This was really helpful in establishing what the problem areas were within the game. I managed to get friends/random people in the canteen and even a lecturer to test it out, which gave me some good constructive feedback.
First I'll be covering the big issues that were the most brought up, what I noticed while watching people play the game and finally what I've changed thanks to the feedback.
As always here's the video first so you can see what changes have been made. This is myself and a friend playing against each other on the near-final game play build of the game (I'll try to upload a 2v2 video but that would only take place next week).
The major feedback issues
- People didn't know who they were! This has been brought to my attention by my personal tutor in our previous meeting. Players struggled to keep track of which avatar they were controlling, especially once the game was nearing a winning point as things got a lot more frantic.
- People found the HUD hard to read and didn't know which corner belonged to them. It was suggested the problem was because everything about the level is about going up/travelling to the top, and the HUD bars were going from side to side and this confused them somewhat.
- The different flashing colours for the full charged state on the bar was too confusing, it wasn't clear that having a blue flashing bar meant you were positively fully charged, something universal was needed.
- People didn't know what the AI (Charge burners) were for. Although I hadn't written the how to yet, it needed to be clear in game what there purpose was.
My observations
- The whole map wasn't being used. Once you got to the top of the map, it was very hard to actually fall to the bottom of it. I wanted a player to be kicking their enemy off the top of the level and make them have to climb up it again. The level design needed to be changed.
- Players were 'camping' at the top of the level. Since being at the top was near the scoring object and it was generally the most advantageous position to be in players would often just sit at the top waiting for their charge to go up. This wasn't what I wanted, I wanted the best way of getting charge points to be through combat and a positional strategy, not just waiting for the meter to fill.
- The combo system wasn't effective. I had a x3,x5,x10 multiplier system in place but the reality was that no one can land 5 - 15 hits without being hit or missing (which resets the combo), it was more like 5 - 6 maximum. Also, if someone somehow did manage to gain a combo, the AI would just take it off them.
- Following on from the camping issue, people were playing the game very strategically, often sitting and waiting for the other to move, again this was actually quite fun but not the fast paced play that I wanted.
- The bottom zone that deducted charge points meant that on player spawn from death, they would have to wait till they got to the middle before attacking because they had no Charge. This was quite annoying as people generally want to be able to use at least one attack most of the time.
- Finally, the AI weren't considered as important enough to avoid by the player. Each hit from an AI was a measly 2 charge point deduction that they player could regain in a second just from being idle in the best zone. Also, running away from the AI was hard within such a confined space. The AI moved to fast for the player to react.
The changes
- Add aura around players to make them stand out and differ from the the static level objects.
- Added same aura to AI to indicate to player that is also a 'charged' object.
- Added player number above pointer that appears when player isn't moving or fighting
- Re-designed HUD layout, player information is now located at the sides of the screen and the bars go from bottom to top (1 -100).
- Changed level layout to allow players to fall to the bottom more often. Platforms are no located at either side of the level, with a gap in the middle.
- Changed the fully charged flashing bar colour to the lime green colour that is used for the score object, tubes and fully charged effect.
- Reduced the amount of charge gained in all zones, except the lowest zone which now gives player a small amount of charge instead of removing.
- Reduced the amount of combo points needed for x3,x5,x10 from 5-10-15 to 3-6-9
- AI will now remove a players fully charged power up on hit
- AI now removes 15 charge points instead of 2
- AI movement speed has been reduced
- AI no longer resets combos
- Total AI count has been reduced to 5
When I play tested the game with these new revisions and they made such a difference. Players were fearful of the AI, I didn't tell them about the change but it was very clear now that they removed a big chunk of charge points. With the AI now being something to avoid, players were now moving around a lot more, falling down and trying to get combos off each other to win instead of waiting it out.
Although camping at the top had not disappeared entirely, but its now more of a tactic rather than the best way to get charge. I'd been changing the value of how much the AI removed on hit between play testing sessions, but eventually settled on 15 as it was enough to make you want to avoid the AI but not a huge enough amount that it would make getting full charge impossible.
The only addition I made after this play test was to remove the ability to tele-port down (using left trigger) and have it as a negative effect of the mid attack. This was because no one was using it and by having this effect on it, it would be a cheaper charge cost solution to using the hammer while getting a slightly less good effect.
Now that the play testing is over, I'm in the final phase of the project which involves:
- creating the 'how to' guide and system
- creating a 'credits' screen
- checking the game code for forgotten references
- re-testing the game on the 360
- preparing everything for submission.
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