Iteration: Questions for playtesters

[SylvainTran]

Playtesters: If you cloned/downloaded the game before Thurs. Apr. 1 morning, then you have an obsolete version without most of the stuff that was added. Mon Apr 5 I just pulled fixes to problems today, so need to pull last changes from main.

The iteration scene is "Tutorial". The good aspect ratio is 16:9 or Full HD (1920 x 1080). Native is 1280x720. 👍🏼 Sorry for the open-ended, detailed questions! Note: The game changes at a rapid pace and I didn't code in much yet, so very specific technical details aren't needed as much as conceptual feedback. All changes after last Thu were on the dev branch, which I pulled to the main on Apr 5th.

NOTE: Bugs related to the conversation flow not halting correctly was fixed on Tue Apr 6 circa 12:05 PM

0. Overall, how did you find the tutorial? (It isn't complete and it may change a lot in the next few days.) Describe thoughts regarding instruction clarity, length, timing, usefulness of certain junctions (where the game makes you click on the Training Centre/Menagerie to continue, or when it shows a text label right before telling you about it). Do these pauses help this sort of complex game become clearer to you?

1. How did you find the Tutorial NPC? Describe your experience in terms of whether it helped you feel more oriented with the game's mechanics, and story/world.

2. Detail any considerations that you may have of the Tutorial NPC, including whether you thought they would become involved in the story beyond the tutorial, and the vibes they made you feel. Any ideas on how to add juice there?

NOTE: For the input field, it'll become a prototyping tool project only. Mainly looking for ideas how to make it interesting

3. What were your thoughts about the input field to execute in-game commands? Note: It's purpose is to make prototyping more difficult management-related gameplay ideas more easier without having to deal with the display and physics (e.g., 2D instead of 3D...) as I was getting more interested in gameplay ideas that would require much more time without them. But at the same time, it's also meant to be integrated... as an educative thing...

4. What are your opinions on how it changes the player experience from the previous drag and drop mechanic focus? (The drag feature will be for things such as inventory management and stationary gameplay such as in the slaughterhouse).

5. Regarding point 3. Do you think most of the interactions in the game could be routed through that mechanic? (I.e., not for prototyping faster purposes only but for more things. Any ideas?)

6. Before the game goes full balls to the wall. What do you think about the realization of an educative game like this that aspires to mix playfulness, business management and programming learning?

7. What do you think I should focus on next before the final presentation? (Except the slaughterhouse, which is somehow a priority already). My focus is currently on finishing the command line actions, etc. to close the game loop, but maybe I missed important details...

8. Any other thoughts or constructive comments? Things you enjoyed or not?

9. Thanks for playing, and good luck on your own game. Take care over the summer. I hope to stay in touch as we progress in our goals, and catch you around at Concordia or elsewhere before soon!

[MeghanC1470]

Overall, how did you find the tutorial? (It isn't complete and it may change a lot in the next few days.) Describe thoughts regarding instruction clarity, length, timing, usefulness of certain junctions (where the game makes you click on the Training Centre/Menagerie to continue, or when it shows a text label right before telling you about it). Do these pauses help this sort of complex game become clearer to you?

• The tutorial seems pretty good in terms of looks. The continue button wasn't working on my end so I could only really see it at face value, but it looked alright

How did you find the Tutorial NPC? Describe your experience in terms of whether it helped you feel more oriented with the game's mechanics, and story/world.

• It looked good.

Detail any considerations that you may have of the Tutorial NPC, including whether you thought they would become involved in the story beyond the tutorial, and the vibes they made you feel. Any ideas on how to add juice there?

• From what I could see, I thought she would become integrated into the story. Less of a narrator that stands on the side and more of a "friend" kind of narrator.

What were your thoughts about the input field to execute in-game commands? Note: It's purpose is to make prototyping more difficult management-related gameplay ideas more easier without having to deal with the display and physics (e.g., 2D instead of 3D...) as I was getting more interested in gameplay ideas that would require much more time without them. But at the same time, it's also meant to be integrated... as an educative thing...

• I thought that was smart. And a lot easier than running through the motions each time.

What are your opinions on how it changes the player experience from the previous drag and drop mechanic focus? (The drag feature will be for things such as inventory management and stationary gameplay such as in the slaughterhouse, where you'll have to click on a station and drag cubs into a grinder for example, as a mini-game).

• Dragging cubs into a grinder is probably something i'd never do...but i didn't get to experience the drag and drop, even on the main game file.

