Playtesting thread Sticky

A topic by ludowoods created Jan 21, 2018 Views: 809 Replies: 19

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Hey jammers!

This thread is a place to share your game and get feedback, especially on specific questions. Reply to posts with relevant feedback if possible, but in general this thread is to encourage you to play other people's games!

If you'd like feedback, please include:

Game url

[url]

I'd like feedback on

[Bulleted list, questions, or description of what you would like critique on. Can be "anything!" if you're not looking for anything specific]

I need help on

[Optional so remove if unnecessary, but if you have a specific problem or bug that you would like help or advice with solving]

ComodoroSubmitted6 years ago

Hello, my game is Maze memories : https://comodoro.itch.io/maze-memories.

I would like some feedback on level design mainly. I want to know if the game is too difficult or too easy, Also it would be cool if you saif you miss some features that would improve the gameplay.

My goal is to fix some minor bugs and add mobile touch support for releasing in Google Play.

Thank you a lot!

Quinn6 years ago(+1)

Hello! I liked how 7 tricked me a bit. It wasn't super hard but it took a few tries because it's so hardwired into me when I'm playing games that I need to COLLECT EVERYTHING. Really wanted that second key lol. Something cool I noticed was that at first I had tried to count tiles. 3 left, 1 down, etc... But I couldn't remember well and it made me do worse. When I just focused on the look of the map it got a lot easier. Floor 10 was my first game over. I'm really bad at memory games so I'm not sure if that's good or not. It's really cute and I love the little knight and the music. The "Nooo!" message was great as well!

ComodoroSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Thank you for playing Quinn! Your comments are very interesting.

The concept of Level 7 was the one you said, break a bit the non-writen rule of gaming that says that if a object is in the game world, it must be for something.
Level 10 is a hell level. I think that maybe i was too hard in this one and it is placed very early on. Maybe i move this one as level 16 or so.
Memory games are tricky and as i learned in this experience, hard to design because as i already know the layout of the levels, the memory part is small in my debug and level balancing.

I hope you had a good time!

itsMoSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Its a fun little game. I like that in some levels you do not need all the keys to go the ladder. Level 17 is a killer but a i managed to beat it on the 5th attempt. I've encountered a bug on the 18th level. The UI was not present and i was stuck and couldn't move. Look at the screenshot.

For me, I would say its the right level of difficulty.

One thing that you might want to explore is to make a level select screen - so that if you are stuck at a level, you can practice that level instead of starting from the beginning.

I haven't played too many memory-based games but hope this helps.

ComodoroSubmitted6 years ago

Thank you for your comments m.zadz, I also find them extremely interesting!

I was not aware that the build had that bug, sorry about that. I am uploading a new version after i write this post, I disabled the UI for designing the level and left it out when building, some scripts were affected by this change causing the misbehaviour,
Great idea with the level selection menu! No doubt i will do it.
I am glad that you liked the difficulty, i was a bit worried about it.

Thank you again and i hope you had a good time!

ComodoroSubmitted6 years ago

I fixed the game if you are curious about the final levels. Regards!

Escada GamesSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Hey Comodoro! Very nice game. I liked the take on the optional theme, very creative, and also the minimalist style.

I think the level design is great. You introduce the new mechanics in good pace, and by the time the game gets harder, it is easier and satisfying to think of a solution. Also, the Stored Memories mechanic is great, and really helps when the player forgets the path and don't want to start over or lose a life.

Played after the you fixed the bug on level 17 (I guess this was the glitched level), and got to the final. The last level has a minor bug where the maze don't fit properly on the game screen. On the fullscreen mode you can barely see the exit.

I think a score system would be nice, where using more the Stored Memories would decrease it and getting faster throught the level would increase it, but I'm not sure. Maybe there are other features that would fit better the game.

As a additional comment, I would like to say that this game is creative and a good puzzle game! Looking foward to the Play Store release and to further changes.

ComodoroSubmitted6 years ago

Hello Keyband! I am glad you liked the game, i had a great time developing :)

I like that you used the stored memories mechanics, i thought that maybe it was a bit hidden and the regular player would not use it.
Thank you about the design, more than half of development time was level design. I tried to make an easy start and increase difficulty slowly, howeveri think that some levels (level 10 for example) are a bit unbalanced (at least the first time playing).
About the bug in the last level, thank you for pointing it out. I will fix it in a new release soon.
I think that a score system would be a nice fit! But first i am developing at the moment a level selection menu and a hardcore mode (only 1 live, no stored memories), i hope you find it interesting!

