PROJECT BACKGROUND
MY ROLE
Product Design (UX/UI)
UX Researcher
DURATION
January - June 2024
TOOLS
Figma & FigJam
Miro
Minecraft
MetaQuest 2
A LOOK INTO THE PAST
ELDER INTERVIEWS
We began our project by analyzing interviews RevereXR had conducted with elders from the Central District, who shared memories of growing up there, including notable places, people, and experiences. As many spoke of lost connections due to ongoing displacement, we highlighted these memories and included key locations in our VR experience.
"Jimi Hendrix used to live right down the street from us. And I remember when I was little, he used to play the guitar with his left hand."
"So there's a sadness in that that, you know, my neighborhood has changed and those people are gone."
"Well, if they don't know their history, they don't really know who they are."
"Well, when I was growing up again, in the 50s and 60s, it was, as we know, predominantly black home ownership. I think at that time it was 80% black homeowner"
"Langston Hughes was a great place for music and arts. Those were places where it was fun to be able to see entertainment, especially to see gifts of people that were entertainers in your own community. "
NW MUSIC ARCHIVES
As part of our research, we used the Northwest Music Archives to gather biographical information and photos of local musicians for our VR scavenger hunt. For example, we featured Quincy Jones, a Garfield High School alum whose legacy lives on in the Central District through the performing arts center named in his honor.
BUILDING USER EMPATHY
EDUCATOR SURVEYS
We began our user research activities by distributing surveys to local middle and high school teachers. By including educators in our research, we had the opportunity to learn the educators' perspective on teaching preferences and practices. This would especially be relevant as we had aimed to create a gamified learning experience that could be adapted in a classroom environment. All participants teach middle and high school students in the Greater Seattle Area.
Though 90% of educators have never used a VR headset, 63.7% educators expressed interest in incorporating them in their classrooms
72.7% of educators value storylines most when incorporating gamified forms of learning in their curriculum
Most respondents expressed a degree of familiarity of the history behind the Central District, with 27.3% being 'extremely familiar'
EDUCATOR INTERVIEWS
Following the survey, we interviewed educators with the goal for them to elaborate on certain survey answers and prompt them to share ideal educational game experiences for their students. They also offered insights they had for our project such as learning outcomes and technology expectations. Interviews touched on educational games, technologies in the classroom, VR preferences, and CD’s musical history. Ultimately, interviews informed several design decisions and logistics that were incorporated into our game.
As a result of our research activities, our team compiled 6 key findings to inform the direction of our game. These findings are accompanied by recommendations we aimed to implement in the prototyping phase of our project.
FINDINGS
Real life proximity of Central District's musical history is overlooked
Interactive experiences will make a game more engaging and enjoyable
Students may skip videos/scenes to finish the scavenger hunt faster, undermining the educational importance of the game
Collaboration fosters more effective learning
Teachers are hesitant on the feasibility for an entire class to have VR headsets
Storylines offer a linear and controlled game experience
RECOMMENDATIONS
Play audio/video as players walk into certain buildings in the game
Collecting artifacts as a motivator for students to play the game
Students must complete the full educational audio/video before being able to collect an artifact
Adding notes outside of buildings to encourage real-life experiences in the Central District
Foster collaboration by including discussion cues after completing the game
Game should be completed in a specific order to best facilitate student learning
SCAVENGER HUNT IDEATION
2D GAME MODEL
We incorporated 8 locations and 8 corresponding musicians from the Central District into our experience. Each building is meant to be directionally accurate, including streets based on how the building is/was situated in real-life. Below is a mock-up that represents the layout of our included locations of the Central District.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
To begin the game, the player spawns in an empty museum, and are tasked to explore the Central District and collect artifacts. Players can then enter the 8 locations, learn about its corresponding musician, then search for their iconic artifact. The scavenger hunt is complete when the player returns all 8 artifacts to the central museum.
PROTOTYPING THE GAME
To develop a fully immersive VR experience, we initially took to different platforms for 3D building. In the end, we chose to prototype our game on Minecraft for its first-person perspective and navigation, extensive building capabilities, and VR support. It's low learning curve for our team was essential given the time constraints and resources to complete this prototype.
Drawing from the recommendations we formed in our previous research activities, we wanted to highlight specific features that we implemented in our game. Although our design decisions expanded after this, we began with the following features below.
TWO-MINUTE EDUCATIONAL PODCAST IN-GAME
Based on Recommendation #1: Play audio/video as players walk into certain buildings in the game
Use of secondary research and elder interviews to create a 1-2 minute description of each building and artist
Audio was voice recorded and edited to add relative music to artist in context
ARTIFACTS RELATING TO EACH MUSICIAN
Based on Recommendation #2: Collecting artifacts as a motivator for students to play the game
Players can view all collected items in their inventory, generating feeling of success and motivation to complete the game
Each artifact is connected to the highlighted artist, with clues to the artifact in the educational audio
"DISCOVER TODAY" SIGNAGE
Based on Recommendation #4: Adding notes outside of buildings to encourage real-life experiences in the Central District
Students have the ability connect the VR experience to the real world
Accurate street signage [outside buildings] plants an image in the player's mind whenever they visit these same places in real life
POST-GAME DISCUSSION PROMPTS
Based on Recommendation #5: Fostering collaboration by including discussion cues after completing the game
Players collect a book that is only accessible once all collected artifacts are returned to the museum
Questions in book prompt students to take VR headset off, turn to a friend, and have a conversation
MUSEUM'S FOUR NUMBERED DOORS
Based on Recommendation #6: Game should be completed in a specific order to best facilitate student learning
Creating one possible path for students to take helps create a storyline, in comparison to a free-for-all scavenger hunt
More control over the order in which the educational information is presented.
GAMEPLAY SNAPSHOTS
CONDUCTING USER TESTING
After finishing our initial prototype of the scavenger hunt experience, our team conducted user testing with 5 high school students from Chief Sealth International High School. We ran 15-20 minute, in-person, moderated user tests to discover points of interest and friction, collect feedback on overall usability, and discover students' content/game preferences.
Our initial goal was to test our experience on the Meta Quest 2 VR headset. However, due to technical difficulties involving the school's wireless network, we pivoted to testing the scavenger hunt experience in 2D using a computer screen and mouse.
METHODOLOGY
Each test began by coaching students through game controls and prompting them to read the scavenger hunt instructions. We had pre-established benchmarks for tasks and completion criteria as a way to collect data on the student’s experience and the game’s performance.
Afterwards, post-test questions were asked to gather feedback on the experience with each participant. These questions provided consistency in our data analysis, though we also asked questions relevant and specific to each testing session to gain nuanced insights.
An observation grid that we completed during each individual user test
KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
All previous steps of the project came together to form final design recommendations that we would pass off to RevereXR. Although our prototyping and design choices were made for the ability to user test, we were able to create recommendations outside of our design scope. If this game were to be implemented into a real VR technology, next you will find the guidelines we have created for the designers.
PROJECT REFLECTION
Going into this project, I was a little apprehensive because I never had experience gaming or designing through virtual reality. Though my teammates and I had little experience with VR, we took to what we were familiar with to make this project happen. I’ve been playing Minecraft since I was 7 years old, so it was exciting to use one of my favorite games as a prototyping technique for our capstone project.
As a non-Black individual, I approached this project committed to centering and amplifying Black voices. The Central District is rich in Black history and it was crucial for our team to listen to members from this community and tune into their experiences living in the Central District. I acknowledge how my positionality impacts the result of this project, and I greatly appreciate Yolanda Barton and the team at RevereXR for guiding us in actualizing a form of digital preservation of Seattle's Central District.