Lecturer Tutorial 1: Canvas Size and Duration

Canvas
I had my first tutorial, of this module with the lecturer, regarding the game I will create entitled: "How I Escaped".

At first I wanted to have a canvas size of 720x405px which is a 16:9 size.
It was stated that although the canvas' ratio was correct, the dimensions were too small and the width should be increased to 1000px.

This would mean that the height of the canvas would now need to be 562px.

Conclusion
I believe that this is a good idea, and it will mean that more features will be able to fit in the game at a suitable size. However, the only downside of increasing the canvas to this size is that due to the resolution of my screen (1366 x 768px), baring in mind the toolbars such as the Timeline in Adobe Flash, a lot of scrolling will be needed when creating my game.

This can of course be resolved by zooming out when creating the game, but it means that I will only know what it looks like when looking at the full-screen published SWF version.

Duration
Since the Unique Selling Points (USP) of my game involved Narration, Points and a Clue system (to help users solve the clues faster without the use of a walkthrough), there was originally meant to be one level the user had to complete. The lecturer stated that it would be best if there was three levels involved because the duration of the game should last 10-15 minutes.

The trouble with this is that everyone will solve the puzzle at different speeds and with the use of the clue system, these puzzles will be solved faster and more help is given.

Conclusion
User testing will be put in place to see how fast users are able to complete my game. Dependent upon the results, the number of levels that the game has will vary.
The most important fact is that the game lasts 10-15 minutes. Including thinking time.

I will also look online on video websites such as YouTube and see how fast it takes those users to complete the other Room Escape game. This won't entirely be a fair test, since these videos are likely to be walkthrough's where the user knows what they're doing rather than trying to figure it out.

The user's challenge should be to figure out the puzzle, not figure out HOW to figure out the puzzle

27/01/2014 18:15