This week marked an important milestone for the SoKids team as we conducted our first round of playtesting with children and continued preparing the research and ethics infrastructure needed for future testing.
Prototype Playtesting
We completed the implementation of two low-fidelity prototypes on the Samsung touchscreen display and invited two child participants, ages four and six, to test the experience. This playtest allowed us to observe how young children interact with the system in a natural setting and helped surface several important design and research insights.
One of the most significant observations was that children relied heavily on direct interaction and exploration rather than reading or following instructions. For example, the four-year-old participant skipped the avatar customization stage entirely and ignored most of the on-screen text, instead learning the interface through trial-and-error and visual cues.
We also observed that dragging interactions became the dominant interaction behavior, with the child frequently moving characters and objects around the screen. While this behavior showed strong engagement with the interface, it also raised an important research question: when children interact with elements on the screen, are they expressing meaningful preferences, or are they simply exploring the system mechanics?
Another insight came from moments of confusion in the game scenes. For instance, during the swimming scene, the participant was unsure which characters could be moved and which could not. This suggests that the current interface does not clearly communicate which objects are interactive, and that children may interpret most on-screen elements as potential affordances.
We also found that audio-visual feedback plays a major role in engagement. Moments such as placing stickers or triggering visual effects captured the participant’s attention much more effectively than written instructions. This reinforces the importance of designing interaction cues through visuals and sound rather than text, especially for children who may not yet read fluently.
Overall, the playtest was extremely productive and helped us identify several key areas for improvement moving forward:
- Reduce reliance on text-based instructions and onboarding
- Improve visual communication of interactive elements
- Add clearer feedback and guidance during exploration
- Treat first-play data cautiously when interpreting children’s decisions
- Continue refining interaction design to better distinguish exploration from intentional choices
These insights will directly inform our next round of design iterations.
IRB Preparation
In parallel with prototyping and playtesting, we continued refining our Institutional Review Board (IRB) documentation. This week, our IRB draft was reviewed by our collaborators Dr. Catarina Vales and Molly Niehaus, who provided revisions and feedback on the research protocol.
With these updates incorporated, the IRB document is now approaching its final form and will soon be ready for submission. Completing this step will allow us to move toward more formal research testing with children in future phases of the project.
Preparing for Research & Halves Presentations
Finally, the team began preparing materials for our upcoming Halves presentations at both the Center for Transformational Play (CTP) and the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC).
Our preparation includes:
- refining the research presentation slides
- documenting the playtesting process and insights
- communicating the design rationale behind our prototypes
- clarifying the research contribution of SoKids as a game-based assessment tool
These presentations will allow us to share our progress, gather feedback from faculty and researchers, and refine the direction of the project as we move into the second half of the semester.
Looking Ahead
With early playtesting insights, IRB preparation underway, and upcoming presentations on the horizon, the team is entering a critical phase of iteration. In the coming weeks, we plan to continue refining our prototypes, conduct additional playtests, and further develop the research framework that connects gameplay design with meaningful behavioral data collection.
