Smell – Completing the prototype & user testing of our game

We decided to user test our game and prototype. What did we conduct user testing? The reason was to try out if our game actually worked, if it was too hard to play, i.e. if it was hard to differentiate the different smells. Also wanted to see if there were any flaws that we could improve on.
To prepare before user testing we had to put the scents on the bricks which was done by dropping the liquid scents on the cardboard circles and writing the abbreviation using the UV-pen. This was easy to do since we already had created the combination system and had put the post-it notes to them all the day before. During the preparations we actually made some important discoveries, some we fixed before user testing and some not.

When we dropped the scents on the cardboard circles, we realised that they were visible, compared to the neutral domino which had no drop signifier. This made it very easy to distinguish which ones were neutral and not. At first we discussed that a smart way to make it look like the others, would be to use rapeseed oil, since it barely smell anything. However, we did not have rapeseed oil at the time, so for the user test we decided to put a water drop on the neutral one’s. For tomorrow we’ll get the oil before the presentation, since the water probably will be dried out.

We also discovered that after a little while, not only did the oil had different sizes and shapes, but also they dried in a different pace, which potentially could make them easy to identify and memorize while playing. We weren’t sure the participants would notice this, but I think a solution could be to put something on top of it, such as a bit of paper. Another idea of removing the visual stains was to put cotton pads to soak up the essential oils, however, the oils could have different colors which would then be visible on white cotton.

Before the user test we decided to use 4 scents instead of 6 and to use two people, because we thought it would take too long time to play the whole game considering our time constraints. In the workshop we found two people that were willing to play our game. To introduce them to the game, we explained the rules (they had forgot the domino rules) and asked them to pick four bricks each. One brick was used as a staring point. They also got a period of time to smell both their own bricks and the starting brick. During the seminar Simon had talked about how important the initial learning period of the game was, to let the players know about the rules as well as to familiarize themselves with the scents to be able to play it.

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During the game one of the participant actually pointed out that the stains could be quite easy to differentiate, which we initially had thought of but didn’t fix for the test. We had also made a big mistake in our preparation – while playing, the participants got stuck with one of the bricks which they couldn’t combine with any other. When we smelled it and checked it with the UV-lamp, we realized that we had put a fifth scent to the game by mistake. They also mentioned that it was easy to differentiate the scents, but also that it became confusing after a while (too much smell) so they wanted to smell coffee in between to neutralize the smells. This made me reflect that we maybe had chosen too intense scents and additionally, playing it for a longer time could become an issue.

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One observation we did was that the participant would pick up the bricks to smell the bricks, rather than leaning down towards the table. Reason for this could be that the table we used was rather large and that the bricks were placed in the middle of the table, making it hard to lean down.

The participants actually managed to combine all the scents during the entire game, which was actually kind of a success, as it meant that the game was playable and not too hard. In contrast, it could also be interpreted as it being too simple, but the feedback from the testers didn’t say that. The feedback from the participants was that the game was frustrating but fun to play. One of them mentioned that ”It was challenging in a good way”.

Some important learnings and insights from user testing:

• Giving the participant a tutorial of the game and letting them familiarise with the scent is useful, so that they understand how the game is played. Thus, the participant will be able to play the game fluently.
• The essential oils leave stains on the cardboard in different shapes and sizes, which could make them easy to memorize and visually distinguish from each other. Additionally, they dry in different pace which make it even more prominent. Therefore, another material could be used or even put something on top of the cardboard.
• The game was simple enough to play. Both participant were able to answer correctly on every brick. However, it was not too simple, since participants mentioned that the game was “frustrating, but fun to play” and ”challenging in a good way”.
• Use of intense scents can become an issue. Players can become confused by the smelling if playing for a longer period of time. Thus, the use of a neutralising scent could be useful.