Body Swap Mechanic
To help test visual communication of the mechanic, a paper prototype was designed and tested. Play testers were given the prompt that they would need to complete a task before progressing in the game, then handed the paper prototype. Roughly 3/4 of participants knew to move the main character's (Rory's) body parts around to match the silhouette on the right, the other 1/4 attempted to rearrange the body parts of the silhouette on the right. This showed that the concept of rearranging body parts was clear to players.
The mechanic was retested after building in engine. Several players struggled when attempting to match the silhouette design. The puzzle was difficult to make out due to the size of art, disruption from the post processing effect, and Rory's position when they initiated the mechanic.
Updates were made to make the puzzle clearer for players. After initiating the body swap mechanic the camera zooms in and frames the puzzle with the UI elements, drawing attention to the affordances and making the puzzle design clearer. Rory is hidden to keep them from blocking the players view and to help clarify what the player is goal is. Post processing effects were dampened and a reset button was added to allow players to easily return to a default state.
The original version of the body swap mechanic was initiated by expanding a shelf menu then clicking on a button inside that menu. When testing, players struggled to remember how to initiate the mechanic. This also caused issues with buttons overlapping one another.
To solve these issues we simplified. When players get within close distance of an object that required the body swap mechanic, a button would appear that could be tapped on, similar to interacting with non-playable characters and other objects in the game. If players wanted to swap Rory's body parts without being near an object that required it, they could find a dedicated button inside the pause menu.
