Heuristic Evaluation of AMONG US

Brianna R. Monroe
East Carolina University
Research Methods in RWPC | ENGL7600
Guiseppe Getto
November 23, 2020
 UX Document of AMONG US

Executive Summary
This deliverable is meant for the creators of the AMONG US app. document will
determine the usability of the gaming application AMONG US. This document will provide a
general persona of AMONG US users and a detailed analysis of learnability, efficiency,
memorability, errors and satisfaction. With this document the AMONG US creators will be able
to produce content favorable to users and it helps individuals discover content favorable to
them

Documentation Plan
1. Content plan- 10/28/2020
a. Content plan creation
b. Content plan review and update
2. Draft 1 – complete outline, 10/30/2020
c. Written by Brianna
d. Reviewed by Class
3. Draft 2 – revisions of draft 1 - 11/4/2020
e. Revised by Class
4. Beta Testing- 11/10/2020
f. Updated by Tina
g. Files sent to testers by Dilbert
5. Final version- 11/16/2020
 h. Updated by Brianna
i. Final review by Guiseppie
j. Cleanup
k. Release to grading
6. Production- 11/23/2020
l. PDF

Persona
Kyle Adams

Kyle Adams is a Junior in high school. Kyle is single and is taking his classes virtually. Kyle
owns an Xbox, but he doesn’t regularly play video games. Kyle spends his free time watching
YouTube playthroughs of video games and anime on Netflix. Kyle is moderately active on social
media and primarily spends his time scrolling through Tik Tok. Kyle is well known and has a
decent group of friends. Kyle’s AMONGUS gamer tag is Brown did it.
Kyle’s Goals

• Currently Kyle is trying to maintain connections with his friends so that he can
have some normalcy in the pandemic.
• Kyle is trying to make sure that he does good in virtual learning and maintains his
3.0 GPA.

Introduction
AMONG US is a gaming app that was originally created in 2006. This year the game has
taken a sudden rise in popularity. AMONG US is a game of teamwork and betrayal. In this app,
one to two players, in the gaming group of ten or less, are secretly told that they are the
imposters. The game is focused on a crew of aliens in space. The goal for the imposters is to kill
the crew members before they can complete their tasks on the spaceship. If this is done, then
the imposters win. If the crew members catch the imposters or complete their tasks before the
imposters kill the crew, the crew members win. The objective of this work is to create a
usability review for the app AMONG US. I will be completing this by using the five parameters of
usability; learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and satisfaction, as defined by Usability
101: Introduction to Usability (Nielsen, 2012).

Learnability
Upon first opening the app, on the landing page there is a how to play button located on
the screen. This button gives step by step instructions on how the game is played. The
instructions help give a great basis of knowledge but, a user won't fully understand how to use
the game until they play a couple of games.

Efficiency
To measure the efficiency of the game I took note of how simple it was for crewmates
to complete tasks and communicate with each other about who the imposters are. I also
examined how technically difficult it was for the imposters to kill the crew members.

Crewmates are given a set of tasks on the top right of their screens with the rooms to
locate them. All the players are also given a map so they can find the rooms they are looking
for. When the players enter a room the name of the room appears at the bottom of the screen.
As players come close to the object, they need to select the object will light up, so the player
knows to select them.
 When crewmates want to have a conversation about the imposters, they can call an
emergency meeting when they feel like they have an idea of who the imposter is. If a player
discovers the dead body of one of the players, they can select the body and call a meeting as
well. In the meeting there is a text chat that players can use to discuss who they should vote out
of the game.
As an imposter the main objective is to kill the crew members. To complete this task an
imposter must come in a certain proximity to a player and then a button appears in the bottom
right corner for the imposter to press that says kill, which will eliminate the player. All these
processes were easy to manage and navigate.

Memorability
After playing the game a few times, everything comes as second nature. The pace of this
game is very fast so the quicker the player adapts the easier it becomes to win the game. I
noticed that around my third time playing the game, everything came second nature to me.

Errors
 Typing in the discussion chat is very tedious. Most players utilize discord when they play
the game. Discord is an app that allows players to talk to each other while playing a game in a
different app. This was more beneficial for communication purposes. Furthermore, there
should also be an add friend option so that players can know when their friends are active in
the app. This would also make the app more sociable.

Satisfaction
Overall, this game was fun and very competitive. This game is best played with people
that you know. I think the game is also more enjoyable when utilizing discord to communicate
with the players about the game. This was much more efficient than typing in the game chat
room. I also gathered information from my participants in the game and they explained that it
was a lot fun and that they usually end up playing the game five hours at a time.