Articles creating and testing the adventurer?

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How did GAMBAS create this game? By co-creation. The following articles will give some insight on how the game was created and tested.

What is co-creation?

Research shows that blind children would like a game which can be played together with sighted children. The goal of co-creation is to develop a game that suits the wishes of the target group and clients. While keeping in mind the technical and financial limitations. Co-creation is designing together.

How is this done?

During the development of this game, four families with children with or without visual impairment were involved. Based on their ideas and wishes the game will be developed and adjusted. This is how the game will appeal to both groups and how it will be suitable for visually impaired and sighted children. The games was and is being tested by the children.

Ideas for the game – First session

What makes the game fun?

In the first weeks of January the first joint session took place. The children thought of the elements that should be in a game. What things really make a game fun to play? The following elements were mentioned:

1. Being able to laugh
2. To learn and discover new things
3. Having to be smart
4. Experience adventure and having to sort out how to continue

Out of these four the favorite was ‘experience adventure and having to sort out how to continue’

Ideas for equivalence

Finally, the children thought about how to adapt this adventure for the blind and sighted children, so it can be fun for both. And how it can be ensured that sighted children do not benefit from it. This led to a lot of nice ideas, like a game in a dark castle where you are shining with a flashlight and see and hear where the light shines on. Or a river with ice shelves you have to cross and a monster comes out of the water to eat you. All ideas were used in following sessions.

Working out scenario’s - second session

The second co-creation session took place at the Koninklijke Visio school Haren, Netherlands. Members of all four organizations were present. The goal of this session was to expand on the ideas from the first session.

Designing a game with duplo

The children were divided into four groups with each a supervisor. Each group made up a game. During the first phase the children used duplo bricks to build a framework for the game. They made up a storyline and built an environment for the game. With the duplo and ground plans the children presented their ideas to the group.

Navigation and movement

During the second phase the children could take over some of the ideas from other groups. With a Wii balanceboard and controller they worked out how navigation and movement should work and which feedback was necessary for blind children. Each group presented their concepts again and the children gave out points for each scenario and explained why they did or did not like it.

Similarities between scenarios

The four game scenarios had several things in common:

• • Finding your way through a labyrinth
• • Avoiding traps and obstacles
• • Collecting objects or treasures

This supports the conclusions from the first session. The children made it clear that adventure and discovering new things should be important components of the game.

Choice of scenario

Finally MAD Multimedia presented their scenario, which was based on the conclusions from the first session. In this concept the player tries to find a friend who is calling for help. The player is able to walk in a specific direction by leaning in that direction on the balance board. The player also has to avoid obstacles. The children were very enthusiastic about this idea. We agreed that MAD would further work out the storyline and incorporate the ideas of the children into it.

Playtesting scenario on audio feedback – third session

On the third session MAD presented their game concept. This concept included many of their ideas. The children showed great enthusiasm towards this game. After the presentation, we tested how the children react to navigation by sound. We set out a course in the gym of the Visio School. Using musical instruments, we re-created sounds which will be used in the game. This playtest produced several interesting results, which will be used to benefit the audio feedback in the game.

Testing the first version of the game

This session had to be divided over two days, because we needed two hours for each family to test the game properly.

Testing game elements

The goal of this session was to gain insight on the following game elements:

1. Navigation
   To find your way in the game. Can visually impaired players find their way with the used audio feedback?
2. Orientation
   The ability to determine ones position within the game environment;
3. Movement
   Experimenting with two methods for movement in the game:
   
   Method 1: Just using the balance board.
   The player has to lean forward or backward to walk in those directions. When the player leans to the right or to the left the player moves sideways. Turning is not possible, the character keeps looking in the same direction.
   Method 2: Turning is possible using the right and left arrow keys on the WiiMote. The other options of the first method are still available.
   
   We presumed that the first method makes orientation easier, however this method might ask too much of the balance skills of beginning players. That is why we also want to test another method.
4. Gameplay
   Game experience: satisfaction, challenges, collaboration and difficulty of the game. The game has to be fun and challenging for sighted and visually impaired players to play and even more important, to play together.
5. Spectator’s experience
   Can a blind child follow the course of game, when it is being played by someone else?

Research questions

The most important questions which had to be answered by this test:

• • Can sighted and visually impaired players play the game on an equal level?
• • Can the players avoid obstacles and walls?
• • Can players determine their position within the game environment?
• • Can they find the level exit?
• • Can they find the treasures?
• • How do they react to the audio feedback?
• • How difficult are the balance exercises they have to do in order to reach the goal?

First level of the game

The tested prototype contained on level and had all the game elements we wanted to test. It features a labyrinth through which the player has to navigate and find two treasures, before the guard allows him to pass through the exit. At the beginning of the storyline was being read, because this and the voices of the characters weren’t incorporated in the game yet. After the test we let the children listen to voice samples of the characters and other audio samples. Despite the fact that the game was far from complete, the children were very enthusiastic.

Conclusions

We drew the following conclusions from the test results:

• • The children are perfectly capable to perform the necessary movements on the balance board. We decided to use the first method of movement, thus eliminating the possibility of turning using the arrow keys. We noticed that method 2 gave the sighted children an advance. Blind children had difficulty with orientation, since there was no audio feedback when a turn was being made.
• • Both blind and sighted players can find their way through the labyrinth, using the audio feedback, we saw little difference in performance.
• • The children reacted positive on the storyline, the voices of the characters and the other audio samples.