Thank you for your comments, I am very happy with the feedback that you guys are giving me. I will try to release a mobile version soon (it is about 70% complete).

itsMoSubmitted6 years ago

Game URL:

Hi , My game is O+. The link is : https://itch.io/jam/my-first-game-jam-winter-2018/rate/215248

I'd like feedback on:

A few people downloaded my game and found that the game easily crashed :( . With a bit of investigation, I found out that it could be due to loading textures per level. I've optimized this and managed to reduce the filesize from ~4GB to ~300mb!! (~60mb archived) . I've updated this as version 1.4.

Mainly, I would like feedback on performance. Can you run the game smoothly on your system? along with posting some basic specs of your computer if you cannot run it.

Additionally and optionally:

Let me know if you understand the game and what to do.
After level 15 and above (which is ~5 mins into the game), do you find the game becomes difficult or too difficult.
Any other feedback or anything else that you wish to have in the game

Thank you people!!

Escada GamesSubmitted6 years ago

Hey m.zadzm just played your game. Looks like there was lot of work on it!

Runned fine on my notebook. It didn't crash, but here are my specs anyway (got them with CPU-Z):

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bits
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Core i5 3230M
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4000

About the gameplay: I didn't play very far because some of the features I didn't like (not going to spoil them here, but I hope you know what I talking about), so I got only to MOdulus 9. I was able to understand everything during my gameplay, except the navigation at first, which was a bit confusing.

About the difficulty after level 15, I'm sorry that I can't give feedback.

And as a general comment, I would say that the game looks very well made and has a nice concept. I didn't play more of it because it just isn't my type of game, sorry (I'm also sorry for possible english mistakes).

itsMoSubmitted6 years ago

thank you for your valuable feedback. I know what you are talking about and I will update the game bearing that in mind. I am also working on making the Ui less confusing. Thanks.

Dark-AiiSubmitted6 years ago

Hello, my game is Ro' : Game URL.

My game is a minimalist puzzler, where you have to memorize the balls that you absorb, and/or will absorb.
All this, while keeping track of your constant rotation.

I'd like feedback on, the gameplay, possible improvements, design advice is possible, etc.
And how do you feel about playing from level 00 to level 20.

I need help on improving the gameplay, so that I could publish it on Google Play, and/or eventually, Steam (with a major rework or the game).

Escada GamesSubmitted6 years ago(+1)

Hey there Dark-Aii! Just played your game, all the levels. Great to see such a nice game made on Godot. Also, maybe you can get more feedback on /r/MadeWithGodot. Just a idea!

Ok, now to my feedback. I used the Windows version; the HTML5 seems to not work (on the first stage, you can't control the ball and it doesn't move).

The gameplay was interesting: different balls having different properties was nice. To be sincere, playing was kinda boring at the beginning, because it was very straightfoward. However, when the rotation mechanic was introduced, then I got a lot more invested on the game! Before I continue, I would like to say that maybe the game needs to be a bit boring at first, so that the new mechanics/colors can be completely understood by the player before introducing a new one: then, I believe the pacing of the game right now is good (even if I did not like it at first).

On possible improvements, first, a (major) bug I found: when entering a level or resetting it, sometimes the change rotation button (R) don't work. Such thing makes playing throught the game kinda stressful, changing the focus from puzzle to patience. Hopefully it is easy to fix. Also, as I personal opinion, I didn't like the effect of the black balls on the transparency. However, this is just my opinion! Maybe you should leave such effect in the game. Another opinion mine would be to change the font on the menu that appears when you finish/fails the level: it is a bit hard to read.

On Design Advice, I think I cannot help a lot other than say that the whole spectra of colors can be turned into different mechanics! (laughs) But seriously, there's plenty of room for more interesting mechanics other than change color and change mass and change number of connected balls. Maybe you could add a pair of balls with magnetism effects (attraction and repulsion); balls that only appear when you are of a certain color; a color that can absorb any other (including itself); or maybe a color that inverses the rotation (in this case the Change Rotation button could be removed). These are just some quick ideas, I'm sure someone else or yourself can think of a lot more other interesting stuff.

