Quiet week on my blog, I've been working on my literature and contextual essays. Finished the literature one on Friday and I'm currently writing my contextual one.
Verdict: Essays are boring, drain my life force and will to live, can I make games now?
Alongside that, I've pestered enough people to playtest my game (including my grandma, she couldn't play the game at all though, it was worth a shot). I managed to get 16 playtesters to try out my game and each and every one of them gave me fantastic feedback. The game was met with lots of praise, as well as having a fair share of criticisms.
Movement Speed
This was probably the most mixed reviewed aspect of the game by testers. Some testers found the speed was fine and there was nothing wrong with it. Some testers thought the character's running speed felt too slow at first, realized various mechanics could be used to speed through the game environment so it was no longer an issue. So how do I solve this problem of people thinking the game was too slow? The simple solution would be to increase the characters running speed, but then that would devalue the speed gained from other movement mechanics. I think i can speed the character up a little, but definitely not too much. Another possible solution is by having a sprint mechanic, this way players have the choice to run faster, but I would have to someway limit other movement mechanics, as holding down a sprint button could make platforming easier with the added momentum the player would have. It would also have the possibility of making moving around less engaging, as the player will be pressing less buttons and performing a lower amount of different movement techniques to get around the environment. I would like to give the player the choice though.
Plan of Action: Increase movement speed slightly, add a sprint mechanic and maybe add some move limitations while sprinting, but don't take any sort of control away from the player.
Weight & Jumping
When asked how players found the jumping and if the character felt like they had a weight to him, the majority of testers said it was fine, they didn't pick up on any issues. However a few testers said that jumping felt "overpowered". They thought an average jump was too high, which caused them to rarely have an incentive to triple jump, dash jump etc. One tester in particular said the dreaded F word, and I don't mean the swear, I mean the word "floaty". Floaty, to me, is a word you NEVER want to hear associated with a platformer. A game being floaty says to me that the player was waiting too long to land from a jump, which directly effects the pacing of the game. This could also mean that the player didn't feel like they were in control all the time. Which is exactly what I don't want, I want players to feel in control of the character 100% of the time. The only time a platformer should be floaty is if it is used as a gimmick, to change the gameplay up in some way, so for example a space themed level or maybe a hover/glide mechanic. Plan of Action: Decrease single jump height to encourage the player to use other kinds of jumps, change the gravity scale so the player falls a little bit faster. Next playtest I don't want ANYONE to say the F word.
Dash Cancelling
The dash cancel was a move that was supposed to allow the player to regain some aerial control after dashing as well as provide a little boost for players to extend their jumps with. People really liked this mechanic, they thought it was a quick and fun way to navigate the environment quicker, as well as extend their jumps. Feedback about the actual act of cancelling came into question though. Players thought for a move called dash cancel they should slow down a lot more, as right now the dash cancel sorta just gives the player an extra jump. Due to this, the name of the move was even called to question. Why call it a dash cancel when your aerial mobility isn't being, well...cancelled? These are very good points, so here's what I'm gonna do. Plan of Action: This mechanic is now called "Dash Jumping" after dash jumping they will retain their momentum but with adjustments they will now gain increased aerial control. Dash cancelling is now going to be a separate move with a separate button input. When the player dash cancels they quickly brake in the air and pop themselves up a little bit (imagine the character doing a cool pose too). After dash cancelling they can continue to fall normally or they can press the B button to stomp and get to the ground quickly while also serving as an attack.
Ledge Grab and Shimmy
The ledge grab was probably the most controversial move. Mainly because it was really buggy. Players would find themselves grabbing a ledge and then instantly slipping off due to them mashing the jump button in an attempt to quickly get up the ledge. Another bug was that the player would strangely rotate in specific instances. These bugs popped up pretty early in testing and I managed to fix them before sending the build out again. After those issues were fixed the ledge grab received no complaints. Ledge shimmy speed most people seemed to like, they thought it wasn't too fast or too slow. Two of the testers even wanted the shimmy to be faster. For them, I'll make the shimmying a little bit faster and see how it feels. I personally love fast paced games so shimmying being a tad bit faster is fine by me. Plan of Action: My plan would of been to fix bugs, but I already did this during early testing. Instead, increase the shimmy speed a little for those very impatient players (and me)
Homing Attack
Most players picked up the Sonic influence instantly, but the vast majority said they loved the mechanic anyway. This to me is fine, but how could I make my homing attack stand out a little more than just being a complete rip off. Nothing wrong with using pre existing mechanics, game developers have been doing it for ages, but I want the player to be able to do something MORE. Give them more options to play with, leaving room for emergent behavior during gameplay. Other than that, two bugs popped up early on the game breaking bug was players would homing attack a target but the target would not disappear, causing players to continuously home towards the same target rather than the next one in the chain. The next one was minor, the homing attack prompt (the X button) would appear over a target even when the player was grounded, players can't homing attack when grounded, so the prompt shouldn't show up. I fixed these bugs early on and testing went smoothly from there, no complaints. Plan of Action: Can I do something MORE with this mechanic? Think of new ways the player can use the homing attack, maybe think of homing attack exclusive moves the player can chain into after hitting a target?
Fixed Cameras
Just get rid of them. The vast majority of players thought fixed cameras were fine when smoothly transitioned into to show a certain event (gate opening, exiting an area etc) but when the camera would change to a fixed position it disoriented players and even completely messed up the controls in some specific cases. Plan of Action: Get rid of all fixed cameras that occur during gameplay, keep the ones for cutscenes, points of interest etc. If a level design ever requires a fixed camera perspective, learn how to fix strange controls issue, or redesign level to not incorporate them.
Bugs
Many other kinds of bugs popped up during testing, a few examples being:
Invisible collision allowing players to continue standing in an area a falling platform was even after the platform had fallen.
TECH HANG: Players can get trapped inside the timed gate challenge if the button to release them is pressed while the other button is still active
Double "Try Again" screen: There is a specific area the player can fall into and die, the death screen shows up twice due to the player hitting the kill trigger twice for some reason
Let's not embarrass myself too much now though, there are a couple of other bugs that I was told about I'll be fixing every single one of them. (or at least try to)
That's about it for main concerns and bits of feedback, once i get this blasted essay finished I can go back to working on this and proceed with my plans of action alongside continuing development of the game.
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