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To transition between players, a transition screen (showing a huge player flag) was displayed between turns. We used to to provide a more direct, obvious cue to users to switch turns in the game.
Deciding on Restaurant
Problems:
- Lack of user control and efficiency (spinning the wheel)
- Lack of visibility for decisions
- Lack of responsiveness of spinner
The decision round generates a location, price, and cuisine based on a weighted randomness of each player's individual bets in the preferences round. The goal of designing the spinner was to make the decision process fair and fun. We decided to implement the decision process with a custom designed spinner because it is consistent with the gambling metaphor, simulates randomness, and is fun to manipulate. We also used the spinner as a powerful visualization tool for the distribution of preferences among the group, with each section of the spinner corresponding to a different preference and resized to reflect the amount of bets it received.
However, there were some usability issues that users noticed. In HW2, some noted the lack of user control over the spinner. They suggested that impatient users be allowed to stop the wheel at any point through a tap on the spinner. In GR4, some users commented that the decisions generated by the spinner for location, price, and cuisine were not very visible, as users were focused on the center of the spinning wheel rather than the top of the screen, where the decision results were displayed.
In GR3, users flicked the spinner at different speeds, expecting the spinner to respond accordingly.
Solution (in GR5):
To make the process more efficient while still preserving the element of fun, we allowed users to tap the wheel to stop the spinning at any point. Furthermore, a pop-up message was displayed at the center of the screen (where the user's attention was focused) to display the decision for each category at the end of each spin. We also designed the wheel to be more responsive to the orientation and speed of the user's flick.
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