Erik Rothoff Andersson (Kick Ass) on testing with users & why you shouldn’t listen to what users say!
Erik Andersson is the creator of Kick Ass, the new iPhone game based on his hit web-app. Kick-Ass is an adaption of asteroids that allows you to attack your favourite (or least favourite) websites, destroying them with a selection of ships, while earning achievements.
The iOS game can be downloaded here, and the original bookmark-let is available to play for free
Kick Ass in action...
Today Erik tells us about his experiences with finding testers, getting user feedback, and why you should look at what people do, and not what they say!
Click to read more…
The 5 secrets to happy players with Agile Games Development
Agile software development offers a fantastic opportunity to integrate user insight into the game development process, leading to better games. In this post, I’ll cover the main methods that can be used to integrate user insight into agile games development, and why this is important.
None More Black updated!
Following the great user feedback on the first version of None More Black, I’m happy to announce the shiny-new version 2, with a few major changes, and many minor ones.
If you haven’t played None More Black yet, it’s a fast-pased asteroid’s style escape-em-up, where you play as a rock star on the run from groping groupies, and dangerous roadies. Try to survive the darkest night with the ultimate hard-rock soundtrack!
Play None More Black here. As before, would be really interested in hearing your feedback!
Those changes in full:
- Added mouse support (click to move!)
- Added WASD keyboard support
- Updated the in game help & instructions
- Made the ‘Lighter’ powerup last longer
- Minor difficulty tweaks
- Made the text non-selectable
Perfect Dark – Game Usability from the 90’s
Recently I’ve been enjoying playing the Xbox Live Arcade port of Perfect Dark – I played this extensively as a kid (especially the multiplayer with it’s groundbreaking inclusion of computer-controlled bots!). However without the rose-tinted glasses, a number of obvious usability issues come to light.
Today I’ll look at the major usability problem in this game, and how it would be fixed if Perfect Dark was made today!
None More Black (My First Flash Game!)
As part of the HCI MSc, we have been required to create an application in Flash, to give us a degree of practical skills in development as well as research and analytical skills. I’d decided to make a game, since it’s something that’d always interested me – this project gave me the push I needed to actually complete something.
None More Black is a simple top-down game, controlled with the arrow keys. Your goal is to survive as long as possible in the pitch black, avoiding obstacles like groupies and roadies with only your torch for assistance (and a few power-ups). The game is inspired by a number of classic games – Asteroids, Smash TV & Tilt To Live. As becomes obvious immediately, the thematic inspiration was Spinal Tap.
I’ll write up in the future about my experiences making the game, however I couldn’t wait to share the first version of the game. Please feel free to reply with feedback etc, I’d love to hear how the game could be improved, or your impressions.
None More Black can be found here.
NB: Reviews so far have been overwhelming. “It’s passable” said a chap from a Kongregate Chat Room. “Moderately okay” says the comments. Bet you can’t wait to play it now!
