Doomscream
16-01-2012, 22:09
I just listned to the two Beta Podcasts and at one point I wanted to jump in and bring up something interesting - an old D2 article by Erich Schaefer . Well, here I am now though I might be a little late.
Finally, Diablo and Diablo II are easy to play. We used what we call the "Mom test": could Mom figure this out without reading a manual? If we see new players struggling with how to sell items, we look at how they're trying to do it and make that way work too. We strove to make the interface as transparent as possible. You want to open a door? Left-click on it. Want to move to a target location? Left-click on it. Want to attack a monster, pick up an item, or talk to a non-player character? Well, you get the idea. It's amazing how many games have different controls and key combination for all these actions when simpler is always better. (Source (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3124/postmortem_blizzards_diablo_ii.php?print=1))
It would seem that "mom tests" were a pretty big thing back in the day :)
Finally, Diablo and Diablo II are easy to play. We used what we call the "Mom test": could Mom figure this out without reading a manual? If we see new players struggling with how to sell items, we look at how they're trying to do it and make that way work too. We strove to make the interface as transparent as possible. You want to open a door? Left-click on it. Want to move to a target location? Left-click on it. Want to attack a monster, pick up an item, or talk to a non-player character? Well, you get the idea. It's amazing how many games have different controls and key combination for all these actions when simpler is always better. (Source (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3124/postmortem_blizzards_diablo_ii.php?print=1))
It would seem that "mom tests" were a pretty big thing back in the day :)