I stared basic Play testing on Tuesday, two day’s behind schedule.  Below are some screenshots as well as a short video of gameplay

Screenshots

 Gameplay Video

 Jasmine’s Results:

Jasmine loved the ithe game, and pointed at it and screamed.  She then stole my phone, which I could not get away from her for 5 minutes.  When I did she protested screaming.  So, overall Play testing has been going well. However there are few items that have come up.  Here biggest issue was how I am dealing with registering touches.

Nicole:

Nicole played it for about 1 minute.  Granted, I did not give her any instructions, but it seems too bland.  Don’t worry Nicole, I have plans to add more interesting items and colors.

Others:

I did a few demos at Lunch and showed it to a couple of adults to get their opinion.  They were generally supportive and asked a number of questions… most of which I had answers for.

High Level Results

Kids need multi-touch.

Just giving the phone to Jasmine a restricting the 1st finger has made it almost impossible for her to interact with the tablet.  This must change before launch.

Meaningful Variations

I need to vary the bubbles in a meaningful way Nicole seemed to get bored once she realized that it was just endless popping of the same color bubbles.  There needs to be variation, and with purpose.  I think “Levels” or strategic colored bubbles that do something different will help.

Adults feel that “Shapes” is Misleading

When showing this to other adults, they feel that the name “Shapes” does not make sense for the App as all of the requirements, to date, only have Bubbles.  Instead of increasing scope by adding more shapes, I feel that simpler is better.

Actions Taken

So after extensive thought, I am going to do release a “Bubbles” game with the free play levels are my current minimum requirements.  Is this a turn of direction?  Not really.  After researching a number of items, I feel it is the right reason.  Here are three:

Test the App Publishing Process

The name “Shapes” is a long-term goal that allows for educational tools that Jasmine.  Getting the App this far has taken a fair amount more effort that I thought it would.  I have actually redone the core classes about 3x, the website 2x, and continue to refine the QMS with typo’s etc.  I would be naïve to think that the first launch of an App would be any different.  I would rather work out the kinks on a secondary product.

Scalability

I am trying to build in scalability into the site.  Doing so requires infrastructure, which requires money. For example, if more people visit my website, it will take more bandwidth, which I’ll need to purchase.  That is just a simple example.  There are a number of other expenses that I will need to cover.  If I do not include some basic monetization with the app from the beginning, then I may burn out like a match.

Release Early, Release Often

I do not really like this phrase, but it means that the sooner I release a minimally viable product, the sooner I can start to learn about the customers I am attempting to attend to.  I will be turning what I have now into a game, and releasing that first, adding content as I learn the remaining skills to publish “Shapes”

Website Refresh

I’ll need to update the website accordingly. I’m going to do this in a couple of days as the new design is in Flux.

Images and App Changes

I will have to make changes to the Launcher icon and other items inside the code. Below is a side-by-side view of the old and new App Launcher Icon

It might change, but as you can see, I am making progress.

Requirements and Documentation updates

I’ll have to update the Requirements, etc., but I’ll do that as I go along.