On how I felt playing the game, at first I was a bit bored, then I got interested, then a bit nervous/stressed (some sections needed a lot of precision and my change rotation button wasn't working... so, not fault of the game design anyway), and then interested again by the last level. I guess that if the controls were working correctly, the experience would be pretty nice overall. Also, the music fitted nicely with the game, and surely contributed to its positive feel.

On helping you, I guess the best that I can do is provide this feedback, along with ideas that I said. If you think I could help more, just send a email (you can find a email to contact me on my profile). Good luck on making this game better and publishing it!

itsMoSubmitted6 years ago

Hi Dark-Aii. A really good thing about this game is that I was able to play it without a tutorial and understood most of the mechanics. When it was two balls swinging around each other, I found out that sometimes they seem heavier and movement becomes slower. I cannot understand why that is - but i still continued playing. The artwork and subtle music fx is nice also.

Although, the game slowly became difficult, I found the game easy and relaxing on the whole. Personally, I stop playing a game if it is too easy. Some thoughts can be (and only my thoughts):

More varied game mechanics like the rotating balls
baddies like an enemy ball following you around or an enemy ball shooting spikes at you

On the whole, the game looks nice and you have good base to add more interesting mechanics.

Hope this helps.

New Retro GamesSubmitted6 years ago (2 edits)

Hey there! My game is inspired by old school RPGs, with a dash of incremental/clicker games (though more on the RPG side). It's my first proper attempt to make a game:

https://newretrogames.itch.io/incrementalrpg

Being text-based and browser-based, it's really easy to whoosh through everything, and I want the final game to feel more "solid" and rewarding to get through, so...

I need help on: ways to make gameplay take longer but in a rewarding sense - without artificial difficulty or padding.

I know there's a LOT of content that still needs adding/fleshing out, and that the game is still an early prototype. But... thinking ahead, my feeling is that regardless, it will be too easy to breeze through the game content.

This is in part from my lack of game/design experience - I am good at coming up with ideas for things to add, but not so much on how to properly "gamify" them. I'd like the game to take longer, but preferably avoiding artificial padding, wait timers or other forced things like that. Rather, I want it to feel enjoyable and involving, like eating a good steak.. and rewarding when you finally make progress.

I have various ideas about how to do this, but not sure what's best! So would be good to hear ideas!

I'd like feedback on:

If you beat the game (you get a "final dungeon" msg), how long did it take to get there?
Any parts felt too fast, or too slow?
Of course, any bugs, etc

ps. It *should* run fine on android browsers (tested on iPhone and it doesnt, sorry!)

Escada GamesSubmitted6 years ago

Hey there Retro! I played your game for about one hour, and didn't finish it. But I have my reasons for such, that I will say on my feedback below! I played more or less until when skeletons start appearing, I believe it's when you start to explore the tunnels.

From what I could experience, I can say that it feels like a good clicker game. The RPG elements don't feel forced, and actually reinforce the loop of click -> buy upgrade -> click -> buy upgrade -> ... . From the description of the game -- " Build up your farm as it grows into a town. [...] " --, it sounded very interesting.

Then, the why I did stop playing: two bugs.

--The first one is that I couldn't sell Bronze Pieces to get Copper Pieces (the inverse, selling copper pieces to buy bronze ones, worked fine). So, at first I thought that buying a high value coin would be a good choice, but later in the game I noticed I couldn't do the inverse, and got stuck, since I had no money to buy upgrades, I couldn't get more money because the storages where full.

When I tried to sell the BP to get the CP, the following message appeared on the console:

Exchanged -1 Bronze piece(s) at a market rate of -79 per Copper piece(s).

While when selling CP to the BP, the message was:

Exchanged 1 Copper piece(s) at a market rate of 111 per Bronze piece(s).

I guess it might have something to do with the minus sign? I don't know.

--The second one might not be a bug: it happens that I could not craft any equipment. I guess I needed to click, or click and drag, but it didn't work. Also, I'm pretty sure I had the materials. This is not a game breaking glitch, but I believe it severely impacts the tempo of the game, and that is why I stopped playing.

Oh, and I'm using Google Chrome 63.0.3239.132 64 bits. Maybe that has something to do with these problems.

