Assignment 3 Postmortem
The final playtesting session was probably the most insightful of all the playtesting I conducted this semester. The game my team presented was a fairly comprehensive prototype. It was fairly short on content and a new player could play through the entire game in 3 - 5 minutes. However there was enough features implemented for a player to get a real feel of the game and to provide some meaningful feedback.
Using Fullertons recommend playtesting of using 'naive' playtesters who continue on to a deep playtest was an extremely effective method. By having players no nothing other than the information provided to them in the game, it gives the developer a clear picture of what basic features are lacking in terms of gameplay, story and accessibility.
For our prototype, most players were able to work out the steps to complete each level quite easily. For some of the puzzle aspects of the levels players often took themselves through a route that collected them the most fruit rather than the shortest route. There is no inherent benefit to collecting fruit unless it is necessary to plant a tree and progress. It was interesting to see that players were still draw towards the fruit. Collection is such a big part of video games that I think it is just ingrained in peoples minds that they should collect things where they can. Fullerton even goes as far to suggest that "Some remnant of our hunter– gatherer ancestors must drive this need". The levels were intentionally designed in this way to move away from a predictable path. At times this meant the player was gaining access to a new platform that ultimately would not help them to reach the goal. In a way this does seem like a trick to put the player off but it does also offer a sense of exploration and discovery of the correct path.
Immersion is limited in a pixel art platformer but our consistent art style and soothing background music did create a nice feel to the theme. The main area where the game fell short in terms of player experience goals was the educational side. Most players learnt little to no information about cassowaries. I think this mainly came down to the delivery of information and also lack of information. To increase the learning aspects more content is required that is delivered in an engaging and entertaining way. GG.















