Week 5 - Testing the Waters

This week, due to a larger focus on other classes, my work on this project slowed down by a little bit. However, I redirected my efforts towards preparing for playtesting where I could by creating assets for the team to build upon.

The general idea behind our playtest structure is to first gather a large amount of more general feedback from a larger audience, before taking that data to a more detailed playtest with only a handful of testers (which we will conduct after the First Playable deadline). The goal of this is to really examine and refine our core gameplay loop and feel before we move onto designing other parts of the game.

The main difference between the general and detailed playtests are that the general playtest would be generally more accessible in order to gather larger amounts of data related to whether we've achieved our desired gameplay feel and fun, while the detailed playtests will dive deep into each individual element of the game for very granular feedback. This way, the general playtest can inform the direction of the detailed playtest, such that we are able to very accurately pinpoint the changes that need to be made.

Figure 1. Playtesting Script for upcoming detailed playtest. General playtest queries will be trimmed down from this document to make it more accessible to a larger audience.

Figure 2. Control Scheme Graphic for playtesters. This is made separate to ensure each playtester will have access to this during their tests.

Reflection

While I regret not having done more due to time constraints, I now have a clear understanding of that tasks ahead of me that I have to complete. In order of priority:

- Grayblock UI for Upgrade Screen

- UI and Ability Icons

- Player Healing Animation

- Boss Animations

While I will definitely not complete these all within the next week, I aim to at least complete the first 3. Until next time!