Testing

This is the final dev log for my KIT109 assignment 3 game implementation at The University of Tasmania. I will discuss feedback that I received in a testing session, as well as some ways in which I implemented that feedback into the final implementation! 

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJIBAaRz2qLkdpPRzeHDAWNUMtTXD29ShgckH8...

Progression

Testers found the progression of the tutorial to be suitable and easy to grasp. Controls were intuitive and the level gives the player time to grasp the controls. One teseter noted that the pacing felt off due to bugs that sometimes blocked progression, requiring the player to reset the game and lose their progress. This was addressed and is explained in later sections! Another tester noted that a more gentle introduction to using the grapple would be good. The build in the testing session had the player performing a difficult jump above water that punishes the player for failing. In the final build, the player gets access to the grapple earlier allowing them to experiment a little bit before being required to use it to progress.

In general, testers found the level to be suitably difficult, with 2 suggesting that it was slightly on the harder side. It was interesting watching people struggling with the timing of the grapple but after some time of getting used to the character’s movement, testers were able to use the grapple accurately and effectively.

In my survey I also asked for ideas for later sections. One person suggested a boss fight, which was also discussed in the testing session and another suggested a fast paced skill flex level. While the fast past level was omitted from the final build due to time constraints, I implemented a mini boss which requires the player to accurately dodge a charging piranha and time their attacks. 

This mini boss must be beaten in order for the player to progress, as barriers prevent movement outside of the battle arena.

I also asked whether players would like to see a collectible item in the game and whether the catching mechanic proposed in the original concept document was missed. Testers expressed their desire for some sort of collectible but it was also noted that the fishing mini game was not missed. Rather, a resource such as shells or scales would suffice and could be used as currency in later renditions.

Bugs

There was a game breaking bug where the game would freeze when the player collected a food item dropped after killing enemies. This was due to a null reference error and was fixed by making links between game objects in the unity editor.  

A couple of players experienced a bug where involving the fisherman Ignoring Tile-map collision and getting stuck in walls when grappling. I believe that this bug is likely due to how the grapple function moves the player, overriding tilemap collision in some cases. All collision and rigid body settings were checked, but to no avail. I ran out of time to completely change the grapple script so unfortunately this bug is still in the game and it is possible for the player to sometimes get stuck in walls. However, I did implement a checkpoint function, whereby the player can reset the game through the pause menu to the last touched checkpoint. These checkpoints are in the form of glowing snails that appear throughout the level, jumping when the player passes by.

 Another noted bug involved the player hooking just before hitting water and getting trapped in a loop of splashing into water, eventually passing through the tilemap into the abyss. (So cool). This bug was a result of the player being able to grapple while being submerged. A temporary fix involved restricting the player’s ability to use the grapple when submerged. This fixed the bug, preventing the player from ending up in a splash spiral! 

Misc Features

One tester recommended that I create a dust particle effect when the fisherman has a speed boost. This turned into a fully-fledged function by which the player is incentivised to chain hooks together to increase speed, changing the colour of the dust particles behind. 

Another suggested atmospheric sounds, which have been added!

There were also some recommendations that were not implemented, such as collectibles, health upgrades, grapple distance increase, shields, different lures, and a pistol shrimp (lol). In addition, feedback from the testing session survey forms suggested that players would like some faster, more challenging levels. These were left out mainly due to time constraints and prioritising other aspects of the game that were incomplete.

Enjoyment

Players loved the art style and the ‘vibe’ of the game. They found the game fun and unique, with a few comments noting the enjoyment of grappling in particular! The testing session yielded a substantial amount of enthusiasm from players who also got in on the innovation of new ideas and functionality!

Reflection

Overall this testing session was a great experience for me to see how people who have never played the game handle the controls, and exploration in the game. I enjoyed watching people play with my project and comment on how beautiful it is and how much fun they had. It was challenging seeing the number of bugs that are still in the game, even though I have spent so much time trying to make the game as bug free as possible. There are just so many edge cases with this grapple!!! However, I understand that this is likely a result of this being my first experience of coding a game and that my code is by no means optimised! I should look to improve on my coding style, finding ways to modularise scripts so they can be maintained and adapted as the game develops. I look forward to coming back to this project, once I am older and wiser ;)

For now though, I’m super proud of what I’ve produced and can’t wait to get onto the next thing! Enjoy the game and hopefully I’ll be back sometime to make The Last Fishing Trip Into something a bit more substantial!

Happy Gaming – Kronkerd