#play-testing

[rachelpedd]

Play-testing my latest kitchen!

[99simsonthewall]

Willapa Valley is almost ready for testing!

If anyone would like to play-test Willapa Valley please message me and I will send you the download link in the next 10-12 hours after posting. I am leaving in the morning to go camping and most likely won’t have wi-fi most of the time, when I do I will send links to download. I will be back by early next week and will try to release the final version after fixing any possible issues! I am going camping for an extended amount of time the week after so I don’t want to make anybody wait much longer!

FOR TESTERS:

Specific things to look for: strange routing to lots/front doors, strangely inaccessible areas/accessible areas (especially where spawners are located), unusable interactive objects on lots, or just any strange glitches that seem like a world/lot(not game) issue.

KNOWN ISSUES:

There is sometimes extreme lag in build mode, but not buy mode.

Time freezes in live mode occasionally.

Resorts may or may not have attendants readily available, could use some help figuring this out.

WARNING:

Do not test if you don’t think your computer can handle this world! There are over 100 lots and a TON of trees. I would recommend testers to turn off story progression and to use Nrass’ overwatch!

Just message me about issues if any are found and I will try my best to fix them all before the final release!

THANKS TO ANY/ALL TESTERS!

[rachelpedd]

Whilst I was play-testing my latest tiny home, Erin was disturbed by Vlad in the night. What a creep. 

[nathan3197]

Play Testing

Our first playtesting session went alright. The first thing we noticed was that everyone wanted to play the switch version because they found it cool. during the first playtester, iv noticed that there is no visual feedback when the player shoots the enemy's cars. same with the player getting hit. those are red flags in my book as communicating with the player is important to tell them if what they are doing is the right way to play. Without this important visual feedback, the player would just avoid the enemy's cars not being able to pick up the gas can to give themselves more health.

Another thing that I did notice was that the player didn’t gain enough health from pick up and they would lose health faster than they would gain health. So this was a gameplay balancing issue that needed to get a fix.

The last thing iv noticed during my playtesting is that the tester wanted to have more enemy types other than a car going down the screen and the boss. In a future version of the game, there would be more enemy's types but due to the short time frame, we couldn’t add more enemy types in time for this playtesting session.

Overall from this playtesting session, I found out what the tester wants to see in the future version of the game.

Visible feedback when hitting enemy's and when the player gets hit

Different enemy types.

Visual prompt to tell when the secondary weapons can be used.

Story (explain in the game)

Balance health pickup.

more hazards. 

I will be addressing some of the issues in my next post.

[ryanimglv3-blog]

Creating my play tests

Today in Danni’s lesson I have written up both of the feedback I received, as well as bugs that were identified and fixed.

I did this because it was extremely important for my final project deadline, and shows proof of development, as well as listening to my target audience. I did this by creating a questionnaire in Microsoft Word and creating questions that would be good for feedback from the testers’ POV. I also was able to fix any bugs noted, and that was needed in order to create play test #2 - which was supposed to be created after the first play test where the bugs were spotted, and then fixed in the second one.

I feel likethe decisions and choices I had been done for a reason, as well as the fact that I made changes to better Lil’ Tommy and the overall project. Judging by the feedback from my play testers, I can see that it has worked out well and been successful. Despite the game not being fully finished to the standard I expected, at it’s current stage it is playable and functioning - as well as it has a purpose.

I feel like these two play-tests were successful and worked out exactly how I planned it. I was able to have the feedback from the questionnaires I created and collate them into pie charts, then analyse what if certain aspects of my game was enjoyed by the target audience I had chose.

My actions today have assisted my overall project in a positive manor, and visually show that I have been very busy with research towards what my target audience look for in games at their age.

Tomorrow I will aim to complete the research on a game analysis post I have been working on.

[atomic--sloth]

11.03.15 | Cards for Play

After printing and cutting out a full set of Line Racer cards, Pritika and Matt play tested the game. It was incredibly exciting to see that it hit many of our design pillars, such as creating excitement and being fast-paced. User feedback confirmed that they had really enjoyed the game, and others who watched were keen to join in. However, as you can see in the video above, it became clear that there was a major design flaw. As the players nearer the end card, both drew consecutive cards who’s lines ended up bypassing the end card, causing each players lines to collide into each other. There was simply not enough room for more than 1 player to get to a single home card. 

I thought that a good way to get around this hurdle was to allocate as many end cards as there were players, and that one could win by reaching any end card in play. This would give enough space in the event that players draw undesirable cards near the end of the game. Also, this would facilitate the creation of other games through the users imagination.

We decided to play-test this idea with 4 players:

This turned out to be a successful solution. And I must say that playing the game is really really fun. The thrill you get when you draw near the end, but you draw a card that sends your path slightly crooked, and everyone else is groaning as they pull disruptive cards such as “wait 10 seconds”, creates an atmosphere of great fun and excitement and fires the competitive streak that’s inherent in human nature.

We also discussed other ways that the game could be played, such as having players start from one end with the “bridge card” (the rainbow one) allowing players to hijack another players path if they draw it while close to them, thus making the original player have to take another path.

My mind also filled with future possibilities for the game, such as creating expansion packs of different colours to increase the number of players. Also, I envision an iOS and Android version for mobile use. And possibly one day, big public Line Racer events where people play with giant cards or something similar in spaces such as Aotea Square .... I like to dream big! But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Pritika made some great suggestions. She saw the game also being played by people, either individually or socially, by trying to use the lines to get to other objects, such as an iPad or the fridge, or being used to create huge pathways to different places. I really love the idea that the cards are designed in such a way that they can be played and used in multiple ways.