Week 6: Alpha Release!

Hey all!

Update: you can find the alpha builds here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dph7e_ozjhTejF91xARke2T6xKV5iGx3?usp=sha...

This week we're excited to present our alpha release to the public! You can download the game for windows and mac on the main page, so why not check it out?

The whole team has worked quite a bit the last couple weeks to get an enjoyable alpha version out for today. This past week, we've been focused on improving the game based on feedback we received during playtesting last Thursday. We had around 10-15 people play our game, and we got some insightful feedback on things that should be improved on for alpha.

Some of the more frequent pieces of feedback we got were based around clarity and difficulty level. Many found it was hard to keep track of the meter and the player at the same time, and it was hard to tell when one could use any of their abilities. We decided to add a sound effect that plays when each of the meters hits the threshold to be usable, based off of that feedback. We were thinking about adding a visual indicator around the player as well, but we didn't put that into scope for the alpha build. This is definitely something that could be added in a later build if it is still unclear to the player when they can use their abilities.

Many of our playtesters found the two levels we had at the time a bit difficult. There were players who were "god gamers" for lack of a better term, but the general consensus is that it was challenging, but not necessarily in a bad way. You generally knew why you died, and it didn't feel out of your control. However, two pieces of feedback that we decided to look into was the mine feeling underpowered compared to the other forward attack, and the hitbox not matching the indicator for the forward attack. During playtesting the mine was hard for players to use since it took a lot of time to arm and was quite small. We decided to buff the mine in these two senses to make it feel more rewarding, and not just a puzzle piece to kill strong enemies. We also looked into making the indicator and hitbox one in the same, but it wasn't able to be completed before alpha release. One change we did make regarding the forward attack was that it keeps attacking while the hitbox is out, so you will no longer have spiders that look like they should have died but didn't because they walked into the indicator after you attacked.

We also added a third level to the game during this past week, so hopefully that level is fun for players. The level was designed around using the mine and knockback abilities mostly, since they didn't get too much use in the other two levels. There probably still needs to be some balance tuning in this new level since there hasn't been any official testers for it. Side note, when I had originally designed the level the mine buffs weren't in, and it took me about 40-50 tries to beat my own level. Now that the mine is buffed the level feels significantly easier (personal opinion).

In terms of work done on the art side, we implemented the faces for the different personalities of the player character on the UI before playtesting last week. We also have improvements to the menu UI that have not been implemented yet, but they should make the charge bars look better than before. In addition, we got a model for a switch component, which we can hopefully implement soon.

On the music side, we are now using 3 different background tracks made by musicians. The variety really helps give different moods to the different levels. We're looking to also work on some jingles for each of the abilities soon, so that they can add to the flavour of the game.

Looking forward, I think we've got most of our mechanics in, along with some nice models, background music, and sound effects. We'll adjust our game according to the feedback we receive for this alpha, and work on expanding the levels, as well as focusing on the theme of the game. We had originally envisioned a fun lighthearted game where your keys/personalities talk to you, and we haven't got around to implementing that yet so maybe that's next on the chopping block. We'll have to discuss as a team where our priorities are before we reach beta.

That's all for this week! Thanks for reading!