The Wonders of Playtesting
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This week I shall tell you of the wonders of playtesting and the effect it has had on team Qilin. During this ten week project, we have had two playtesting sessions, both of which have been tremendously helpful in the development process. For our first playtest in anticipation of the Alpha we didn’t have much of a game to present, it was a never-ending level with only two enemies and no power up. Despite having very little to show, we received a lot of useful feedback.
The power up for our game (one of the Aetherials) was at first a speed boost, which was mostly because the concept document didn’t specify a power up and it was simple to code. We didn’t have it for the first playtest, during which we got some comments on the agility of our avatar controls and the fact that it didn’t feel like a ship. The solution to this was to slow down the controls and then have the power up bring you back to the speed we had during playtest (or at least that’s how I understood it. As I am writing this I wonder if that’s what happened
The biggest thing that we received really clear feedback on was the end-of-the-level-crystal that would transport you to the next level. We were all massively satisfied with it, it looked so crystally and the temperature shifts made it look very appealing. Then came the playtesting and we were instantly informed that it looked like 1) an enemy, 2) a boss, 3) it had a shell that you had to shoot or 4) just plain dangerous. We received some suggestions as to how to fix it, because it wasn’t that it was ugly, it just didn’t communicate what we wanted it to communicate. One tester thought it might help to move the spawning point closer to the center of the screen in order to make it look less like an enemy, which was an interesting idea. However, after some discussion in the team, we decided to remake the crystal into something that didn’t look like it would kill you on impact. This turned out to be a portal, that we in the team at least feel is less scary. There is also an added mini-cutscene that’s going to appear and explain what it is, so hopefully our players will not feel stuck between a rock and a hard place at the end of the first level from now on! Another big thing that I think playtesting did was to give us some motivation. We’ve had really poor morale in the team for most of the project, especially before the first playtest. Part of the team did not believe that we would be able to make Alpha and had attempted some methods of fixing this alleged problem, without properly communicating with the rest of us, that then backfired and lead to a really bad working environment. The first playtest proved that we could actually make something and that making Alpha was possible. Without having gotten the positive feedback of that first playtest I sincerely doubt we would have made it without someone having a major breakdown, and so in that regard, playtests have helped a lot. We actually have a game and playtests have been kind of a chance for us to see that properly. Playtests have helped us a lot, both with tangible solutions and motivation. Not only that, but we have also gotten to see everyone else’s games and be inspired! Playtests are an interesting thing, without which our game would not have been the same. I look forward to the next playtest, which will hopefully be as valuable as the ones in this project!  |
, the communication in our team was never the best and this was during our lowest low point.). The speed up was a popular feature according to our playtest feedback, yet we also realized that it was kind of pointless. It was mostly active in between enemy waves, and there isn’t a lot of advantage to be found in flitting around the screen when you can only shoot in one direction. At the suggestion of some playtesters and Mika, we therefore invented another power up that would increase the fire rate for a time, since it’s otherwise very slow.