Regarding point 3. Do you think most of the interactions in the game could be routed through that mechanic? (I.e., not for prototyping faster purposes only but for more things. Any ideas?)

• That seems good, I don't really have any ideas.

Before the game goes full balls to the wall. What do you think about the realization of an educative game like this that aspires to mix playfulness, business management and programming learning?

• It's a tricky road. It need to be attractive to kids whilst also being education enough to not bore them. It's a balancing act.

What do you think I should focus on next before the final presentation? (Except the slaughterhouse, which is somehow a priority already). My focus is currently on finishing the command line actions, etc. to close the game loop, but maybe I missed important details...

• Seems like you're on the right track to me.

[marafrass]

- Overall, how did you find the tutorial? (It isn't complete and it may change a lot in the next few days.) Describe thoughts regarding instruction clarity, length, timing, usefulness of certain junctions (where the game makes you click on the Training Centre/Menagerie to continue, or when it shows a text label right before telling you about it). Do these pauses help this sort of complex game become clearer to you?

I think you'd benefit more from forcing the player out of the options rather than asking them to click and then progressing regardless, which is how I think it worked now? I tested the tutorial by progressing the dialogue without clicking, and it seemed to work just fine. Additionally, it's a lot of text! More than I think the average player will be able to keep track of and remember when entering the game.

- How did you find the Tutorial NPC? Describe your experience in terms of whether it helped you feel more oriented with the game's mechanics, and story/world. I appreciate the effort for flavor and jokes in the dialogues, which generally work well - I'd consider editing it down a little bit tho, to become a little more concise and a little easier to follow. I'd also map the "continue" key to something simpler, and allow the player to click it. They have to click the input field after all, so it ends up being a mix of inputs and systems that throws you off. It's a minor thing, but it's worth considering.

- Detail any considerations that you may have of the Tutorial NPC, including whether you thought they would become involved in the story beyond the tutorial, and the vibes they made you feel. Any ideas on how to add juice there? Their name is tutorial girl, so my assumption is that they only exist in the tutorial. I dont think there were any references to their connection to the actual world of the game, so I just figured it was a personified tutorial. If you want them to fit the world, maybe you could consider making them a farmer, the former proprietor, or something like that - that way, you could introduce the player to the game world as it is.

- What were your thoughts about the input field to execute in-game commands? Note: It's purpose is to make prototyping more difficult management-related gameplay ideas more easier without having to deal with the display and physics (e.g., 2D instead of 3D...) as I was getting more interested in gameplay ideas that would require much more time without them. But at the same time, it's also meant to be integrated... as an educative thing... I was a little confused by it, in the sense that the game is called Momma Cub - is there a narrative/in-game reason for the command system? It felt like a serious disconnect between the world of the game and the player input. Maybe consider what exactly you want the game to be, and try to focus in on a single theme? Most interesting games I've seen/played that taught code have visualised it somehow - the act of writing code isn't very interesting, but the logic behind it definitely is. If you want to stick with the commands, i'd suggest considering a reskinning of the game (world, design, narrative, visuals) to fit something about code/sci-fi. (Also appreciate the educational approach, but not sure if methods+parameters teach newcomers to code much? They're important concepts, but simple to understand without actually teaching the user much unless they already are savvy with coding.)

- What are your opinions on how it changes the player experience from the previous drag and drop mechanic focus? (The drag feature will be for things such as inventory management and stationary gameplay such as in the slaughterhouse, where you'll have to click on a station and drag cubs into a grinder for example, as a mini-game). I think the previous version was more intuitive and felt more entertaining - typing isn't necessarily very engaging unless there's a time limit or something, like Typing of the Dead.

- Regarding point 3. Do you think most of the interactions in the game could be routed through that mechanic? (I.e., not for prototyping faster purposes only but for more things. Any ideas?) I think it's an interesting idea, but not in its current state. Kudos for experimenting though, the idea probably has potential. Maybe you could visualize it somehow? Pick a method, drag in a number and an animal, etc.

- Before the game goes full balls to the wall. What do you think about the realization of an educative game like this that aspires to mix playfulness, business management and programming learning? I think it's a great idea - I just think there needs to be a coherent theme to the whole thing to keep players engaged.

