What is play? Baby, don’t test me, don’t test me, no more
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Hi! Both the first and second playtesting session has been helpful for us, team Kraken, in order to improve our game, Aetherial. When observing the testers try out our game, we noticed many things regarding the gameplay and design that have not been obvious to us earlier. I, as manager, added extra time to our meetings in order to go through all the data that we’ve collected during the playtesting, and then prioritize the feedback that we could work on. Due to time constraints, obviously, we can’t improve/change every aspect of our game that testers have critiqued, which is why we had to prioritize the most important and constructive ones. Playtesting session 1A lot of students playtested our game on our two-computer-set-ups, but it became clear very fast what we had to work on and put our time into. Almost every single tester got stuck on the same scene, which meant that we, who observed, had to more or less baby sit them and get them out of the confusing situations by telling them which keys to use and such. Our game doesn’t only include shooting at enemies, we also have boss appearances (not to be confused with final boss battle), and during that appearance the player has to shoot (only) the harpoon, being second weapon, at the whale’s back and tear one of its armor plates off. The least obvious aspect to the testers was to use the harpoon, but even more confusing (partially our fault, but hey, it was Alpha stage) to use “F” button which fires the harpoon at 45 degree angle downwards. This is one of many feedbacks that we thought was vital for the gameplay. Compared to where we are now, we are currently including a tutorial-like dialog between crew members and the player ship’s captain, to teach the player what to use and when, in a subtle and engaging way. If the player gets stuck and dedicates most of his/her energy to figure out something that isn’t obvious, he/she will slowly get frustrated and won’t be able to progress smoothly, or even enjoy the game.  Playtesting session 2Since the first session, we have included a second enemy and a second checkpoint + more polished power-up. During this playtesting session, we quickly noticed the reoccurring bugs and what features lacked feedback to the player in our level. The feedback in terms of sound and animations was therefore prioritized and we are currently working on that as well. The feature that lacked most feedback is the power-up. The player doesn’t seem to know that what he/she obtained is power up, and upon using it, doesn’t seem to know that the power up is in effect. We are confident that with our feedback improvements via sound and clear animations, in addition with tutorial, this won’t be a problem anymore. Both playtesting sessions have helped us tremendously. It is important that people from outside test your game occasionally and give feedback. This feedback is what helps us know what the game is lacking. It is deeply appreciated.  |