Weekly Dev Log #4 (Alex Rutishauser)

Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

This is Alex Rutishauser here again giving you an update on week 4 of development for Deadshot! 

Goals for the team this past week: 

• Review player feedback from class, see what they feel about some of the changes we made, and overall to try and make movement more fluid (Specifically wall jumping and running)
• Import more custom assets and create events for those assets
• Create some sort of test level to get a feel of how movement will feel in real time
• Fix and implement wall jump behavior 

Which of these Goals have been accomplished by the team? 

• We're happy to announce that a proper wall jump mechanic is now implemented in our recent build of Deadshot! and works as intended 
• Created a quick mock up of a level that simulates gameplay in real time

What are the team's goals for next week?

• Start building a proper level for Deadshot! and prepare for Alpha 
• Create and Gather more assets for Deadshot!

What have you accomplished this past week?

• I helped create the level design to test out movement  
• In addition to a quick mock up level to test feel of movement, I helped add a few things to the UI such as a timer to indicate playtime and an Ammo Counter (Currently doesn't work but is there as a placeholder for when we progress through development)

What will you accomplish by next week?

• Have a proper idea of level design for Deadshot! and start working on it
• Implement Character sprite if possible 

What Will you need to learn to accomplish these goals? 

• I'll need to have an idea of how levels are built based off the aesthetic and design we're aiming towards. We want buildings to be a crucial part in our game so the level will need to be built with that in mind.

Playtesting Report for this Week:

What were you playtesting? 

We were playtesting our movement mechanics (wall jumping and such) and seeing how players felt about some of the changes we made. 

What did you want to learn through this playtest?

I wanted to learn if movement felt fluid for players and if the wall jump replacement we created would work for our game. 

Who were your playtesters? Do they represent your target audience?

Our playtesters consisted of our classmates, which is not directly our target audience but it could be for an audience like them. 

What did you observe? What did you see when they were playing? Did they interact the way you expected?

We observed that players didn't have too much difficulty moving around which was good to see. We saw they struggled with understanding how the new implementation for wall jumping works. They interacted in the way I expected them to since I felt that the new method I did for wall jumping was not perfect by any means. 

What questions did you ask your playtesters after they played the game?

We asked simple questions such as how did movement feel and if there was anything we should add to the game that'll make it better. We also asked if double jumping would benefit our game which some players responded that it wouldn't be a bad idea considering the game is all about how you move and navigate, so depending how development goes we might be able to add it before launch.  

What feedback did you receive from your players?

We heard from players about animation being wonky in addition to wall jumping not feeling like "wall jumping" but they enjoyed other aspects such as our shooting mechanic and how the character and camera move along together smoothly. The only thing players wished for is a proper level to test out movement and how it'll feel in a real gameplay scenario. 

What, if anything, will you do with that feedback? Did you learn anything?

We will review the feedback and see how we feel about it and how to implement changes if needed in a way that'll make sense for our game. I learned that in order to get better feedback about our game, we need a test level to see what works and what doesn't.