Hi guys!

I've decided to write a Java game (like Dungeon Village for android) for my dissertation project at Uni using slick2d, Eclipse and some badly drawn sprites. The problem I have though is that I dont know how to evaluate it. Ideally I would have a questionnaire of some kind for people along with some with facts and figures in the report, and the evaluation cannot be something like "Was it fun?".

Do you have any ideas on game evalation for projects like this that dont involve the fun factor? Maybe I could compare types of AI or something like that? I only have a basic knowledge of game programming but I'm doing it because I genuinely enjoy the coding.

I know questions like this suck but I am so desperate and falling behind I dont know what else to do!

Thanks for reading,

Owen

- (Desperate panicking programming student)

Well, I'm not sure what you are asking for but I'll try to answer the questionnaire part... if you want other people to evaluate your game once it is done, people usually plays games for fun, so fun is an important thing to take into account, I would say. Consider also that not everything that is measurable counts, and not everything that counts is measurable.

That being said, here you are some sample questions I would myself consider:

• Were the mechanics easy to understand?
• How many time did you need to learn how to play the game?
• Did you find the game challenging?
• Did you finish the game?
• How long did it take before you got bored of playing the game?
• Did you find the user interface intuitive and easy to use?
• Did you empathise with the main character?

Most of these questions are about playability and engagement, which usually have a great impact in people finding your game fun, but are a bit more specific and let you show some fancy graphics if that's what you are interested in ("9 out of 10 people finished the game and 8 of them also found it challenging" sounds better than "a bunch of people thinks my game is fun").