Testing, Testing, One…Two…Seven!? Oh No, Not Again!
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The importance of a fresh pair of eyes on a work in progress during game development cannot be understated. Work on a game long enough, and the obvious problems start to become not so obvious. There have been two official playtesting sessions over the course of…the course, one before alpha and one before beta. While my group’s first playtesting session did not yield much as there was not much to test, the second playtesting session offered valuable insight into our game and aided in our decisions to pursue or abandon various directions.  I show this because even something as seemingly simple as movement reveals through the responses how the testers believed the game should be played, and if the groups feel something similar. “Should the movement feel like a boat or not?” is a question that has been divisive. It is exacerbated even further as many other groups have chosen this very project to develop and their own vision of the game is reflected in their feedback. Also, another game that gained popularity and is being developed also places the player into a boat. Ultimately, our group went with the more arcade-like feel of movement (a decision a disagree with). Though some feedback is much less murky than movement.  Continuing the subject of teleportation and why the playtesting was useful, in our game, when the player teleports, it creates an explosion that kills any enemies caught within it. However, during the testing, players felt a dissonance about the intended purpose because using it offensively meant positioning themselves in the middle of multiple enemies, resulting in a quick demise. We rectified this by including a moment of invincibility after the teleport so the player could be encouraged to use the teleport in the fashion it was designed. That’s all for now. Good bye, and take care. Disclaimer: During both sessions, I was more of a playtester than a playtestee, so I lack the nuance that comes with seeing someone play our game for the first time. Also, the assets I created between sessions (an attack and idle animation for the first enemy as well as a placeholder for the second enemy) were not able to be implemented in time for the second test despite being ready (though that is more my responsibility as I am below average with artwork when it comes to speed) so I was unable to receive feedback that would have been helpful to me personally (Example of theoretical feedback tailored towards me: I think the color of one of the enemies blends in too much with the background, I can’t see it clearly).
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