DevLog: Biscuit Run

Checkpoint 6 - Testing

The Testing Session Process

I  explain in the 'Summary of Feedback from the Game Testing Session' some of the changes i implemented in Biscuit Run after reflecting on said feedback, and I also discuss some of the future changes I intend to make following on from this. The summary is re-printed below ( this time with some pretty Gifs and a chart). Because this covers those topics thoroughly enough, I will use the first section of this devlog to briefly reflect on my experience of the testing session, the testing process itself, and how I could improve future testing sessions.

The thing that surprised me i the testing session was the joyful atmosphere, the eagerness which the testers went about their work - I mean, I know games are fun, but I wasn't expecting it to be such a sociable occasion, via the digital screen-sharing on discord.  But the honest and precise constructive feedback I received was a fair bit above the usual level of generosity I had experienced so far within the weekly feedback sessions. So 'thank you' to all those who participated from the Games Fundamentals unit, it was an absolute pleasure, and the quality of information that was entered into the forms afterwards  was perfect and useful and something that I am grateful for.

I also took handwritten notes during the screen-sharing, jotting down comments, interesting ideas and points of view, which were also useful and gave more depth to the brevity of the feedback in the testing forms. Converting all this feedback to a devlog (last week) did give me insights and although it took a fair chunk of time to compose it together, it's now easy to reference and share.

Seeing directly how others play the game, and also the variety of skill show for this kind of platform/puzzle game, was a great way to get a more level-headed view of where the game difficulty levels were at - since I have played it so much, it is hard to be objective. I would definitely do this again, and would recommend to other beginner game devs to get a few people together one evening just to play the game  - and really take notes ... and make use of google forms (forms really isn't that awful when the topic is a fun one). In future I would also look at asking game function-specific multiple choice questions in the google forms - the visual representation you get back is easy to interpret quickly, and tells a real story about those areas.

Summary of Feedback from the Game Testing Session Questions

What existing features would you like to see more of?

The general flavour of all the feedback for this element was that the testers would like more moving threats, and complexities such as varied individual character pathways that cross-over, varied antigravity experiences, and maze-like levels. More widespread use of the lighting and shadows featured in level twelve was also on the list. This all ties together with my existing plans for further expanding the game through exploring a range of unusual new level experiences. I have already introduced one more level with the moving threat of  the Enemy Capsule “pusher blocks” in a unique scene where players do cross paths – so I am hopefully ticking some of these boxes already!

Did you finish the game (and see the Eat biscuits scene)?

83.3% of my game testers said they finished the game, which is a good indication that things are flowing okay now. I had removed a problem level identified in a previous feedback session, which really was a bit hard and annoying, and since the testing I have shrunk the colliders on the spikes just a little bit in the hope that this was prevent the remaining 16.7% of players from becoming frustrated.

Which aspects did you enjoy the most?

The feedback indicated that the most enjoyable aspects of Biscuit run are elements that contribute to the level of challenge that is packed into the achievable screen-sized levels. Aspects of this nature which were mentioned include: controlling both characters independently of each other, the enemy capsules (“pills”), and the chaos of some levels that required thinking about how to solve them.

Could you break the game? Did you find bugs? If so please comment.

Six game testers and they returned 4 different bugs. That was productive.

Bugs reported included:

• The testing revealed a buggy Dropper Spike enemy, which I later realised was a result of failing to apply changes to a prefab/ This has been fixed and now players can jump on the tops of all the Dropper Spikes enemies (without respawning) – just watch out for the spiky bits!
• The end screen UI element that revealed the player’s scores showed weird values if you just visited the End Scene via the Title Scene’s level select buttons. This also has been fixed. Now there is a nice message there for people instead.
• The antigravity controls were easy to tap accidentally and were causing problems. These controls have been disabled using a boolean in the movement script and can be switched on for suitable future levels as required.
• At the beginning of each, while the characters were dropping onto the platform, a key held down would send the character hurtling off the platform. I thought I had fixed this previously, but it turned out that I had only frozen player movement during respawn. This has been fixed now so there is a short delay before the players can move the characters, while they drop onto the platforms at the start of each level. The fix was done by calling the IEnumerator 'Pausing()' inside Awake()  in the Biscuit Run Player Movement script (see the gif below).

What features/issues would you like less of?

Only one game tester responded to this one, with a comment that seem to contradict some other positive feedback about complexity by requesting to see less levels with too many moving parts. I think that highlights the risk of frustration with accidental ‘death’ can occur in complex scenes. I will try to keep the flow and more gradually increment difficulty in the future.

How well did the levels seem to progress?

The majority of the critical feedback suggested that the difficulty was good but the levels were not in the right order of ascending difficulty and could be rearranged. I have taken this on and reordered some levels. I will try to increment levels consistently in future. There was a comment that some levels didn’t seem to add much, and I think that was due to the arrangement, but will value incrementing difficulty correctly as more levels are created in the future.

Any other comments or feedback?

Following on from the last testing element, in order to steadily increase difficulty in levels, I will follow feedback and (at some later iteration) shorten some of the Respawn Timers. Plus some special effect (like screen-shake on respawn). Sound might fill this need. I will see.  

Other general vocal feedback during the live testing session, included the suggestion of adding more tutorials to early levels and introducing enemies more gradually. I have already added a level that does both of these things, and plan to do more later.