Playtesting and Alpha Development

Over the past few weeks, I primarily worked on preparing for our playtest. Our team used a wireframe prototype to test whether our game’s map and puzzle were clear to the player and successfully conveyed our transformation. Specifically, we were looking for whether the player understood how to progress without being told, and whether they understood the puzzle as a metaphor for the poor communication and bureaucracy blocking people from receiving help.

To facilitate this, I helped create the prototype using the website Owlbear Rodeo, helped edit the playtesting script and questions, and created a short introduction slide to give the player narrative context for our game.

Introduction

Unfortunately, we’d hoped to get playtests done sooner to help inform our in-game model, but we have conducted a few smaller, informal tests of the map and puzzle in a rougher state, which proved useful for our decision-making moving forward.

Assets & Learning Godot

Aside from that, I spent some time learning the Godot engine, especially sprite and dialogue integration. I had some rough sprites of the characters that I wanted to try implementing, first with oversight from Laura and then by myself on a different branch.

Inserting sprite textures

This turned out successful, and I documented the process for future reference for myself and Kaela!

Finally, I worked on dialogue for NPCs and enemy recruitment.

Dialogue spreadsheet

The assets and knowledge gained will hopefully make things smoother going forward, letting us test other aspects of the game faster.

Next steps

Aside from that, I have a few playtests lined up. By the end of this week, we should have everything we need to fill out our playtest report, and move into beta development.