Cognitive Walkthrough
☻Qualitative Method:
Explore how players feel and behave through interviews, observations, and open-ended feedback. (with optional quantitative metrics)
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Best Stage: Early Prototype → Pre-Alpha
Primary Goal: Evaluating learnability and first-time user experience, especially onboarding and tutorials
Effort: Moderate
Overview
A Cognitive Walkthrough is a usability evaluation method where researchers or designers step through the game’s interface or core loop as if they were a first-time player, asking at each step:
“Will the player understand what to do, why it matters, and how to do it?”
Unlike playtesting with users, this method simulates a new player’s thought process to spot friction points in onboarding, tutorials, navigation, and goal clarity.
Cognitive walkthroughs are especially useful for:
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First Time User Experience (FTUE)
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Tutorial or onboarding sequences
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In-game menus or complex systems (e.g., crafting, skill trees)
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Puzzle or progression clarity