Here we have come to the end of our iterative process for game design. Where conceptualization generates questions and ideas that you try to answer to the best of your abilities with prototypes, playtests test the effectiveness of your ideas and evaluations answer the questions posed in conceptualization with feedback.

Evaluation is the final, and sometimes most challenging step in the iterative cycle. This is where all of the feedback from playtests gets examined by you and the team. If prototypes pose questions that are answered through playtests, then evaluation phase is when those answers are reviewed and (most importantly) turned into actionable ideas for design revisions. The answers from the playtest, however, aren't always clear. Playtester feedback is what the game is saying to you about the issues between your design values and your player experience.

As mentioned before. It's all well and good to perform playtests, but if you don't pay attention to the results, figure out what you need to learn from those tests, and put actionable plans in place to address findings, you are wasting your time.

Some of the most important aspects to evaluate about a game's design are the places where design values translate into player experience. Being able to think about how players are or aren't getting the intended experience often has to do with a combination of the implementation of basic game design tools and the mechanisms by which players engage with the game. Thinking through each of these is important during the evaluation of the prototype and playtest.

• Actions: Do the players understand what they can and cannot do when playing the game? Are the controls intuitive or easy to learn and master? Are players able to develop skill around the core actions of the game?
• Goals: Do the players understand the game's goals? Are players creating their own goals in addition to or instead of? How is the game communicating the goals? Are the goals supported by the actions, objects, playspace, story, and so on?
• Challenge: Is the game providing the right degree and kind of difficulty or push-back? Does the game keep players engaged? If the challenge comes from the subject, is it coming through during the play experience?
• Information spaces: Are players able to make sense of the information provided by the game? Is there too much information given the pace of the play experience? Too little?Are players missing out on essential information?
• Feedback: Is the loop between player actions and the game's response clear? Can players interpret the outcomes of their actions with confidence?
• Decision-making: Are players able to make decisions about how to pursue their goals and have the experience they seek?
• Player perceptions: Does the way the playspace is represented support the intended play experience?
• Contexts of play: Is the place where the game is played having an impact on player experience? How about the time of day? What else is going on around the play session?
• Takeaway: Is the game conveying the intended message, concept or experience?
• Emotions: What emotions arise during play? Do they correspond to those hoped for?

Conceptualizing Solutions

We have all this feedback now. How do we turn it into actual changes we want to make to the game’s design? This is where we return to conceptualize, the first step in the iterative design cycle.

Review

First review the strengths and weaknesses found during the playtest, make sure the team is clear on them and that there are no misinterpretations. Then revisit the team's design values to make sure that the way we translate the feedback into actual design tasks helps us get closer to the values that we identified in the beginning.

Incubate

With the strengths, weaknesses, and design values in mind, we the mull the specific issue over. Sometimes the issues are interconnected, making a solutions that much more complicated to determine. First give everyone time to think it through on their own. This time can even be done while doing other tasks.

Brainstorm

Once incubations is done, gather to brainstorm ideas for strengthening the game. Capture the ideas for everyone to see. Be careful to not let ideas go too crazy and overload your design. Focus on the things you absolutely need to do for the next iterative prototype.

Decide

With options discussed and their merits weighed, the team should make decisions about which solutions to implement. Priorities are very subjective, but remember to keep the design values in mind, and let them help decide what is best for the game.

Document

With decisions made, it is time to decide tasks among the team to realize the solutions. This should eventually translate into a series of tasks. Make certain everyone knows what they are responsible for.

Schedule

Once everyone knows what they should be doing. the team should agree on a schedule for getting to the next prototype. This may be a couple of hours,days, or months depending on how big the game is, where you are in the process, and other commitments team members have outside the project.

Macklin, Colleen; Sharp, John. Games, Design and Play (Game Design) (p. 222-224). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.

Per the details in this module, for the last aspect of your final game design project, you are to perform some evaluation of your game based on the playtests you executed.

1 Assemble the notes, data, and results from your playtests. and Review them.

2 Make sure you take some time to just sit with these results and mull them over in your mind. This is the Incubation step.

3 Then Brainstorm ideas about what you could do to improve your game for another iteration. At this point please start a word document and list out the brainstorming ideas you came up with during this process. Please ensure you come up with 5-10 ideas. They can be small or big ideas, but please be specific in your description of them.

4 Create a new section of your word document and list out your decision for what ideas you would like to focus on in another iteration if you were to do one. Please select and prioritize the ideas and add them to your document.

5 Finally please summarize in your document your impressions of this overall process. What did you learn that you didn't expect? What was the easiest aspect of the process, and what was the most difficult? What would you do differently if you were able to start again?

6 Save your document with the following name Lastname-Firstname_FinalProject-Evaluation.docx.

7 Click on Final Project - Evaluations in the UNM Learn Assignments listing.

8 Scroll down to Assignment Files and Browse Local file to select the file you created and attach it to your submission for this assignment.

As always, please make sure you also complete the other requirements in your todo list like quiz and section Exam 3. Don't forget those.