to have great works of arts be ruined by them. Instead of having categories that are most popular, I would suggest having an option to just view the most popular pictures. Users will have to click on the category to see what kind of pictures the category contains. Perhaps you could add a preview of pictures and examples before users have to choose that options to reduce the amount of times users have to click the back button. Is there a way to go directly back from picture browsing to the place where we were instead of jumping back to the main menu? Perhaps I missed that, but if it wasn't there I would suggest that feature. I was a bit confused on what the percentile meant for masterpieces. It seems a bit unclear. Perhaps you could add a hint information box that pops up if users hover over the percentile. The painting ability and brush options were very impressive. I would suggest looking at PAINT.NET or GIMP or photoshop for some more suggestions. Perhaps you could have brush options be customizable or have users add plugins to add features, that usually does well for image editing software. I would also suggest adding some more game elements to the system. Right now it doesn't really feel like a game. Perhaps have a profile, score, points, or even have a timed gameplay option. Or maybe have picture battles where users draw and other users vote to see which one is better.
Group:Interface Galactica - I think you're group's objective is very important and valuable. Many people are very ignorant of current events and just knowledge of the world in general, especially in the US. I admit I am one of these ignorant folk. The only news I get is from Yahoo's homepage. However people have to be interested in learning current events in the first place in order to play this game it seems. I would suggest perhaps adding some elements to bring in users who didn't necessarily have the original desire or intention to learning current events and were just looking for a fun game because I think the main problem is that most people just don't care enough about the current events. It was a good call changing the create new account into a link. It is very important to adhere to the standards of login pages online to limit user confusion. The clickable answers right now are just text, perhaps you could add more affordance to clicking by making them buttons. The linking to the actual articles is quite awesome and it is a great idea and feature to get users to actually read these interesting articles in such a convenient and fast way. Perhaps your edit account form could be slightly different, so that users don’t have to type in the same the same information if they don't want to change it, this might annoy users.
Group:OverDos - I think your table, sit down, and stand up metaphor is very creative and makes it feel more personal, but it might be confusing to users. Sit down to join a game and stand up to leave a game doesn't seem very clear. Perhaps you could have little images or icons showing a joining or leaving action to makes things more clear. Or perhaps you guys could just call it join or leave game and have the sit down and stand up metaphor be expressed in the image icon. Also the word table (though you are referencing a physical table to sit down and play at) might be confused with table in the other sense, of a chart of information, but this minor. You could avoid this problem again by perhaps having an image or a backdrop of a table while playing the game, or having icons. The how to play button that is everywhere is very handy seeing how the game seems very complicated. I am actually still very confused on how to play your game. But I guess you cover that with your tutorial. I would suggest that you have an animation with captions for your tutorial. I agree with what the professor said that it should be more clear what mathematical operations are being used. Right now it just looks cryptic with a bunch of numbers and colors. Perhaps also you could customize what operations are usable. Also there is an account system with levels and rankings? Perhaps the website could host tournaments, that would add a lot of incentive to play.
Sean Ahrens - Apr 23, 2009 01:53:21 pm
PALS
- board game based -- interesting, but may present unneccessary constraints in your computer-based model that you could lift by removing the "board-game" metaphor.
- extensive configuration settings (can be good, or bad)
- over saturated colors for cards, hurts eyes
- i like the pop up used during multiplayer mode
- kudos to having multiplayer mode
- spelling of answers (ie. glycine) could be a struggle; give users partial points for getting the answer's spelling close?
- do config settings save for all games played, or are they specific to the current game?
- i suggest making the names of games more clear. “true names”, “fake pictures" are a little difficult to comprehend the meaning of.
HCiiiiiiiiiiiight
- your video was entertaining and a little ridiculous at the same time.
- the gameplay layout is currently axial, i'm thinking you could find better options to keep peoples eyes from jumping all over the place. try using horizontal alignment to your advantage.
- i found it confusing that you move your small avatar to the side of the images. how about 1P, 2P icons instead, that move on top of the image, at preset places given the player number. Or even throwing out this whole model and making it so the players are set in location, and they choose their answer from the four options at the bottom of the screen. That answer then appears beneath their player name/avatar (which is set in location).
G (Drawing Game)
- (apologies in advance for these notes, they are a little brief)
- artwork sharing - i like that
- choose your fav - good feature
- wow crazy graphics drawing stuff - props.
- impressive functionality
INTERFACE GALACTICA (my own team)
- wow, you guys rock.
OVERDOS
- not clear how to play game from interface (the card game)
- any single player mode?
- which end of the card deck are you playing against/with?
- rules of gameplay need to be made more clear to novice
- presence of competitors is unclear, not communicated
Alexei Baboulevitch - Apr 30, 2009 04:37:29 pm
- Group:PALS - I love the colorful Google-like design. The main problem is that there's no way for the user to add information to the amino acid database. The database has to be assembled and updated by the programmer.
- Group:HCiiight - The design of the interface is quite good, and I like your use of color. I'm not very fond of the blinking avatars, since they're hard to concentrate on. The avatars shown in your low-fi prototype were funny and memorable, whereas your current ones are generic. I also feel like the red box does not signal "wrong" very well - perhaps draw an X instead? The immediate movement of the avatars is confusing. Could you make them glide instead?
- Group:G - The categories seem fairly arbitrary. Who determines what art goes into each category? Perhaps tags would be better. The favorite choosing part seems a bit weird. Why not give the user more than 2 choices? How many artworks does it cycle through? Also, the total number of artworks has to be limited for the game to work, since the point is for other people to see your drawings. Who determines what artworks are included, and where do they get them from? Finally, who is your target audience?
- Group:Interface Galactica - It seems that the programmer has to add every news headline by himself, since the blanked out words and choices are customized. How will the program keep up with current news, and who will add the headlines? It would be better to shift the focus to users adding headlines. The regions and subjects also seem arbitrary.
- Group:OverDos - The use of color is great, and the simplicity helps to make it a good game. Keyboard control could be a huge plus for selecting numbers.
