Post by Kobey on Nov 14, 2019 12:03:48 GMT -5
We did a bunch of focus groups during play testing where we showed how simple key grouping combined with corresponding visual presentation and repetitive actions would increase ease of game play by a significant amount.
We asked people to rate a basic immaterial game, where the only thing that was different was the keyboard layout, and people rated the game on average 1-2 points higher (or lower) for no other reason then how they tapped the keys.
When we combined additional "reinforcers"; Meaning for example binding "Q" to Quadrant; Along with the natural rhythmic repetitive motions of using keys in the order of operations that actions get done in; Such as "A-S-D-F" or "1-2-3-4"; Those same scores changed by an additional 1-2 points.
Another example we did: Using <shift> to roll a set of hotkeys to another set.
Think of it like the talents in ship combat. Key's 1-0 give you 10-hot keys.
If you are typically using things in the same order, such as selecting weapons to fire in this case, people can quickly hit 1-2-3-4 without looking.
And the more you can line up the easier it is for them.
Other tests we did included holding down <shift> to temporarily "roll" a selection of hotkeys to a second row of potential options. Let <shift> go and it "rolled" back to the the original set.
We also found it was an easy line to cross to becoming non-intuitive or even counter productive. Again in the play testing we did we tried only changing the <shift> key to as I described above, and for the other testers we set the <shift> key to "roll" the options, but then stay there when it was let go. It was good when you had only 2-rows and flipped "A" to "B" but if you had more it meant basically "scrolling" though all of them to get back to the first (people hated that). We even went so far as to try <shift> to roll one way and <shift> + <ctrl> to move back the other but again that became far less convenient, and that was reflected in the games score.
I guess the reason I'm bringing this up (again) is because you guys are in a way sitting on the cusp of indie breaking into mainstream.
Adding even a 5% bump to your average review could put you over the top in that regard. And in my experience a poor key layout compared to an efficient one could have impact variances of 20% on the like-ability of a title.
And it doesn't matter what that title is, from bouncing babies to WoW and pretty much anything else.
I mean imagine what would happen if someone decided to release a title these days where Up-Down-Left-Right mapped to E-D-S-F...
I am not saying ST:F is horrible by any stretch, it's just a FYI when looking ahead. Because I do feel like this area got a little overlooked and like I mentioned, (and I am NOT trying to be disparaging much less insult anyone), even a +5% bump for you guys changes a title from being "very good" and in the top 100...to "Overwhelming Positive" and a Top-10 of all time.
And that could easily turn 700+ likes into 7,000+
We asked people to rate a basic immaterial game, where the only thing that was different was the keyboard layout, and people rated the game on average 1-2 points higher (or lower) for no other reason then how they tapped the keys.
When we combined additional "reinforcers"; Meaning for example binding "Q" to Quadrant; Along with the natural rhythmic repetitive motions of using keys in the order of operations that actions get done in; Such as "A-S-D-F" or "1-2-3-4"; Those same scores changed by an additional 1-2 points.
Another example we did: Using <shift> to roll a set of hotkeys to another set.
Think of it like the talents in ship combat. Key's 1-0 give you 10-hot keys.
If you are typically using things in the same order, such as selecting weapons to fire in this case, people can quickly hit 1-2-3-4 without looking.
And the more you can line up the easier it is for them.
Other tests we did included holding down <shift> to temporarily "roll" a selection of hotkeys to a second row of potential options. Let <shift> go and it "rolled" back to the the original set.
We also found it was an easy line to cross to becoming non-intuitive or even counter productive. Again in the play testing we did we tried only changing the <shift> key to as I described above, and for the other testers we set the <shift> key to "roll" the options, but then stay there when it was let go. It was good when you had only 2-rows and flipped "A" to "B" but if you had more it meant basically "scrolling" though all of them to get back to the first (people hated that). We even went so far as to try <shift> to roll one way and <shift> + <ctrl> to move back the other but again that became far less convenient, and that was reflected in the games score.
I guess the reason I'm bringing this up (again) is because you guys are in a way sitting on the cusp of indie breaking into mainstream.
Adding even a 5% bump to your average review could put you over the top in that regard. And in my experience a poor key layout compared to an efficient one could have impact variances of 20% on the like-ability of a title.
And it doesn't matter what that title is, from bouncing babies to WoW and pretty much anything else.
I mean imagine what would happen if someone decided to release a title these days where Up-Down-Left-Right mapped to E-D-S-F...
I am not saying ST:F is horrible by any stretch, it's just a FYI when looking ahead. Because I do feel like this area got a little overlooked and like I mentioned, (and I am NOT trying to be disparaging much less insult anyone), even a +5% bump for you guys changes a title from being "very good" and in the top 100...to "Overwhelming Positive" and a Top-10 of all time.
And that could easily turn 700+ likes into 7,000+
