Lecture class
This week we explored three different games with our tutor. I gained some inspiration from them.
Wilmot’s Warehouse, Hohokum and I Am Dead feature minimalist flat geometric art, symbol-based communication, slow observational puzzles, visual storytelling and integrated UI.
I drew inspiration from these works to unify the visual style of my UI and custom script, and use environmental imagery as clues for text deciphering.
I will stay focused on the core text-decoding experience. This helps preserve the sombre tone of the story and keeps players focused on understanding the unknown language and feeling the protagonist’s loneliness and helplessness.
Five weeks have passed since I started making my own game. Our tutor asked for our thoughts and feedback on game development, and we answered honestly.
After sharing our thoughts and discussing the demos, we moved on to game market research.
I found that games with the widest mainstream appeal are usually 3D or action titles. Light-novel style games like mine generally attract fewer players compared to these action games.
My Work — part of work
View this work in About my game
This class was the final game testing session. Our tutor displayed three key questions on the screen. We were split into two groups, and we took turns playing the game demos made by the other group. We also needed to answer the questions prepared by the creators.
Playtest feedback
Do you think the game’s mechanics and tutorial are easy to understand?
I was trying to fit the meaning to each symbol. But then it didn’t make sense in a sentence. It did make me confused about what the characters are trying to say.
Mark
The mechanics are easy and I think the player can intuit what they are supposed to do pretty quickly. I imagine you are going to continue the story and have more opportunities for the player to figure out words by pointing to objects etc, but at the moment it was difficult to know what particular words meant — Issy
The tutorial feels incomplete. Apart from clicking through the story, I was unsure what I was supposed to do. Also about your save function.
The save button and vocabulary notebook are too prominent on screen. I suggest moving them to a less obtrusive spot.
Jimmy
The game lacks enough beginner guidance. Its highlight is that players can use words they piece together to advance the story; this mechanic is really interesting.
Echo
More guidance is needed. Change sharp square edges to rounded ones, and add background music.
Xiaolin
Most players who tried the demo found the puzzles slightly confusing, yet they were eager to see what happens next in the story. This is exactly the effect I wanted to create.
Some participants also suggested improvements to the UI, which I have now revised.
Following the playtest, I acted on players’ suggestions by adjusting or removing on-screen save buttons, binding the save function in the puzzle interface to the Enter key, and adding gentle background music. These refinements simplified player interactions and made the overall experience smoother and more comfortable.