Game Usability Analysis - Death Rally

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Game Usability Analysis: Death Rally

Jyri Partanen

phone: +358 40 560 4023

[email protected]

17.1.2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction...............................1

Usability and playability test.....2

Results.......................................4

Conclusions...............................8

References.................................9

INTRODUCTION

Death Rally is a racing game produced by Remedy Entertainment. It is a top-down isometric racing and

shooting game for casual gaming. The goal of the player in the game is to finish the roughly 90-second

race as a winner, or just demolish the other opponents. The game is now available for iOS, Android andWindows PC. Gameplay and theme follow the original game from 1996, back when the game was

actually called by a development title HiSpeed.

The game was updated for Windows in 2009 and subsequently released as a freeware. The main effort

for the refactoring the game for Window was done by a indipendent developer Jari Komppa. He

describes the delicate refactoring process in his article that was published in Game Developer Magazine



(Komppa 2010).

In March 2011, the game was released for Apple’s 3rd generation iOS devices (Picture 1). Death Rally

on iOS was done as cooperation of Remedy, Mountain Sheep and Cornfox & Brothers. Since the

release, the game has also been released for Android. The apps have been successful in the mobilemarket, grossing over 11M downloads, spread roughly by 80/20 split between iOS and Android

(Martin 2012). The game had had 110M play sessions on iOS already back in June 2012, which is an

impressive number.

Picture 1. Death Rally for iOS.

The focus of this game analysis paper is to highlight the usability and playability findings that play role i

the mobile version of Death Rally. Simple ad-hoc usability tests done for the game are presented and

results discussed. Additionally, suggestions for improving the game, or future games, are proposed.

USABILITY AND PLAYABILITY TEST

Test setup was simple ad-hoc test in everyday situation where game play happens naturally. In this test

the location was at home or at relatives house. Participants took played the game individually whilespeaking out loud what they thought at the moment.

USABILITY AND PLAYABILITY HEURISTICS REFERRED TO IN THE TEST

The test was planned in reference to several general guidelines. These guidelines concern good UI



design, game design and game play balancing. The guidelines have been adapted and condenced from

several usability and game design sources (Clanton 1998; Sanchez-Crespo Dalmau 1999; Malone

1982; Shneiderman 1992; Shelley 2001; Norman 1990; Bickford 1997; Crawford 1982).

Number Design principle Concerned area in the design

1 The interface should be non-intrusive Usability

2 The player should be able to identify

their score and status of the game

Usability

3 Interfaces should be consistent in

controls, color, typography, and dialog

design

Usability

4 Minimize the menu layers and controlof an interface

Usability

5 Use sound to provide meaningful

feedback

Usability

6 Feedback should be given immediatel

to portray user control

Usability

7 User should be able to manipulate UI t

their liking

Usability

8 Get the player involved quickly and

easily

Playability

9 There should be a clear over arching

goal of the game presented early

Playability

10 There should be multiple sub-goals on

each level

Playability

11 There should be variable difficulty lev Playability

12 Artificial intelligence should be

reasonable and unpredictable

Playability

13 Game play should be fair Playability

14 There must not be any single winning

strategy

Playability



Table 1. Design principles.

PARTICIPANTS

The participants of the test were the following. Names of the participants have been changed to protectthe innocent.

Participant Segment Age Gender

Pauliina iPhone user, casual gamer, plays adventure and puzzle

games

41 female

Jori iPhone user, hard core gamer, plays adventure, racing and

puzzle games

37 male

Ville iPhone user, does not play mobile games 43 male

Juuso Nokia user, does not play mobile games, plays FPS’ on P 27 male

Timo iPhone user, plays all games 17 male

Table 2. Test participant profiles.

TASKS IN THE TEST

In the beginning of the test the players were presented an iPhone with the application installed. The players were given only short instructions how to act during the test when encountering obstacles or

errors. Then the players were given the following tasks to do:

1. Watch prolog

2. Race

3. Modify car in the Carage

RESULTS

Here are the main conclusions from the tests. The test results were analyzed by the author. In the

analysis, main findings were picked to the following table and corresponded with the usability heuristics

presented earlier in Table 1.

