Play Test #2 Results

 Today in class, we held a second play test to show off the improvements made to our games since the last showcase. We had about 6-7 people try our game, and in my observations I was able to notice some new issues that have popped up, as well as an old problem we still have to work on...

Lack of Player Agency

This was a big problem players faced in our first play test. Since the combat is, true to lore, entirely RNG, the player doesn't have much control over the flow of battle, causing some players to feel frustrated and confused regarding how they lost. At the end of the last play test, we concluded that our solution would be to implement different coins the player can equip that have varying stats and conditions, eg. a coin that has a 70% chance to hit heads instead of the base 50%, a coin that does more damage to the enemies but also has a chance to do damage to the player, one that does consistent but weak damage, etc. Unfortunately, we weren't able to implement this in time, but we should hopefully have this feature working by the next play test.

Unclear Controls

Some players not familiar with the genre of our game weren't able to grasp how to attack, blindly clicking around while asking "What do I do?" or even "What did I do?". There was also confusion over the cards the player picks up being passives and not cards the player can use to make an action. The easiest solution to this problem would be to include a tutorial pop up or tool tip after the player starts the game, explaining how to attack (click coin and then the enemy to attack) and after picking up a card, explaining that the cards are passive stat boosts that can stack their effects.

The Difficulty Curve is Vertical

Currently, as you progress through the levels, the stats of the enemies scale to provide more challenge. This seemed like a good idea, and was easy enough to implement, but in play testing we found that the enemies scaled way too quickly and none of our players could beat the fourth level. Barely any even made it to the fourth level. Not exactly ideal. While we could keep the system and mess around with numbers until we land on something good, I think it would be better, as well as less tedious, to drop it altogether And focus on enemy load outs/formations instead. That way, we can get the player used to a single enemy type's gimmicks at a time, and then slowly ease them into harder fights with a mix of enemies that require more strategy to come out victorious.

Other than that, our game seemed to be well received, and people were impressed with the art, which I am very happy and relieved to hear! I only have a few more sprites to draw, which I will hopefully finish over the weekend, and then I'll be switching to finding public, free use assets for the backgrounds and sound FX.

As a little preview, here is the updated idle sprite for the final boss!

I like this design a lot better than the concept one, I feel it exudes a lot more character and looks less... barren? Turns out, the boss was missing a toupe to really tie the CEO look together. I also added wings to help the silhouette stand out more from the other Goblos.

That's all for today. See you next week, and keep galloping on!