Skip to main content

Evaluation of Mobile Games Using Playability Heuristics

  • Conference paper
Advances in Visual Informatics (IVIC 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNIP,volume 8237))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Touch screen mobile devices have begun to better facilitate different game playing while gaining greater attention among users. ‘Playability’ is an important element that measures the ease by which games can be played. It is evaluated by two common methods; heuristic evaluation, and playtesting. Several heuristics have been proposed to evaluate playability but users still face playability problems. This paper attempts to evaluate existing mobile games using the heuristic evaluation method in order to examine the extent in which the heuristics support playability. Two sets of existing playability heuristics were used in the study. Six android games of different genres were evaluated by fourteen test participants. The study result reveals that existing playability heuristics lack the capability of identifying playability problems. These problems are usability, mobility, gameplay, and the multiplayer function for touch screen mobile game applications. Thus, there is a need for a new set of playability heuristics that extensively cover all aspects of playability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Korhonen, H.: Playability Heuristics for Mobile Games. Human Factors, 9–16 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Korhonen, H., Koivisto, E.M.I.: Playability heuristics for mobile multi-player games. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts, pp. 28–35. ACM (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nielsen, J., Molich, R.: Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Empowering People, pp. 249–256. ACM (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Korhonen, H.: The explanatory power of playability heuristics. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on, 1 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Federoff, M.A.: Heuristics and usability guidelines for the creation and evaluation of fun in video games. FUN in Video Games Thesis University Graduate School of Indiana University Dec. Master of, pp. 52 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Johnson, D., Wiles, J.: Effective affective user interface design in games. Ergonomics, 46 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Desurvire, H., Blvd, W., Rey, M., Caplan, M.: Using Heuristics to Evaluate the Playability of Games. Defense, 1509–1512 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Schaffer, N.: Heuristics for usability in games, pp. 1–30 (2007), http://www.playerfriendly.com

  9. Pinelle, D., Wong, N., Stach, T.: Heuristic evaluation for games: usability principles for video game design. In: Proceeding of the Twenty-sixth Annual SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1453–1462. ACM (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Desurvire, H., Wiberg, C.: Game usability heuristics (PLAY) for evaluating and designing better games: The next iteration. In: Ozok, A.A., Zaphiris, P. (eds.) OCSC 2009. LNCS, vol. 5621, pp. 557–566. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Nielsen, J.: Enhancing the explanatory power of usability heuristics. In: Conference Companion on Human factors in Computing Systems, CHI 1994, pp. 152–158 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Somervell, J., Mccrickard, D.S.: Comparing Generic vs. Specific Heuristics: Illustrating a New UEM Comparison Technique. Source (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mankoff, J., Dey, A.K., Hsieh, G., Kientz, J., Lederer, S., Ames, M.: Heuristic evaluation of ambient displays. In: Cockton, G., Korhonen, P. (eds.) Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI 2003, pp. 169–176. ACM Press (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Malone, T.T.W.: Heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces: Lessons from computer games. Human Factors in Computer Systems, 63–68 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Clanton, C.: An Interpreted Demonstration of Computer Game Design. Most, 7–8 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Paavilainen, J.: Critical Review on Video Game Evaluation Heuristics: Social Games Perspective. Human Factors, 56–65 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Pinelle, D., Wong, N., Stach, T., Gutwin, C.: Usability heuristics for networked multiplayer games. In: Proceedings of the ACM 2009, pp. 169–178 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Soomro, S., Ahmad, W.F.W., Sulaiman, S.: A preliminary study on heuristics for mobile games. In: 2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS), pp. 1030–1035. IEEE (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Desurvire, H., Blvd, W., Rey, M., Caplan, M.: Using Heuristics to Evaluate the Playability of Games. Defense, 1509–1512 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Korhonen, H.: Expert Review Method in Game Evaluations – Comparison of Two Playability Heuristic Sets. Development, 74–81 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Korhonen, H.: Comparison of playtesting and expert review methods in mobile game evaluation. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on. pp. 18–27 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Soomro, S., Wan Ahmad, W.F., Sulaiman, S. (2013). Evaluation of Mobile Games Using Playability Heuristics. In: Zaman, H.B., Robinson, P., Olivier, P., Shih, T.K., Velastin, S. (eds) Advances in Visual Informatics. IVIC 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8237. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02958-0_25

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02958-0_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02957-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02958-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics