Prototype #3 Questions

[MrMypurse]

Link to play: https://mrmypurse.itch.io/outerwoods

• Were the controls easy to use?

• How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved?

• Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)?

• Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved?

• Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult?

• Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe.

(There are certain delays with keys on my end. Please feel free to spam the controls.)

Thank you for playing!

[PatrickChavez]

- Were the controls easy to use?

Yes, there were no problems on my end.

- How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved?

The cute characters help to make the game feel lively, but the nighttime area and the quiet sounds bring an uneasy atmosphere. Perhaps adding background music could help make the player feel at ease.

- Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)?

While the conversations were pretty basic, I found their designs to be charming.

- Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved?

Having multiple dialog options is really neat. I would enlarge the text and if possible, show all of the dialog options at once and have the player select their choice with a mouse click (like in visual novels).

- Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult?

There wasn’t much platforming in the prototype, so it’s difficult to know whether I like it. As it stands, it was quite easy. However, if the controls were to be improved, then I feel that this game could be ready to offer more challenging platforming.

- Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe.

As was mentioned in the issue page, it sometimes takes multiple key presses in order to jump or select a dialog option. This was my only issue.

[CocoChao]

• Were the controls easy to use? Yes, although I did have to spam the control like you said in the playtest questions. The mouse scroll + Enter/Return instruction was a little confusing, but I got the gist of it a few seconds after.

• How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved? The occasional bee sound made me expect something to appear in front of me, but nothing really happened. I assume that it is the sound made by the fireflies in the background. It felt like an adventure that was quirky and mysterious rather than peaceful and lively.

• Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)? Yes. The experience was alright. However, I was expecting the NPC to give me some tasks to complete. I also did not expect the developer to be part of the story, it was a unique way to end the prototype game because it is not sudden.

• Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved? It was a little hard to figure out, but like I mentioned before, I understood how it work after a few seconds. I would suggest that you make all the questions appear at the bottom of the message bubble as options for the player to choose instead of using two buttons.

• Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult? No, the 2D platforms reminded me a lot of Mario Games and many 2D platform games. To add more difficulty, you can add spaces (longer and shorter) between the platforms, or enemies along the way.

• Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe. Sometime the character would tilt/rotate when I go up the stairs. I am not sure if it is intentional or not.

[LeVieuxSinge]

Were the controls easy to use?

Yes, except the mouse and return controls for dialogues.

How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved?

Good. The art and sounds are very nice. Maybe adding some animations could be cool. It was however quite peaceful to roam around and discuss with the NPCs.

Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)?

I did interact with the NPC but I didn't find the reason behind as they do not affect the result of the game.

Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved?

It was nice to have multiple entries with the dialogues. Look at last question for improvements.

Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult?

It should indeed be harder as the holes in the ground don't kill you (they soft lock the game). Maybe adding enemies ?

Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe.

No kill floor when falling. The character can fall on the side and when you move you get stuck in the ground. (Fix by jumping)

[LiliaIsABell]

1. Were the controls easy to use? It was a little confusing to figure out but once i understood them it was easy to use. The one thing that was not clear to me was that I was suppose to hover my mouse above the chat dialogue to scroll through questions and see different responses.

2. How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved? I found it peaceful. I loved the fire crackling. I wouldn't change it.

3. Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)? I did interact with all of them. The experience was fine, the dialogue they had was fun, but of course, since it isn't a full game, I wasn't interested in what they had to say since there isn't a story yet.

4. Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved? I didn't like the scrolling for choosing the questions. It was hard to control on my end. Since we only use A, D and Space to control the character, I would have preferred to choose a question using the arrow keys or W and S this way it doesn't scroll to fast.

5. Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult? I like it. Maybe it could be a little more exciting with killing monsters (or befriending them with hugs). It could also be fun to have moving platforms and portals. I keep picturing something like "Ibb and Obb" since that world looks pretty magical.

6. Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe. I didn't encounter bugs but it did bother me that the text didn't change size when I change the screen size. Also, I went into one of the holes and it would have be good to have the character reset its position when that happens. Finally, I would have like to go through the NPCs instead of having to jump over them.

[amandaclement]

Were the controls easy to use? Overall yes. The mouse wheel/return to select dialogue options felt a bit less intuitive but still easy to learn.

How was the atmosphere of the game? Does it feel peaceful/lively? If not, how can it be improved? Very peaceful and pleasant. The subtle background sounds add a really nice touch - reminds me of a crackling campfire.

Did you interact with all the NPCs? How was the experience(entertaining, boring, etc)? I think so. The dialogue helped to set the scene, but I wish there was more incentive to chat with them (i.e. offering directions, providing tools, assigning tasks, etc).

Are you satisfied with the dialogue system? How can it be improved? I would prefer if the arrow or WS keys could also be used to scroll through the dialogue as I found the scroll wheel a bit awkward to use in this context.

Did you like the 2D platform? Do you think it should be more difficult? I like the idea of it, but I can't say I found it difficult if that was the goal. Maybe spacing them out a bit more or adding movement would help.

Did you encounter any bugs? If so, please describe. I fell between platforms (purposefully, as thought this could potentially lead somewhere) but ended up endlessly falling. Besides that, it all ran smoothly!