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Our users generally liked the concept of the application, but found a few minor usability problems and possible enhancements. One suggestion from a user is an auto-fill option for the betting screen, to not require each user to use all 100 chips in some way. On the other hand, users did comment on the usefulness of the built-in help functions.
Reflection
These are things that we learned during the course of this project:
- Early stage design is crucial to the success of a UI project, including the design of tasks, paper prototyping, and early stage user testing. The cost of time to correct a bug or an improper design in the early stage is much smaller than that in the implementation stage or even in the user test stage after the implementation. The spiral model rocks!
- However, sometimes the problem appearing in the paper prototype will no longer be a problem in the computer prototype or for the final implementation. For example, the users enjoyed the app more when playing with the implemented betting screen and spinner than they did when we simulated those parts in the paper prototype.
- It is important for the app to be useful, and being fun and playable is a plus.
- The first few stages were the most difficult. Once we identified the right ideas and figured out how to make them into a game, the implementation was straightforward. Implementing the interface was time-consuming, but we had a clear goal in mind at that point.