Desk Crits: Received

Tommy Murray, 4/28/05

How clear is it to the learner/participant as to what they are to do at any one time?

With your project, the interaction is so powerful (the learner can do so much) that it might help to scale back how much they can do at once. For example, maybe the questions part should be separated from the drag/drop part- when someone is ready to try to add another clue by answering a question, I would make them push a button to bring the question up front and center. Then, with a Submit button in the question area, they would realize that attempting the question requires typing an answer and pressing the button. I noticed the lady sitting down while I was watching seemed a little overwhelmed by how many interactions she could do, and she forgot to hit the link to check her answer.

You may also consider for future iterations making a difficulty setting that would have a more guided version for easy and the open interactive version that you demonstrated tonight as the advanced level.

Anika Francis, 4/26/05

General comments:
I loved the opening with the music. The music was fun and energizing. I can only imagine how much time this took and I know it was hard. Plus, I loved the movie. How cute and the taps in the background. Very nice touch. The little pig was too cute. Nice work!!!! So impressive.

Instructions:
The first page of directions is a little confusing, had to read it a couple of times.

The text is a little small for the instructions. Might want to make it a little larger.

I liked the highlighting box to show where you are at in the instructions. That was a good touch.

Pg 1: Could you say who lives in the blue, green.... House with which pet.... (Maybe list the houses out. This seems long, but it would explain the colors of the houses and is worded less confusingly. Or maybe something like who lives in which of the five different colored houses? I don't know.

I might really hype up the objective here by saying the objective of this game is to... Or as a title for this I would say Objective...

Pg 2: Some of the language may be too technical for the everyday user or even if a child wants to play this game. That is probably the best way to think of these directions, especially since it's a game. Would a young user understand the lingo. The main word to watch here is properties. Maybe instead of saying the images represent properties for the house, you could say characteristics.. of the house...

2nd paragraph: Also the moving to define relationship was definitely too technical for the basic user I think. I am not sure how else to say is the problem. Maybe, you can say something like, move these images into the houses to show how the images relate to each particular house??? Maybe if you explain it to me, we can find more everyday language.

Pg 3: Could you maybe bold workspace to highlight it.

Pg 4: Drag and drop... into the house you think it belongs in . Now you mention an answer, but you haven't talked about a question being posed? Not sure what you mean by answer here.

Also property image at the left

The text below the houses is way to small. My eyes are not what they use to be, but its really hard to see. Not sure if that's a lot of work to change.

Pg. 4 The title still says to drag and drop, but you are introducing the clue area.

I'd make those <> buttons larger. Hard to see and small area to click on. I am thinking of those users who may not be as savy with the mouse. (I teach computers to senior citizens so I know how it can be for some users)

Pg 5.. Yeah, I would get rid of the title.

You might want to introduce the clues or at least the concept earlier.

(Also is there a way to skip the introduction. I clicked it thinking I missed some directions and I had to wait for it. Just a thought. )

I would explain somewhere that you have to fill up the whole house before checking the answer. Is this the case? It seemed like it but I wasn't sure.

When playing the keep trying stays up there. So I don't know if I have checked my answer or if its just wrong. I figure its just wrong, maybe that can go away so I know when I check my answer again.

Yi-chun Hong, 4/25/05

I have reviewed your website. It's very joyful website. I like the music, color and design of the game. You did an AWESOME job. Here I have some suggestions for you.
1. It will be better if the users can drag back the items to the option area. Sometimes, it's confused that which one is which when I tried to replace the item.
2. Can you possibly let the users know the answer after they try several times. I am afriad that people who are stupid like me will never find the answers.
3. The movie is so great!! However, on that page, it quite plain. I believe you can design the page with fancy stuff.

Overall, it's a very interesting website. I like it a lot. I am going to stop here and go back to find the answer.

Chad Mote, 4/25/05

I cant really provide much feedback for your Who Owns the Ocopus because the size is so small that I cannot play the game.  Probably just a glitch.  What I remember of it was wonderful.  This was a kid friendly game that would intrigue adolescents and some adults into playing this logic game.  I liked your use of color and animation in the game. You would need to include more directions to make the game more user friendly.  You might want to provide more information about what the purpose of the game is.  I noticed that in your project contract you do this.  But maybe you could provide more info on the first page of the game.  I remeber at our dress rehersal not following what the purpose of your project was.  When you explained this to me, it all made sense though.

Brandy Bellamy, 4/24/05

• You may need to add more instructions, for some of the slower learners like me!
• Explain the color scheme for the groups
• Can you take out the pieces once you have dropped them into the house?
• Fade out the pieces once they have been dropped into the house to avoid trying to reuse them.

Other than that, your website was awesome. Very professional and fun at the same time.

Robin Fay, 4/13/05

I really like the graphics and I thought the logic game was a lot of fun. The color scheme is well thought out and the design is visually pleasing.

My two comments are that it might be good to have a 'help' or 'instructions' button. If you hadn't been there, I'm not sure if I would have known how to navigate. I also became confused after I matched up icons to their corresponding houses and then they reappeared in the list. Is there a way to sort out the icons, so that the once they are used, they go into a different list spot on the screen? If there was an 'instructions' button, I just missed it. My second comment would be to include tool tips. You mentioned that as a possibility and I think it is a very good idea.

This was one of my favorite projects that I saw at the dress rehearsal. It looks great, works, and has a very strong design.

Ericka Mayweather, 4/4/05

The main interface looks great. I like the color scheme. I do have a few suggestions. The interface is fairly large when viewed on a regular screen; there is a lot of scrolling. I had to scroll up and down and left to right on a computer in the lab; however, when I looked at it on my laptop I only had to scroll down. Something to think about with your target audience in mind.

I like the "Who Owns the Octopus?" font; however, I'm not sure if I like the clues in that font. It is kind of hard to read with some words. I like how you have the arrows with the clues so you don't have to click on all the numbers. The strokes on the signs are different; the stroke on the post is thicker than the actual sign. I didn't know if you were aware of this or not.

Also, the gray box doesn't snap to a house. Are you aware of this? I like how the windows light up depending on how many clues. I know you mentioned that you haven't done any instruction yet, but I'm wondering where is it going to? I didn't know I could move the clues at the top. So be sure to include the instructions for that there. Great job so far! I can't wait to play with the final product. Let me know if you have any questions.

Robin Fay, 3/10/05

Of the two short stop animation movies that you demo-ed, I like the 'tap dancing' one the best. I felt the music fit the animation better and the film seemed to be better edited. The percussion of the music seemed to echo the sound that scrabble tiles would make if they were dancing. The flow and editing of the video in this one was more concise and truly more artistic.

As for the second movie, the short with the flamenco piece didn't seemed to be as closely edited nor did the pacing of the film seem to fit the music as closely.