Now Think Aloud please...
In my last blog post I talked about the results of my experimentation with Cultural Probes to gather information from my muse. This time, I’ll be reporting the results of the Think Aloud sessions I conducted. Since she already told me that her favourite games are platformers; specifically, the Super Mario franchise and also that she would like a new platformer game, I decided to get her to play a Super Mario clone found online (since we both do not have a console to play the original on). First off, the main reason why she really likes platformers such as Super Mario is because the player does not have to think a lot and strategize; instead, one simply relaxes, “run, jump, kill and don’t die”. We split the Think Aloud into two sessions, the first of which being a Retrospective session and the second one being a Concurrent one.
Although I already knew that she really likes the look of the Super Mario games, she did not hold back from confirming this more than once during the Think Aloud sessions. She also likes the fact that the design and music of each level reflects what kind of enemies or traps are expected and also a hint at the difficulty level. Also, she commented on the fact that the game has a cartoon-ish look to it; again, for the reason that it’s a relaxing game, no realistic graphics and physics; smiling clouds and stars appear to please her. A satisfying/cute ending such as sliding down the flagpole also seemed like something she would like to see in the game, a ‘Woohoo’ moment to finish off the level. Out of all the powerups found in the game, the Star power up seemed to be her favourite, being invulnerable for a few seconds, however she would prefer having some form of visualisation of the timer assigned to the power ups as she gets really upset when she loses a life because the power up ends just as she is about to hit an enemy. Another aspect she really likes is the fact that you get your lives back once you defeat the boss in the final level.
Switching on to things she doesn’t like in Super Mario that I might be able to tackle will be discussed here. Something that frustrates her in Super Mario is that not all enemies can be dealt with; Bowser, for instance, cannot be killed but the player simply has to get past him, something to keep in mind when I’m designing the enemies in my game. Another thing she continually commented on is the moving platforms found in the Super Mario games, she has a serious issue with these parts of the levels as they are unpredictable, mostly because all platforms have the same design but not the same behaviour. The first part of the levels where little to no challenge is provided seems to be pointless in her opinion, as are sections in the levels where gaps between blocks and pipes have no enemies, are not high and are easily jumped over.
