🎮 QA Report – Zahav
Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester
🧑💼 About Me
Hi ! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX feedback, and bug reporting, with a focus on player experience and game polish. I tested your game “Zahav” and compiled the following structured report to help you improve clarity, balance, and functionality.
🧪 General Observations
- No sound design present – The lack of audio feedback greatly reduces the feel and impact of actions, which is especially important in an arcade/soulslike game
- Gameplay loop feels unbalanced – The boss appears too soon, before the player has a chance to engage properly with regular enemies
- Score system is not functional – Score remains locked at 9999 throughout the session
- Only one item spawns, and it appears at the very start. It can be picked up immediately, but no respawn occurs later
🕹️ Controls & Input Issues
- No ZQSD support – Keyboard controls are locked to WASD, which is not adapted for AZERTY users
- Shield movement is inconsistent – While holding the shield (Right Click), movement only works using Arrow Keys, not with WASD
- Pause Menu is misleading – Pressing P slows down the game but does not pause it entirely. You can still take damage and die during pause
- Death during Pause causes bugs:
- Giant zoom-in on the screen
- Mouse cursor is offset
- Pause menu visuals are broken
🩸 Combat Feedback & Health System
- Hit registration feels unreliable:
- Player must be at a very specific range to hit enemies. Too close or too far = no damage
- Projectiles suffer the same issue – unclear range, weird hitbox behavior
- No enemy health bar – This makes enemies feel invincible, and removes any sense of feedback or progression
- Player health bar is hard to read:
- Located on the right edge of the screen
- It should be more central or above the player to be readable during action
- Combat damage feels inconsistent:
- Enemy sword hits do ~1/6 damage per hit
- But player dies suddenly when they appear to have ~2/6 health remaining
🔄 Bugs & Technical Issues
- Controls screen disappears too fast during the initial loading phase – not enough time to read
- Post-death movement bug – Player can move for a brief moment after dying, before the game restarts
- Mage projectile persists indefinitely unless it hits something – may be intended, but creates clutter and stress if not purposeful
✅ Suggestions & Improvements
- Add basic sound feedback: footsteps, hits, UI sounds, etc
- Rework the pause system to truly freeze gameplay
- Implement enemy HP bars, even minimal ones
- Move the player HP bar to a more visible location
- Add controller support or ZQSD detection based on locale
- Review hitbox/hurtbox logic to ensure melee and projectile combat is reliable
- Balance early gameplay flow: delay boss spawn and add more item spawns over time
Let me know if you'd like a more in-depth report. Good luck with the project – the concept has strong potential !
– ArcaTsu Freelance QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/arcatsu?public_mode=true