Spellcast | Case Study
Overview
Spellcast is a Multiplayer, Virtual Reality wizard game that uses Voice Recognition and hand-tracking to cast spells.
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As the Lead Developer and Designer on this project, I was in charge of programming and design throughout the development cycle.
Process for Improvement
After receiving the User Feedback, it became apparent that redesigning the mechanic to feel more responsive was a must for player satisfaction.
Issues During Development
During various stages of play testing throughout development, it became apparent that; although players enjoyed the novelty of using their voice to cast spells, the mechanic was not responsive or reliable enough for the experience to be fulfilling and enjoyable.
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The mechanic needed to be redesigned to reduce the feeling of unresponsiveness whilst keeping the intended feel behind the decision to incorporate Voice Recognition in the game.
Redesign
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The original design for Voice Recognition was to have a player state out loud the name of the spell that they want to cast. As the player says the spell's name, they flick their wand outwards, casting the spell at the same time.
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After reviewing feedback, it was revealed that the delay between the technology registering the voice command, and the player flicking their wand was the primary issue that players were dealing with. (The secondary being that the software was unreliable when recognising what they said).
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The design decision that solved this issue was to change the intent behind the player stating a spells name. Due to the real-time nature of the game, it was unavoidable that the delay would cause issues for players if they are casting in that second. By changing the spell system to one based around 'charges', we were able to reduce the impact of the delay.
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Instead of a player stating a spell's name and casting in that second, they would instead state which spell they would like to use; and the wand would change to that 'mode', allowing them to cast spells of that type until they run out of charges, or change which spell they would like to use.
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This small change meant that players would be able to cast spells in real time whenever they flick their wrist; and the feeling of delay was only apparent when choosing which 'mode' they were in (Something which players felt was less intrusive and a more natural place for a delay).
Outcome
After re-designing the mechanic in this way, we proceeded with another user test. We were expecting there to be more push back about the changes. However, almost all of the players who tried the new version stated that the mechanic felt far more responsive, and a more satisfying experience as a whole.