INTERFACE, CONTENT & OTHER ISSUES

Example 2: An Adventure Game.

1. During the testing we experienced a number of problems navigating the interface, which became less of an issue as we worked with it, however, we still feel the game usage could be made easier.
   
   a) An hourglass is definitely needed to notify the user that something is actually happening after they click on it. There were many times, especially in the Chart Room, where after clicking on a word from an entry, there would appear to be no activity and we wouldn't be sure if the program had crashed or not. We would then click on an item again. Doing so would often give us a Director error that said the "Handler was not defined."
   b) Other times clicking with the mouse seems to do nothing to navigate the interface with the right, forward and left mouser cursors. We are not sure if the click did not register or if the system is doing something. If the system is doing something then an hourglass should be displayed. These delays were noted on all systems.
   c) It may help to at least limit the number of mouse clicks that are registered to maybe something like four so as to prevent users from getting lost by making several clicks while accidentally moving the direction of the mouse.
   
   
2. The opening credits depict the ***** trademark as TM, while the closing credits depict it as (R). Should these be the same?
   
   
3. We found that if we pressed the number keys, we could skip to the adventure that corresponded with it. You may want to disable this feature in the final product or else make it a more extensive keystroke.
   
   
4. In the "Tour the Frigate" clicking on a hatch or an indexed item brings you back to the Chart Room, but if you try to click on "Back to Adventure," you go back to the tour. We then realized that moving the mouse to the bottom brought up a different set of options, one of which was to "End Tour." You may either want to disable the Medallion Index during the tour or else display dialog that explains how to exit the "Tour" screen.
   
   
5. There should be a note somewhere on the Credits screen advising the user that they can press Esc to exit the program early rather than sit through all of the Credits.
   
   
6. If there are only two areas in the Help area, then why have "Previous" and "Next" buttons. Why not just have Page 1 or Page 2 buttons. Clicking on "Next" brings you to page two and then back to page one.
   
   
7. With many of the adventures, it is not apparent what you are supposed to do in the adventure. In Adventure 3 for instance, there are things that you find such as the Chip Log and Sextant and you can look these up, but no characters give you any advice as to what to do with them. Without the cheat sheet, we never would have thrown the chip log into the wake behind the ship.
   
   
8. In Adventure 5 after you speak to One-armed Jack and have the map you go to the Bosun and make choices for the ship. If we did not have the directions, we would NEVER have gotten past this section. It is not made clear that you would choose rudder and sail changes and then click on your map to see the effect. In fact, there was no indication of what we should do on the sail interface screen.
   
   
9. In Adventure 8, we didn't understand why we would drop a barrel of grog on the fire near Captain Bradley. It seemed more logical to use the bucket full of water, but the game would not allow this. Once again, without the guide, we never would have done this, especially since the Chart Room entry for Grog says that this would be dangerous to do. Perhaps some of these things are explained with the documentation the customer is getting. However, without knowing what the customer has, we feel that the user may need a bit more prompting to be able to get through this game.
   
   
10. In Adventure 6, the first time we raced the Weevil, we had not used the Anise and the Weevil lost. Now, we no longer have the Weevil nor do we have any money. At this point, no further progress can be made in the game although without the cheat sheets we would never have known this.
    
    
11. In Adventure 6, we really don't know why we would tell Captain Bradley to go to Ragged Island. The different characters all mention different areas and no one area is ever really confirmed.
    
    
12. There was a great deal of difficulty sinking the ship in Adventure 7, and we wonder if some aspects of the game logic need to be changed here.
    
    
13. The cursor does not change into a medallion to tell you the differences among the different types of shot available. This was very important because different pieces of shot were used for different effects in sea battles.