Week 8-10: Adding Guidance to CLI-style Interface
April 3, 2025
Blog series: Bazaar.log (IDM Thesis Project)
For the past two weeks, I improved my CLI-style interface player experience by developing in-game tutorials and creating a retro-style player manual.
Play Bazaar.log demo onlineImproving Player Experience
From the demo day playtesting, I observed that instead of being from easy to difficult like most games' progression, my game starts from a difficult level, especially for players who never program in an CLI environment before. Therefore, players lacked the motivation to explore each function or play further.
To solve the problem, I came up with two solutions: 1) designing a player manual, which will be printed and laid out on the table for players to read through for instructions, and 2) designing an in-game tutorial to guide players through each function. Below are my progresses so far.
Player Manual
Bazaar.log user manual page 1.
Bazaar.log user manual page 2.
Bazaar.log user manual page 3.
Bazaar.log user manual page 4.
In-game Tutorial
Next Steps
- Finish UI layout and content design for each stage.
- Brainstorm at least 5 easter eggs at each stage, and think about how to implement them.