Blitz Games: Usability Testing Essential, But Trust Your Instincts

Author: by Staff

As part of Gamasutra's latest feature, Blitz Games Studios studio development director Chris Viggers discusses how user testing revealed flaws in player interaction with two of the studio's Kinect titles. The team undertook extensive testing during the development of Yoostar 2, which enabled the developer, among other things, to make important changes to the Kinect interface. This was a crucial process, he said, since it came before Kinect had launched and players had ever interacted with it. However, just getting data on what players want is only half of the battle, Viggers writes: "It is not only the collection of data that is important; understanding its value is clearly critical to being able to maximize its effectiveness in development. The first thing to look at is how does the data you have collected stack up against your game's experience and the core pillars of your vision? "Accord the usability results all due respect, but do not treat them as gospel: trust your instincts and your vision as well." This is important, he writes, because some new ideas just won't test properly against what users expect: "Assessing peoples' expectations is great, but surprising them with unique and innovative ideas is also something we should be striving to achieve." The full feature, live now on Gamasutra, goes into depth on the studio's experiences testing Yoostar 2 and Fantastic Pets, another Kinect game.