- What do you think I should focus on next before the final presentation? (Except the slaughterhouse, which is somehow a priority already). My focus is currently on finishing the command line actions, etc. to close the game loop, but maybe I missed important details... Focusing on the core mechanics, making them simple to learn and simple to use, and making sure the game world relates to them somehow. For the presentation, however, you won't have to teach anyone anything and you're essentially pitching the game - for that, you just need a cool and interesting gameplay loop, which I feel like you're about to close.

- Any other thoughts or constructive comments? Things you enjoyed or not? It's a really weird, cool game, and I think you can make it very interesting if you figure out scope and a clear idea of what exactly you want the game to be! There's a lot of systems, a lot of inputs, and a lot of vibes, and I think the game could benefit greatly from more streamlining.

- Thanks for playing, and good luck on your own game. Take care over the summer. I hope to stay in touch as we progress in our goals, and catch you around at Concordia or elsewhere before soon! No problem! You too!

[Naomi-Ifergan]

0. Overall, how did you find the tutorial? (It isn't complete and it may change a lot in the next few days.) Describe thoughts regarding instruction clarity, length, timing, usefulness of certain junctions (where the game makes you click on the Training Centre/Menagerie to continue, or when it shows a text label right before telling you about it). Do these pauses help this sort of complex game become clearer to you? I found the tutorial quite long. As a player of a game I don’t want to read a whole manual on how to play a game. Sometimes I want to explore the game on my own as I find it cool when I discover different features on my own. Although for some things, instructions could be useful. I did enjoy the fact that you allowed the player to click on each building. I also liked the fact that you told the players lines of code to type in, it was an interesting element you added into a tutorial. Another thing I’d like to add is that maybe in the tutorial section, you can explain the more important things and while playing the actual game you can include smaller instructions such as “click p to pick up objects” or whatever the case is. By doing this, the tutorial won’t be too long.

How did you find the Tutorial NPC? Describe your experience in terms of whether it helped you feel more oriented with the game's mechanics, and story/world. I think it’s good the way it is!

Detail any considerations that you may have of the Tutorial NPC, including whether you thought they would become involved in the story beyond the tutorial, and the vibes they made you feel. Any ideas on how to add juice there? So one thing I would have really liked to see Tutorial girl interact with players. Right now she is displayed like an image which doesn’t really play a role in the tutorial at all. I would suggest maybe adding a voice that can read out some (not all) of the instructions or simply say “good job” when the player types something in.

What were your thoughts about the input field to execute in-game commands? Note: It's purpose is to make prototyping more difficult management-related gameplay ideas more easier without having to deal with the display and physics (e.g., 2D instead of 3D...) as I was getting more interested in gameplay ideas that would require much more time without them. But at the same time, it's also meant to be integrated... as an educative thing… I’m still a little confused about the context of the game. I agree with exactly what Martin said in response to this question. There’s missing some sort of interesting component when teaching the player how to code. Right now it’s basically just copy paste.

What are your opinions on how it changes the player experience from the previous drag and drop mechanic focus? (The drag feature will be for things such as inventory management and stationary gameplay such as in the slaughterhouse, where you'll have to click on a station and drag cubs into a grinder for example, as a mini-game). I prefer the version I played last time, because it was way more interactive and as I previously said players often like exploring games on their own and figuring out different features that are offered to them. With this version of the game all the players do is click “/” and at times they need to type something in.

Regarding point 3. Do you think most of the interactions in the game could be routed through that mechanic? (I.e., not for prototyping faster purposes only but for more things. Any ideas?) I think so!

Before the game goes full balls to the wall. What do you think about the realization of an educative game like this that aspires to mix playfulness, business management and programming learning? I like the idea of it being an educational game. However it needs to be more interactive.

What do you think I should focus on next before the final presentation? (Except the slaughterhouse, which is somehow a priority already). My focus is currently on finishing the command line actions, etc. to close the game loop, but maybe I missed important details... Add some interesting elements when teaching players how to code. Besides that, I think you mentioned everything that should be worked on. I was hoping to play with the slaughterhouse in this playtest!!! Super excited for that as I said last time.

Any other thoughts or constructive comments? Things you enjoyed or not? Overall, I do however prefer a shorter tutorial as this one was very long. In long tutorials you can often lose the player’s attention. Maybe if you make the tutorial more interactive then it won’t feel as long as it did. I also think you should include Tutorial Girl more as I mentioned. There’s lots of potential in this game!

Now that I watched the live playtest, I realized I had only half of what was actually in the tutorial. Therefore I did not get to play the whole thing, not sure why.