Game-based Assessment for Mobile Platforms

Our client is the leading scientific publisher on the topics of psychology, psychiatry, and mental health. The client’s core publications include a range of high-quality scientific journals in the fields of psychology, assessment, and psychiatry; reference works and manuals for practicing psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacists, and counselors; as well as texts and teaching resources for faculty and students.

The client wanted to develop a mobile application providing the users (mainly children) with the opportunity to pass various psychological tests in a fun way—in the form of sequential mini-games connected by a single plot and the main character. Other requirements included processing user actions and the results of tests passed, generating data in a form which is convenient for analysis, and exchanging data with the client’s server solution. Besides, there was a requirement to provide the ability to quickly port and adapt the application to other platforms.

At the first stage, we implemented a prototype of the application on the Unity engine for the iOS platform. We clarified the requirements for the application and various components tested: the optimal quality and format of graphic, audio and video resources, the architecture of the application as a whole and mini-games in particular, an intuitive and user-friendly interface, an effective method of communicating with the server solution, and the choice of data presentation format for passed tests. We used the Apple TestFlight service to provide intermediate assemblies and conduct external testing.

The iterative approach to the development process and the modular architecture of the application allowed adding and improving the functionality in stages, conducting internal and external testing with the provision of intermediate releases to the client, quickly responding to feedback and adjusting the interface design, mechanics and balance of mini-games.

Children, who are the main users of the game, prefer to pass attention testing in a playful way rather than answer a couple of hundred multiple-choice questions. As a result, the client expanded end-user reach for the platform.