Blogpost #5 Playtesting
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Playtesting is a vital component when it comes to the development of a game. It’s through playtesting that you get feedback from ideally the target group of your game. This feedback gives you a heads-up whether you are working towards the goal or if there is something steering you adrift. There are different kinds of playtesting where the objectives behind it differ. It could be playtesting from a technical or aesthetic standpoint. Each playtesting gives different feedback to build upon. One such technical feedback that was prominent in from the first playtest of our game was the camera. While everyone could move around fine and mostly understood the control there was an issue of dizziness. While playing the testers would feel disoriented from the speed the camera followed the player and how the background followed the camera. This feedback was something unexpected for us since while playing ourselves we didn’t notice this. Just another point to show what playtesting is about. To reveal what we miss in our development or haven’t thought about. The biggest aesthetic feedback regarding our game is that the player is often unsure at the beginning of where they are going and what they’re supposed to do. While one aspect of our game’s aesthetics is mystery we don’t want the player to be clueless about everything happening in this game. A tutorial can solve this in part, so could simple narrative segments of text. Providing scraps of purpose and direction which the player can build upon themselves as they play. However, it has to be further playtested to see if this works or if another solution is needed. For example, narrowing down the space in which the player can traverse through or make a “path” made of power-ups for the player to follow. One other side-effect the playtesting had was a surprise. It was encouraging to see players exploring and being engaged in the game even though at times like the alpha playtesting there was barely anything there. Seeing them playing the game over and over and exploring each component of the game was interesting and it felt like we were heading in the right direction. It was a good morale booster that gave us energy back towards the project. Thank you for reading this weeks blog post  |