Playtest #1

Last Tuesday was our first big playtest to test the validity of our mechanics and to get players’ opinions on the art style we are trying to implement. As you can probably tell from the screenshot I took, the game is very bare bones in terms of art, but this initial test was mostly used to test mechanics. In that regard, we believe the playtest was successful in this endeavor,  as the vast majority of playtesters enjoyed the mechanic and puzzles on display, even with the numerous bugs and other issues with the game. It was also encouraging to see many playtesters understand that there was a direct correlation between their speed and jump height and the amount of stars they had. Even without the aid of visual indicators (such as the opacity and color to look drained, which we plan to add in the future), this connection was still clear.  In terms of moving forward, now that we have a solid base, we plan on implementing art and more cohesive level design. As it currently stands, the majority of puzzles involved floating blocks in air, which feels disconnected to the twilight forest aesthetic we are shooting for. Thus, we hope to iterate on the puzzles (and level design) we have now to make the levels feel more organic and make sense with our current art style. For our current sprint this week, we hope to include a placeholder character model with basic animations, as well as environmental objects (such as trees and rocks) and terrain to test whether or not they complement the intended mood of the game.