Phoebe & Jay: Dance Party Digital Game

🧩 Problem Statement

The development team aimed to understand how users interact with the PBS Kids online game Phoebe & Jay: Dance Party, with a focus on identifying friction points, assessing the clarity of in-game instructions, and determining any necessary adjustments to the game's design to improve the overall user experience.

🔍 Research Approach

In my role as a UX researcher, I conducted:

• Moderated usability testing sessions with users from the target age group and demographic (children ages 3 to 7).

• User interviews to gather in-depth feedback on users' experience and perceptions of the game.

These methods allowed me to observe real-time interaction, identify pain points, and collect qualitative insights.

🧠 Key Findings

• Invitation Confusion: Users were unclear on how to decorate the dance party invitation. Many missed available options or weren't sure how to begin.

• Character Movement Issues: Users struggled to move Jay's arms and legs as intended. The controls were unintuitive or did not register player cursor interaction. This disrupted the core dance mechanic and led to frustration.

• Instruction Clarity: Some users skipped or misinterpreted the game's instructions resulting in trial-and-error behavior and reduced enjoyment.

  
  

🛠️ Recommendations

Based on the findings, I proposed the following improvements:

• Clarify Instructions: Break down the game tasks into smaller, step-by-step prompts with visual cues to support different learning styles.

• Simplify Controls: Redesign the interaction model for Jay's movements to be more intuitive- such as guides for dragging and dropping his limbs or simplified button prompts.

✅ Impact

These insights and design recommendations helped the team make informed changes to the game's instruction flow and interaction design, leading to smoother and more engaging user experience.