System Settings: Responding to feedback

I’ve shown my upcoming game to several people this week. Some great feedback returned from these play sessions. Today, I would like to discuss about some of the changes I have made.

Originally, your health was displayed on Weedy’s visor. Several players never noticed this. I showed the health this way because I figured that would enhance immersion. However, clarity should take priority over almost anything else. As a result, your health is now presented in traditional bar form. Your inventory is shown in a similar fashion. Here is a screenshot of the refined HUD.

At first, an item pick up was expressed using a sound effect. One of the play testers had his earphones off and so was unable to pick up the cue. This taught me that audio cues alone may be insufficient, especially in these small scaled games, or ones that run on an iOS.

The other issue was that the hit areas were too small. This was a lesson I learned back when I created a platformer during university. If it’s an element the player wishes to avoid (e.g. enemies), shrink the hit area. Conversely, if it’s something a player wants to interact with (e.g. powerups), expand that hit box. The below screenshot shows the actual hit area of each slot.

Last, players commented that it was hard to tell when they got hit. In fact, some got confused when the game over pop up appeared. It’s important to slow down when presenting feedback to ensure players understand them. There is now an explosion effect that appears when you get hit. A larger explosion shows upon death to indicate a player has failed the mission. I applied the same logic to enemy deaths.

Thank you for showing interest in my game’s progress! I am also happy to say that the composer of Unrestful has agreed to return for this project. Unrestful will be released at the same time as this game’s first episode. Please look forward to them.