What was the thing that surprised you the most during the play test?
I personal was really surprised to see the children have so much fun despite some of the levels we made was really hard and almost unplayable, especially younger children, who are still attracted to the seemingly complicated play experience we have constructed.
How are you planning to change your project based on the feedback you got?
During the play test, I came to realize that the first floor of each our levels are usually not engaged by the children, I think partially it's because it is not transparent right now, but I think we also need to incorporate more design element that utilize the first floor more.
Specifically how will you make your design more suitable for your target group of kids? (more durable? more accessible? change form-factor? change interaction?)
Definitely more durable, smoother play experience, but we were pretty happy with the construction of our game so far since even younger children who are outside of our target group were able to have fun with it.
Were you able to guide the kids without influencing their experience? Be a faciliator and researcher at the same time?
Initially it was hard for us since our toy is very goal orientated, thus make it hard for us not to intervene from time to time, but as we let the children play by themselves, they seems to enjoy the process of discovering the goals of the game.
What is your biggest take-away from this experience?
I think my biggest take away is that some times being a observer of a play experience gives more insight into the future prospect of our product than doing a extensive but passive research online or through surveys. Sometimes the things people say to you is not always 100 percent reflective of how they feel at the moment, thus, observing becomes really important in a design research process.