Playtesting 1
Critique
As players played, the dialogue wasn’t happening at the correct time, so people didn’t understand the narrative at all. One said they had “no idea who I am” and doesn’t understand the objective. They suggested a name tag above the NPC’s.
There was no intuitive way to know how to open the inventory and the UI in the titlescreen was overlapping different elements, making it slightly jarring.
This is where I thought it would be neccessary to have an exposition for the pre-story for context. Players generally didn’t know what they were doing.
Positives
People found the map fun to explore, The mini games were regarded well and simplicity was well recieved too. People enjoyed both the ‘cute artstyle’ and the 3D envioronment.
Playtesting 2
Critique
Everyone generally agreed the Exposition was way too long and we skipped it half the time. Adam really didn’t like how long it took to start the game. It took 2-3 mins to to start playing. He just wanted to play the game. Anna 2 Also says the character dialouge has to be simplified and even suggested colouring the text to make it more undersatndable of who is speaking.
The narration was confusing. Anna didn’t understand if she was Tyler and Marcus until we told her. She was confused about the objective of the game and what to do. The narration wasn’t happening in chronological order. This confused a lot of people. Anna suggested an instructions / task page of what to do.
The game was still rough around the edges. You can still fall through the map. Anna wanted an indicator for whether this was an arrow game or a wasd game. Adam says the placeholder of the map was a bit confusing. Izzy was confused about the rock minigame. It wasnt clear that you’re supposed to drag the rocks out of the (invisible) parameter. Raff somehow managed to walk through the fence, bypassing the ending screen. The number of ites you have in the inventory was too small to see.
Kamilla would of liked a shift key to sprint.
Positives
People enjoyed the style of the game. Kamilla liked the low poly. She also enjoyed the game direction being a walking sim x visual novel.
The sfx was enjoyed, Anna liked the sound effects of completing the task. Kamilla liked the sounds when walking.
The inventory was solid. Anna easily naviagted through it, Raff also enjoyed the inventory.
Though Anna was confused about the plot, she enjoyed the story telling. Raff read through the story pretty dilligently as though they enjoyed it too.
Final Playtest
Positives
The dialogue is more consistent and people understood most of the story. Basic things like choices appearring when they need to is a huge win. Adam agreed that the game is fundamentally set in stone. He said the music felt like interstellar. When we pointed out that the music was made by Iris, Ollie thought it was something found online and made by a professional. Jordan pointed out that this was a viable vertical slice prototype.
Jess pointed out it was intuitive to gain reputation with the characters and satisfying to see their behavoir warm up to her. Lettie enjoyed the minigames to gain reputation and liked the art style and sound design. Jess and Ollie enjoyed the character dynamic between Marcus and Tyler. Jess also liked the subtle change in Tyler with bloody hands which was a neat featture for that situation to make more sense.
People also navigated the UI more seamlessly. For example, nobody needed guidance to open the inventory.
Critiques
Lettie points out a game breaking bug of ‘moving all the way to the left once the game begins’. Falling thorugh the map still persists. Jess says the reputation bar is such a critical aspect of the game, too important to be hidden away in the inventory.
Some people were confused about the narrative choices which lead up to unnatural character interactions. This includes the option to share a blanket to the characters at the start when you haven’t found one to begin with. Same with the blood mushroom.
Adam pointed most of the UI in the start menu didnt work. And there wasn’t clear indication of overall progression.
Ollie was confused about the first pieces of dialogue, because it wasn’t clear that it was Tyler’s monologue. When walking up and down, the character hovered. Ollie would have preffered if the running cycle for moving left and right would be used for up and down. He said the SFX isn’t great, especially compared to the music. He also wanted an ‘x’ button for exiting the inventory as he found himself dragging his mouse the top right of it, only to realise it wasn’t there.
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