Hey guys this comment is for playtest 2,
I really enjoyed your game and solving all the puzzles. None of them were too complicated or too simple. I did find that allowing only one valid check extended game play quite bit. It took me around 40 minutes to solve all the puzzles and figure out your game, and another 30 to run through all the scenarios. Those first 40 minutes were quite enjoyable, I really love what you've done with the game, the art is very fitting, the puzzles slide right in. I think you should keep all the puzzle constructs the same for the final playtest but change the numbers. I think it would be completely insane if you guys completely reworked all of your puzzles for the last playtest.
[Quality of Life improvements]
it would have been nice if there was any way to restart the game without dying or solving everything. A "pause" menu would be a great addition as it would let the player quit or restart. It doesn't actually have to pause the game just allow the player the freedoms. Additionally, actually saving and showing players what endings they've gotten and which they are missing would be really cool.
One thing in particular that bugged me was the controls for interacting with the panel were a bit painful, as I would assume enter submits/check the code instead of exiting the terminal. Allowing more options to exit the terminal like esc/backspace would be helpful. I did like how you guys showed what controls were useable when, but the door controls still showed up even when you couldn't do anything more with the door.
[Bugs]
I did find quite a few bugs during this playtest and did enjoy seeing the bugs that I found in the last playtest to all be fixed. Here is a list talking about all of them in order of most game breaking.
- If you drop the fire extinguisher while holding spray you will be permanently spraying and don't care about the extinguisher any more.
- Fire doesn't stop crackling after the fire has been extinguised, leading to a short state of confusion.
- Doors in NAVIGATION don't work from nav side at all, even if you input a code in.
- Taking the door from DOCK to POD doesn't show the starter fire till you leave and comeback. You're in the "FIRE!!" state the entire time and drain fast on a fire you can't see or fight.
- Sun code shows invalid but is an actual destination
- More fires don't increase the speed at which O2 drains. (almost irrelevant)
- You can throw the fire extinguisher into the opened escape pod door losing the ability to fight fires without completing the game :D (completely irrelevant)
Overall, the game worked pretty great. A lot of issues with the doors and fires may be fixed by simply removing the fire/code locks you have on the doors and just let the player go through and use their energy. Really enjoyed your game and I'm excited to see how it looks at the end of the semester.