This week, we tackled two big challenges:
(1) Setting up a multi-player network and
(2) Testing whether our version of Werewolf/Mafia actually works.

(1) As for #1, I was able to get a simple 3D game in Unity to work within the same computer. The editor served as the host, and the build file served as the client. Both updated in real time.

It became trickier when I tried to run the game, simple 3D or VR, in another computer. I don’t have a degree in Computer Science, so there is a lot that goes over my head in terms of networks and servers. I have been using the Mirror networking plug-in. It seems, however, that I need to add a matchmaking plug-in, since the error I was getting was that the host computer was actively refusing the client. I don’t know if this has to do with firewalls, since we were using the university’s computers, but I have been told by an associate lecturer that one way she side-stepped this problem in one of her former projects was to source her own router and have that be the server that all players match through.

(2) User test #1: We wanted to test if the game worked at all and how we could make it more enjoyable to the groups.

We found a group of five friends in the school canteen and wanted to proceed as follows:

We would play four versions of the game, seeing which roles we needed and which were ornamental.
a) A game with all roles (trickster, healer, and forest spirit)
b) A game with trickster + healer
c) A game with trickster + forest spirit
d) A game with only trickster.

We used the platform VRChat to find a campfire world and have our players meet there virtually.

The questions we asked them later all related to enjoyability per version and what interactions they would have liked with the environment and with each other.

By far, the most enjoyable version was the version that featured all roles: the ability to shape-shift/silence another, the ability to heal those that have been silenced, and the ability to be immune to being shape-shifted.

In terms of interaction, they would have liked for a custom world that reflected their roles. They would have liked “the role to be in the game,” as one user put it.

Further, two/five wrote they would have have liked to push the avatars of their friends. One wrote they would have liked the ability to throw objects at their friends. Another two/five asked for a chat room with word bubbles, and the ability to secretly speak to others in order to plot together.

Going forward, we need to solve the multi-player network and create our custom space for the game to unfurl and be more enjoyable to players. The more narrative we can insert in the interactions with the environment, it seems, the more enjoyable it will be for the user. Also, friends need to be able to affect the others’ virtual avatars or they experience more dissatisfaction. The same goes for being able to privately message each other during the game.