Iterative prototype playtest

[sebchampoux]

Do you like the environment, the lighting settings and background music?

Yes they were nice! The background music was appropriate for the kind of game it was.

Is it easy to get the Crystals?

I was able to see a few by looking around. But I didn't manage to get one because the flying coronavirus moved faster than my character could, so I died within a few seconds of starting the game at each of my attempts.

How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game?

I'm not too sure about what the story is but the props in the environment set the context of the game (Atlantis) very well. My character looks like a scuba diver so I guess that I am looking for lost treasures?

Any bugs during play?

I didn't notice any bug per se, but as I said earlier the flying viruses moved way faster than my character so my games never lasted long. I think that to fix this, either the character should move faster, or the player should have a control to do so (like pressing shift to run), or a way to attack the foes.

(optional) Anything you feel important to say about this game?

The environment looks very nice in your game, I wish I had been able to explore it further without the hindrance of the monsters. If this small issue in the gameplay was fixed, your prototype looks like it has a lot of potential!

[PatrickChavez]

1. Do you like the environment, the lighting settings and background music? Yes, the ruined environment, coupled with the ominous/mysterious music made me feel like I was exploring a long-lost civilization.

2. Is it easy to get the Crystals? Yes, the enemies posed little to no threat and the crystals were always nearby. I never felt like I was lost during gameplay.

3. How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game? If I didn’t see it on the GitHub page, I probably wouldn’t know that there was a story during gameplay. Still, I like the idea of collecting valuable crystals in an ancient ruin while also avoiding the monsters guarding said treasure.

4. Any bugs during play?

• I can phase through the architecture.
• There are no invisible walls preventing me from going out of bounds.
• There is a shard of a red crystal that the player can’t interact with and that doesn’t add to the score. Touching the nearby red crystal makes this shard disappear. (Screenshot included in order to illustrate my point). https://drive.google.com/file/d/181O9WixhuULc2_Lhn81sViV-oysfDXE1/view?usp=sharing

5. (optional)Anything you feel important to say about this game?

• The text for the UI is incredibly tiny and blends in with the player avatar. Maybe it would be better if the UI were in a corner with a different color.
• Having a screen/scene showing the story of the game before properly starting the gameplay could allow players to understand the context of the situation.

[CocoChao]

1. Do you like the environment, the lighting settings, and the background music? The aesthetic is quite peculiar. It looks like a combination of a futuristic character and characters from the Mario game. The green mushroom, especially, reminded me of the ones in Mario Kart. The background music is a great fit with what seems to be a virus. But the first time I tried it, it felt out of place.

2. Is it easy to get the Crystals? No, I barely had time to locate a crystal and move towards it because the virus would quickly catch up to me. Also, whenever I collide with a mushroom (or any object) and I try to rotate, it throws me outside the main platform, or the character starts to shake everywhere. I believe it is a bug.

3. How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game? I did not find any story to the game, except the part which I have to avoid the virus and the mushroom because they can be deadly. I believe the crystal will allow me to gain health or combat the virus somehow, but I was not able to catch one crystal.

4. Any bugs during play? Yes, like I mentioned previously. When the character collides with any object, it will start shaking in all directions. Or if I rotate and collide at the same time, it will project me outside the main platform.

5. (optional)Anything you feel important to say about this game? It would be easier to test all the features if the virus took more time to reach the character. At the end it was a bit frustrating, and it felt like I still had a lot of things to discover.

[LeVieuxSinge]

Do you like the environment, the lighting settings and background music?

Yeah it's nicely done. Clearly represents the visual of Atlantis.

Is it easy to get the Crystals?

Sadly I wasn't able to play the game because the character gets send out of map and I can't do anything.

How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game?

The premise of finding Atlantis seems interesting to me.

Any bugs during play?

As soon as an enemy touches the character you get send in space and cannot play anymore.

[amandaclement]

Do you like the environment, the lighting settings and background music? Yes, I find they all matched well. The music is atmospherical and suits the concept of finding Atlantis.

Is it easy to get the Crystals? Yes. The first time I played, I was a bit confused with the premise. I collided with one of the mushrooms and everything started spinning but once I caught on, they were easy to collect.

How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game? I found the execution slightly confusing but I like the concept. Once 12 crystals are collected, the game seems to suddenly end and I'm not sure if I found Atlantis?

Any bugs during play? I collided with a crystal (towards the far right of the scene), and I was unable to collect it. Besides that, all worked well on my end!

(optional)Anything you feel important to say about this game? I found there was a lack of contrast between the text and the background so it was difficult to read.

[SylvainTran]

Playtest questions:

1. Do you like the environment, the lighting settings and background music? I like the textures. They remind me of ps1 or ps2 era 2000's graphics. The music was really cool too.

2. Is it easy to get the Crystals? Yes, but I have to admit that I had to disable the beholders to avoid dying in 2-3 seconds. They were way too fast and I didn't have time to reach a single crystal.

3. How do you feel about the narrative presented in this game? I didn't notice any narrative except from the location. If you mean by the ruins in the environment, and the character's details, I liked them!

4. Any bugs during play? No

5. (optional)Anything you feel important to say about this game? Where are there mushrooms around Atlantis? I also thought it would be underwater--maybe that's an idea for the final? I played a few games that made exploration exciting -- I would look into making the level design more deep and exploration-like, to engage the mystery of Atlantis further. Right now it's like I'm strolling around? I also mentioned it earlier but I think the beholders are way too fast and punishing! I think the player should be able to either avoid them more easily or defend themselves/attack them somehow.