Glowing Garden
OVERVIEW:
Glowing Garden was my Final Project at University of California - Santa Cruz's Games and Playable Media MS program. This Capstone Project had student dev teams create a game from pitch, to vertical slice, to playable demo over 6 months. Due to extenuating circumstances involving Covid-19 lockdown complications, we completed our capstone in 3 months (10 weeks). I served as our team's UX researcher, QA tester, and as Co-Producer alongside the Creative Director Jacques Vissir.
Glowing Garden can be played at the link here.
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The Goal
The goal of this project was to create an independent, casual, cozy arcade game. The main objective is to grow mushrooms by drilling into the earth and collecting energy, which is spent to plant a mushroom when returning to the surface.
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My Role:
I was in charge of recruiting playtest participants, conducting and recording playtests, analyzing player feedback and test data, and presenting my findings and inputs at our weekly standup meetings.
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What I learned:
The main thing I learned on this project was flexibility and resilience. Since our previous capstone was cancelled we had to deal with the disappointment of losing months of work right as we were hitting our stride. This hit our team hard but we managed to push through it and pivot into a new project. It was our first experience of sudden cancelations that can happen in the games industry, and learning it now 100% prepared me for experiencing the feeling in the future.
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Glowing Garden also tested the skills I built through End of the Line: New Age and the Museum of Mechanics Fishing, since I was organizing and conducting playtests on my own. My initial playtests were rough, but as the weeks went on I noticed my strategies and methods improving as I got more practice briefing participants, recording data, and analyzing my findings.
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The following list my methods and highlight a few specific docs I created during our game's production period. ​​​​
01
Playtest Data Collection and Analysis
Overview:
I conducted weekly playtests over our 3 month production timeline. I collected player insights (notable struggles, moments of enjoyment, and general comments) during each test, noted consistent sentiment among test participants, and presented my findings at the beginning of each weekly sprint - along with suggestions on what we should focus on for said sprint.
Glowing Garden:
Mid-Production Post Playtest Summary
What I did:
I ran 2-4 playtests each week over our 3 month dev cycle. Each test was designed to gather the feedback from new and returning test participants, alongside testing newly added features. ​​​​​
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After participants were briefed and consented to recording, I observed their gameplay in real time through screen sharing and recording software (Zoom, OBS, and Discord). I instructed participants to vocalize their feedback and recorded notable comments in a Google Sheet spreadsheet. Notable actions, triumphs, bugs, and frustrations were logged as well.
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Once participants had completed their test session, I analyzed the data to find common complaints, praise, and critiques. These were then sorted by color for readability and presented to at our team's weekly standup meetings. One of these post playtest summaries is included above.
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​My Impact: ​
My findings directly influenced what the team prioritized on a weekly basis, as my work gave concrete data for how players were reacting to our new systems. My suggested improvements and adjustments helped us focus on the exact things needed to improve player satisfaction.
Additionally, my research and insights resulted in a 20% increase in player enjoyment of our game over the course of production.
02
Playtest Organizing and Recruiting
Overview:
I created scripts based off our weekly playtesting goals. These informed how playtests were briefed and outlined ways to conduct a playtest if a teammate had to conduct one in my stead.
Glowing Garden Document
Playtest Briefing Script
What I Did:
Before each weekly playtest I would verify all new build changes and discuss that week's playtest goals with the team. I then created a briefing script based of these changes and goals, which I read to participants before each playtest session.
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I created multiple playtest scripts to streamline the briefing process and inform players on any recent changes to the build. I made sure new participants got a full briefing while returning testers were given light reminders and informed on any notable changes since they last tested.
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The test above is a sample from midway through production.
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My Impact:​​​
Over the course of production my test scripts reduced playtest times by 10%, mostly by cutting time from the briefing phase.
Meeting with the team also reduced confusion that arose during the first two weeks of production, and improved overall team cohesion.