Continuating, in my opinion you could try make the game more fleshed out by expading on the RPG part. The clicker elements could then become kind of a way to break the constant battling, or a way of supporting the RPG part (like hiring better Blacksmiths for your city: however, you might have implemented this already and I just didn't get to it yet. Monster Hunter does something like this.).

Also, if you want to raise the difficulty and make the game more rewarding using the battles, I highly recomend checking out the Shin Megami Tensei 4 battle system. It is outstanding: extremely hard, but very, very satisfying once you understand the mechanics. For example, even low level monsters can kill your party if you are careless; however, the opposite is true, that is, the player can defeat high level monsters if plays correctly. Searching for "smt4 battle system" will give info on it.

I guess that's all I can say for now. When the problems I pointed are fixed, I believe I'll play it again, since what I saw during my short gameplay was nice!

New Retro GamesSubmitted6 years ago (1 edit)

Thank you so much, this is excellent useful feedback!

Those bugs should definitely not be happening - coins shouldn't have been showing minus signs, and I could craft equipment last time I played. All you need to do is click on the item name.

Luckily I was easily able to replicate and thus fix the bugs. Crafting was easy fix - my last update added a skill check (some items have higher skill req.), but it failed if you have not yet learnt the skill at all (from trying to craft something at least once). The coin trading was completely borked up somehow, the code there is particularly messy - will need to do a complete rewrite later... but for now it seems to work again! I tested trades in all directions with 1/10 at a time and seemed to all add up.

The city-building idea isn't in the game yet, sadly, currently there's a small bunch of upgrades for the farm. However, I've definitely still go plans to flesh that side out more soon!

Edit: Had a quick look and the shin megami tensei battle system does look quite interesting. Looking forward to watching some videos on it more in-depth later, thanks for the tip!

Escada GamesSubmitted6 years ago

Nice! You're welcome!

Just played a bit more of the game. Now I on the Old Dungeon Floor #2 (took about one hour and a half). Also, now I can craft items and buy/sell bronze without problem. However, found more bugs I guess and have some sugestions as well:

To craft the Copper Sword, it takes no copper, only wood;
In my opinion, as soon as the player gains the option to craft equipment, he should already be able to equip it or sell it or view a inventory with them, like the other resources. When I started crafting the weapons, I wasn't sure if they were being automatically equipped, and did not know how many I had of each;
Anyway, when I got the Party upgrade, I was able to equip a armour fine, but I could not use any weapon with the farmer (the starting character/ the player character). Maybe a skill related issue? Tried the following weapons:
- --Swords--
  Wooden sword (17 owned)
  Copper sword (75 owned) (yeah, crafted a bunch of these to be sure that they did not need copper.)
- --Staves--
  Wooden staff (1 owned)
- --Ranged--
  Crossbow (1 owned)
- --Daggers--
  Wooden knife (1 owned)
  Rusted knife (1 owned)
Also, I could not hire anyone. I guess I had to pay them, but I could not find the price (tried to hire with about 1000 copper pieces and 10 bronze pieces). The other buttons (reroll/another/reject) worked fine.

It was nice to see some fixes so fast! I think I will continue to keep checking and providing feedback on future updates, if you don't mind.

New Retro GamesSubmitted6 years ago

Thanks, that's valuable help. I didn't know anyone to playtest the game, so this is really useful.

Hopefully those bugs are fixed now! You were definitely correct re: equipment. I was testing the game I realised it was odd to not be able to equip stuff yet. (I should also add a msg "You crafted a sword, it has been placed in storage" or something to also make that clearer.

I couldn't figure out hiring bug, though... THAT one is weird. On my local copy of the game, you can hire no problem. But I played through it on Itch and I couldn't hire anyone either (even though it was the exact same version).. very weird. Since it works locally I can't use the debugger unfortunately --- and then it magically started working again for no apparent reason... Hopefully it works on your end too!

If all else fails, a Hard Reset (from the settings menu) often fixes the weirder problems, usually stemming from a change to the objects structures. But that means losing all your hard work progress fighting all those skeletons! I've been trying to avoid resorting to that, but could be a last resort.

You are absolutely welcome to check back and provide any feedback or input, here in this post or on the game page/comments Really helps!! Thanks again for putting up with the bugs!

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