Entry #2 - First playtest

Preparations

For the last month or so I’ve been thinking about doing the first playtest. Because of that, I’ve focused on adding a new, somehow playable map, adding some actual content and first iteration on balance. The purpose was simple: to play for ~30 min, testing if the game is actually working and all the systems that were implemented separately, make sense as parts of a bigger picture. The preparations were quite straightforward: start the game, see what’s blocking progress, fix, repeat. It was super important to figure out what’s missing in the game and I actually feel that I’ve waited a bit too long with it. I drastically cut the scope of works for this playtest, completely ignoring things like characters’ progression and more advanced buildings, as they aren’t crucial in the first 30 mins of gameplay.

The day has come!

I did the last fix to the balance that would allow me to reach these 30 mins, closed the editor and decided to test the next day. And then, surprise, my gf asked me if she can see the project. So I didn't really plan to let anyone else than me play it, but it was actually good. I could test it on a person that doesnt know and understand this game. Someone that doesn't make any assumptions about the mechanics that I do! Of course, this kind of playtest is much harder to pass, so I was a bit nervous about the result and expected that she would take a look, play for 10 mins, say it's cool and quit. Oh boi, was I surprised..

I started with a short introduction (background story, controls, elements of the interface) as there is no tutorial yet, no visible goals etc But it’s fine for the first playtest. Whole introduction took maybe 3-5 mins.

She had a first playthrough that ended after ~10 mins with a devastating loss of the favorite character. Then she tried again several times (4?) trying to pass the day 3. To be clear, each day cycle takes exactly 12 min, so her attempts 3 and 4 were over 30 mins. Teh Ghreat Success. But what was most surprising, was how stubborn she got, like she really cared about beating that 3rd day. It was genuinely something that you want to see in a player when interacting with your game.

One side note here: during the playtest I did one or two super quick, small changes to the balance between playthroughs to fix obvious issues.

Clear outcomes

1. There was an issue with characters getting blocked at some foliage (it’s actually UE bug). I fixed it quickly by simply deleting this foliage at this place. 

2. Hitting characters with a cursor was an issue, she would often miss and get frustrated. Especially when characters were moving. Solution: increased cursor hit box solved the problem.

3. She suggested adding a panel with characters on hud, so she could select them from there instead of clicking in viewport. It was planned but i didn't know that it's this important.

4. Turrets were missing their targets too often, which was frustrating to her and from my point of view, made combat a bit too unpredictable.

5. No notifications about incoming waves of enemies - I wasn’t sure if its needed, perhaps because I knew when they were coming. She stated that it would help a lot. I will add it at least for the first 1-2 days. 

6. There was a bug when turrets placed on a steep terrain could get partially under the surface. 

7. When selecting characters, having to look at the bottom menu which character is selected was a problem, there needs to be a clear indication directly on character that it’s selected. Planned to do this, now its priority increased,

8. She mentioned that it’s cool that on first days there are moments to chill, when gameplay isn’t too overwhelming and you can get a broader look or get a sip of a drink.

9. She mentioned that adding some indication of a character's current job would be nice, especially if we add a panel with selecting characters on HUD. I will definitely add it at some point.

Bigger picture conclusions

1. I was surprised by how engaged she got after first attempts. I expected that 0 asset demo prototype of pre alpha mvp will be just too hard to overcome, even if gameplay is ok. Huge win.

2. Day/night cycle proved to be great not only at pacing gameplay but also at challenging players, showing progress and adding to engagement.

3. It was clear that gameplay was mostly about resources and properly managing their extraction. Cool thing is, problematic resources changed with passing days. Right now I only utilize wood stone and food. At first stone is a problem, on day 2 balance shifts more towards wood. Which is good, it means that struggles differ with playthroughs progress and it won’t get boring too quickly.

4. Most issues were related to ui and visual feedback, so I need to focus a bit more on them as these are easy wins.

Next steps

Now I want to quickly fix obvious issues that were discovered. Luckily they are pretty easy to implement and at the moment of writing this Entry most of them are fixed. Then I need to decide how to overcome barriers that show up after reaching day 4. I think it’s a perfect place to switch gameplay focus again, utilizing characters leveling. Characters progress can add a lot to resources production, better turrets available etc. There is some issue with the combat aspect of the game that it will hopefully solve. During these first days characters can’t fight at all (intentional) and the number of turrets is more important than their placement. But more variety and different turrets mechanics should solve that. Overall, I’m super happy with this playtest. It proved to me that the main assumptions make sense and continuing this project is really worth it. A big doubt that every game creator faces at the beginning.