Chopsticks: Chopstick Usage
Here I note personal practice in using chopsticks I have participated in as part of research, and document videos of prototyping for the game. Currently we have no Unity prototypes, so all scenarios are done in real life.
One of the first things our team did after its formation, was to go to a Japanese restaurant to eat with chopsticks (arranged by Edward). For me, this trip was a good experience to practice and improve my ability to use chopsticks as they are intended to be used with a variety of foods with different textures, shapes and sizes: such as gyoza, ramen noodles and pork.
Playtesting
Writing Names With Chopsticks
Our lecturer, Adam, struggled with this task whilst using a Sharpie pen. This level of struggle may be due to his inexperience with chopsticks, as me and Edward did not have the same level of issues as Adam did.
​
Luckily, this task is intended to be towards the end of the game, so struggling so much is not a big deal: by the time players are expected to do this, they should be much more used to chopsticks than Adam is.
Personally, I found the task less of a challenge, but the first attempt certainly was the more difficult one. I am unsure whether this is due to having use a ballpoint pen the first time, my personal improvement, or a combination of the two.
Edward held a phone in front of me, so that when it recorded: it would be roughly first-person, similar to the player's experience in-game.
Edward attempted to write his name with only one pair of chopsticks, as opposed to our planned two. It took him significantly more time than me or Adam, but he managed to write quite well considering the limitation. This is likely helped by him having more experience in using chopsticks.
Picking Up A Phone With Chopsticks
At first, Edward attempted to only use one pair of chopsticks for this task, but he could not succeed: likely due to a combination of the size and weight of his phone.
​
However, once he attempted to use chopsticks in both hands, it became significantly easier for him. This supports our decision for the player character to have chopsticks in both hands in gameplay, or else the variety of possible tasks shrinks.
Brushing Teeth With Chopsticks
I made the mistake of not recording the part where I used the chopsticks to raise the toothpaste and open its lid.
​
I found this to be a significant but entertaining challenge to perform, and it was interesting having what should have been the easy part on paper: be the one that took the longest... actually picking up the toothbrush.
​
This was planned as the first
task in the game after the tutorial, and I personally feel like it is good staying that way due to the joy I felt trying and failing at this. Although more people should attempt this to be sure, rather than relying on my own experience only.
Multiple Steps: Getting keys out of my pocket - unlocking door - opening door, all with one pair of chopsticks!
Getting key out of pocket
Unlocking door
Opening door
The only one of these tasks that felt particularly tricky was unlocking the door, but I expect if I wasn't using one hand to hold the camera, and instead had a second pair of chopsticks in that hand; it would have been significantly easier to execute. There was also a bit of difficulty opening the door simply due to its weight, whilst also trying to avoid the chopsticks breaking.
​
Whilst not in the current planned narrative, this task may be an interesting one to include in the game if one of the currently planned ones prove too difficult to implement, or less entertaining than expected.