Cloud Killer Devlog #6

Hi guys,

This week we commenced testing of our tutorial level. We have used a combination of a survey and observational playtesting to gauge what changes need to be made.

Our goals in this round of testing were to determine the clarity of different game mechanics (disguise, attack, binding etc.), measure how intuitive the level design is, see if players engage with the visual style and gameplay as a whole, and lastly, identify any bugs we missed.

We will continue testing next week but already our team has identified multiple points of confusion and bugs.

A point we have started to fix already is our player's confusion around their death as an event. Previously when the player died, the screen dipped to black and the player was respawned at the beginning of the level. A few tester's noted that this felt too abrupt and disorienting and they were left without a clear explanation as to what happened. This was likely due to the brevity of the dip to black, the fact that the player did not face forward when respawned, and the player's ability to maintain movement and camera control throughout the death event leading to them respawning in movement. Since identifying this problem, our animator has made an attack animation for the enemy and will work on  a death animation for the player character. These animations will be used alongside a slower dip to black, possible text on screen explaining the player has died, and a freeze of player movement for a short period of time post respawn.

Our animator has also added a death animation to the enemy to help clarify what happens when the player attacks an enemy.

Here are those animations:

Another area that has been made more clear is the visuals of the disguise collectible (an object the player picks up which enables them to wear a disguise). During testing a few players were confused about the pickup and noted that it looked like it was part of the environment rather than an interactable object. We have since added an animation and particle effect to the pickup to separate it from its surroundings.

Here is  the before and after of these changes:

While we continue testing, we will be fixing a few bugs in the UI and enemy behaviour, as well as trying to improve the flow of the level over the coming week.