Level 1Project 1 · Session 15
15

Project 1 · A game of your own

Test it on somebody, then fix it

What we are making: no new work at all. Today you watch somebody else use what you built, and you are not allowed to help them.

How the test works

  1. Swap computers with somebody who has not seen your project.
  2. Say nothing. Not one word. This is the hard part.
  3. Watch them. Every time they pause, look confused, or do the wrong thing, write it down.
  4. Swap back and read your list.
  5. Fix the three worst things. Then stop.
💡 Tip
When they get it wrong, that is information about your game, not about them. The commonest thing you will see is somebody not knowing what to do when the game starts — which means your game needs to say so, on the screen, before they have to guess.

Three fixes that solve most of it

  1. Say what to do. A sprite that says ‘Use the arrow keys to catch the apples’ for two seconds at the start.
  2. Say what happened. When they win or lose, the game should say so, not just stop.
  3. Make it obvious what is yours. If the player controls one sprite, it should look different from everything else on the screen.
📷
images/l1-p15-before-after.png
Screenshot: the same game before and after the three fixes — one with no instructions, one that says what to press

Then stop

From the end of today, no new features. Teams who keep adding things right up to the showing are the teams whose games do not work at the showing. This has happened every year it has ever been tried.

Before you leave

  • Your list of what the tester struggled with.
  • The three fixes, made and tested.
  • Your project saved, and a copy saved under a second name in case.
Challenge optional — only if you finish early
  • Test on somebody two years younger than you. Write down what was different.
14. Build it