Posted December 10, 2023 by Alexandra Drury
With only three weeks left, we focused on polishing the existing mechanics of the game, as there wasn’t enough time to implement and refine new mechanics or changes to the room layouts. We had more playtesting, which revealed players becoming annoyed if they were killed by the monster and needed to replay the beginning tutorial section of the game. Two programmers were tasked with implementing an automatic checkpoint system to solve this issue. We found that having multiple people working together on one task was more efficient, and decided to implement this strategy in the next big task. To help reduce the possibility of the player becoming lost, we decided to implement the player's location on the map. It took three programmers three days of work to be implemented, as many bugs and issues arose while completing this task. Playtesters found it helpful to know their location, but we came across another issue of forgetting to use the map. We are brainstorming ways to remind the player to use the map without trying to hand-hold the player.
We also made some other minor changes, including: