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Monday, January 9, 2012

Modified Paper Prototype


Task done by: all

List of Changes and Modifications

As a result of our user-test, we have decided to apply the following changes to our 4 application screens of "Pong".

In addition to the silhouettes in the start screen, a small notice will be displayed which describes what our game is, and how to start a new game. In the background of the same screen, will show a demo of the game so that the passengers know how our game will look like in action.

The main menu screen will be modified in such a manner that the game mode is no longer be chosen by holding a hand over the corresponding button for a pre-defined time period. In order to start a game, the user must first select a button by holding her hand over the button. This will cause for the button to change its color from white to blue and in addition, a Start button will appear. Now if the user holds her hand over the start button for some time, than the game will start in the desired mode. This way of interaction, allows for the user to only require one hand for starting the game.

In the gaming screen, an exit button has replaced the game mode information. Using this button, the user can exit the game and return to the main menu screen at any time during a running game. Also, the current score of each player is displayed as "current score/maximum score". This informs the users how many points they have to score in order to win a game.

Now, there exists a high score board for all of the single player modes of the game. Depending on the mode, in which the game was played a score board containing the highest score for that specific mode is displayed. An "Enter" button is also added to the keyboard. This buttons appears as soon as the first letter has been typed. This allows the user to enter a character sequence with a maximum length of 3 and a minimum length of 1. After the user has entered her name, the ranking screen will be shown for a few seconds, after that the main menu will be shown. If no interaction with the screen is registered for some time, than the start screen will be displayed.

In general, the screen will be made fancier and more appealing than the original simple screens. As an effort in this direction, we have added stars to the high score board.

Task done by: Bianca, Hoang

Summary of Observations and Feedback

Due to the results of the user test, most interactions of our pong prototype are intuitive. At the beginning of each test, the user had some problems in “simulating” the interaction with the display by the Kinect. But during the process, they got used to it.

When the test started, it wasn’t clear for one of the users, what the game was going to be like. S/he suggested having a demo of the game shown, so that passengers get an idea of what the game looks like.

As we came to the menu-screen, one user said that s/he would like to have a start button instead of activating the button by hovering over it for some time.

Although the gameplay itself is intuitive, one of the users stated that it was unclear when the game will end or how long s/he has to play the game in order to win. Therefore, s/he wanted to see how many points s/he has to score to win, or the remaining time of the game. Also during gameplay, one user wished to have a restart or exit button, so that new arrived users can quickly start a new game instead of waiting for the game to end.

In the highscore screen the users found it hard to use a keyboard without an “enter”-button. One of them had the intention of just typing one letter instead of three for her/his name.
After typing the letters, we had idea to switch back to the menu-screen automatically after approx. 3 to 5 seconds, so that a new game could start. Both users welcomed this idea. An idea was to put more fancy images into the record-screen.



Task done by: The Hieu, Leily

Low Fidelity Test




Task done by: all

Design principles and modifications

Design Principles

  1. Our game can be played in in singleplayer (with different difficulty levels) as well as in multiplayer.
  2. Our game includes a highscore-board.
  3. A single game is short, as the users are waiting for public transport and therefore have very short idle time.

Design Modifications


As a result of the interview process we have decided to implement the following changes:

  • The application will be designed for one-handed use as opposed to the initial design in which the user could use both hands to interact with the game and the GUI elements.
  • The user can no longer change the frame-rate and game-speed settings. The according interface elements will be removed.
  • highscore-board will be implemented to give the users a stronger sense of competition. This will affect singleplayer only.
  • The start-screen will now contain silhouettes to suggest interactivity to a potential user.

Additionally, arrows will indicate the important areas of interest.


Task done by: Benedikt

Interview findings

We interviewed a total number of 3 people who matched our target user group. To protect their privacy, they names have been changed.
  • Hanna, is 27 years old, studies Economy
  • Andrew is 23 years old, studies Computer Science
  • Kevin is 25 years old, Salesman
These users all frequently use the public transport system (at least twice everyday). They spent an average of 1 hour waiting for their train, bus or tram to arrive each day. During this period they read books and listen to music.

All the users were familiar with motion interaction using the Kinect or EyeToy. They also expressed their interest in interacting with large public displays using these types of input devices. Most of the users preferred using only one hand for interaction due the possibility that they are holding something with the other hand.

The users all showed interest for playing Pong during their waiting time. They reasoned that since this game is playable by all ages, it is appropriate for a public display. A very interesting finding was that the users welcomed the multiplayer mode of the game more than the single player mode. They also insisted that in order for them to play the game often, the game should be challenging enough, so that the difficulty rises as the skills of the player increases, but at the same time the duration of a round of the game shouldn't take longer than 2-3 minutes. They also welcomed the idea of having a scoreboard so that the users could enter their names when they reached a high score. Also, the users didn't like the game to have a level-wise approach, i.e. only after completing one level, the user may advance to the next level.

However, one of user's said that he would feel ashamed of playing this game in public, if it requires doing wild moves. The users also stated that the location of the displays is very important for them. If interacting with the display causes them to accidently collide with other passengers, or if it hinders other passenger in anyway, they would rather not interact with the display at all.


Task done by: Leily, The Hieu