MAJOR FINDINGS



Finding:

Test subject Finding Design principle New suggestion

Pauliina, Jori Rewards pop-up is

difficult to close

3, 6 Add OK button (see

below)

Old UI Suggested UI

Finding:


Pauliina Player wanted to have

the steering control unde

right thumb. Steering wa

difficult with left thumb.

3, 7 Make steering control

position configurable

(left/right).

Old UI Suggested UI



Finding:


Pauliina, Jori Player did not know in

the start what car she had

and where the race was

going to head.

2, 6, 8 Display race direction wit

arrow in the start. Highlig

the car more in the start.

Old UI Suggested UI

Finding:




Jori Sponsored Rewards

screen has duplicate

meaning for buttons.

3 Make purchase buttons

differ from the other

buttons.

Old UI Suggested UI

Finding:


Jori Race game play is

distanced from the

storytelling of the game.

9 Add main character

standing animation to the

car repair scene.

Old UI Suggested UI



Finding:


Juuso Customizing the car is

only game play related,

not personal.

7, 8 Add simple customization

options to the Carage

scene. The player can add

new colors to the car,which do not have to be

visible in the race.

Old UI Suggested UI

MINOR FINDINGS



Finding:


Timo Steering control is too

sensitive at first rounds.

3, 7 N/A

Finding:


Jori Gaining Fame is

distanced from the story.

Earned Cash seems

wasted on Fame and

cannot be saved for later.

2, 13, 14 The effect of gaining more

Fame should be more

portrayed in the Carage

scene. Consider allowing

Cash to be saved.

Finding:

Test subject Finding Design principle (table 1) New suggestion

Pauliina Accent of the narrator is

not authentic

3 Native narrator for cut

scenes

CONCLUSIONS

Death Rally is a captivating casual game for anyone interested in intensive racing and shooting games.

For other player segments, the game provides little entertainment, which most probably is a conscious

choice from Remedy. The game has proven itself interesting and appealing in the specific target segment

it was designed for.

Usability features of the game follow your regular mobile racing game UI design to the most part. The

usability and playability tests conducted during this evaluation proved to be useful in finding major UIimprovement suggestions for the game. Same suggestions can be used to improve similar future games.

REFERENCES

Bickford, P. 1997. Interface design. Chestnut Hill: Academic Press.



Clanton, C. 1998. An Interpreted Demonstration of Computer Game Design. Proceedings of the

conference on CHI 98 summary: human factors in computing systems. Chi 98, 1–2.

Grayson, N. 2012. Remedy Renaissance: Death Rally Remake Coming to PC. Referenced 16.1.2013http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/30/remedy-renaissance-death-rally-remake-coming-to-pc/

Komppa, J. 2010. Game Developer Magazine. April 2010. Referenced 15.1.2013

http://iki.fi/sol/dr_gdm.html

Malone, T. 1982. Heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces: Lessons from computer games. In

John C. Thomas and Michael L. Schneider, Human Factors in Computing Systems. Norwood: Ablex

Publishing Corporation.

Martin, M. 2012. Remedy Entertainment: Real Artists Ship. In GamesIndustry International. Referenced

15.1.2013 http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-05-remedy-entertainment-real-artists-ship

Moilanen, J. 2012. Mountain Sheep looks to iPhone for low budget success. In The Market for

Computer & Video Games. Referenced 15.1.2013

http://www.mcvnordic.com/news/read/mountain-sheep-looks-to-iphone-for-low-budget-success/0933

49

Norman, D. 1990. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Doubleday.

Remedy. 2013. Referenced 15.1.2013 http://remedygames.com/recruit/

Sanchez-Crespo Dalmau, Daniel. (1999, November 8.) Learn Faster to Play Better: How to Shorten

the Learning Cycle. Referenced 15.1.2013

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3392/learn_faster_to_play_better_how_.php

Shelley, B. 2001. Guidelines for Developing Successful Games. Gamasutra. Referenced 17.1.2013

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3041/guidelines_for_developing_.php

Shneiderman, B. 1997. Human Factors of Interactive Software. In Designing the User Interface:

Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. Addison-Wesley, 1–37.

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Game Usability Analysis - Death Rally