2. System Specification
The system which will be developed for this research project will be used to measure the cognitive abilities of a group of test subjects. In particular their reaction times, memory and problem solving skills. These measurements will be taken before and after performing their set activity and the differences will be analysed to determine whether gaming has any effect on the player’s cognitive abilities.
2.1 User Stories
The following user stories are used to explain the overall goals for the system.
•	As a developer the cognitive abilities of players can be tested to see the short term effects of gaming on cognitive abilities.
o	As a developer reaction times of players can be assessed to observe any differences between tests performed before and after their set activity.
o	As a developer memory of players can be assessed to observe any differences between tests performed before and after their set activity.
o	As a developer problem solving abilities of players can be assessed to observe any differences between tests performed before and after their set activity.

•	As a developer I can have the test results for each subject output into a readable format for easy analysis.
o	As a developer it would be useful if results are presented to show whether the test was performed before or after the player has performed their set activity.
o	As a developer it would be useful if results are presented to show which activity the player is performing in between tests.
o	As a developer it would be useful if results are presented to show the time at which the test has been performed to determine the overall time taken for each activity.



•	As a player I can use the system without supervision so that tests can be performed to work with my own schedule at my own leisure during the allotted testing period.
o	As a player my skills can be measured automatically without need to record them myself so that I can focus entirely during the tests.
o	As a player I can easily navigate the system without the need for lengthy tutorials or help from the developer so that it does not feel daunting.
o	As a player I can perform practice runs of the test so that I am familiar with the system before being officially tested.

•	As a player I find the tests fun and engaging so that I am inclined to perform to my optimal abilities for the most accurate results.
2.2 Constraints and Considerations
The system needs to be developed to be distributed among a group of test subjects who will be using a variety of different hardware and setups. As a result consideration has to be taken into having the system work on low end machines and not be too graphically or resource intensive. The file size of the system should be kept as small as possible making use of compression where available to ensure the file can be easily downloaded.

Also since the system will be distributed it is important to ensure that the system is intuitive to use and is easy to navigate and playable with minimal tutorial and without the need of developer supervision. This could be achieved by providing a short document detailing anything the player will need to know alongside the main system.

It is likely that players times and scores will improve the more they use the system. As a result it is important to include a practice option so the player can get this initial improvement out of the way before beginning the actual tests to provide as many accurate results as possible for later analysis.

Time constraints need to be taken into consideration for development and for experiment time. Prioritisation will be to get the initial tests working so that they can provide results needed for analysis. Any extra time will be put into polish and graphical improvements throughout to ensure the user experience is as friendly and appealing as possible. The tests that will be developed need to be repeated multiple times and it is unreasonable to expect test subjects to spend a large amount of their free time performing these tests. This means that each test will have to be designed to be short yet gather all the results required for measuring cognitive abilities.