Playtest Report

Overall the playtest report was successful. I received a lots of feedback. I think I'll start by saying the positive feedback that I received. First, people seemed to enjoy the overall feel to the game. Most people enjoyed the look of the level. People also seemed to enjoy the light mechanic, which is very key for our game. Aside from the positive feedback I also a lot of constructive criticism.
1. HUD - Most people pointed out that the player should always be aware of how many torches they have. This was the only thing they felt would be necessary for a HUD. Even having something as simple as a torch counter on screen would be fine.

2. The controls - Players felt it was awkward to hold down the sprint button, move, and use torches at the same time. The suggestions were to change movement keys to wasd and to use a different key for sprinting.

3. The sprint - The sprint was too necessary. Everyone basically held the sprint button down the entire time. It was suggested to have cool down for the sprint or making the normal walking speed more practical to use.

4. There was no flow to the level - It was unclear for players to navigate the level. Most of them stated they just kept trying to climb as high as they could.

5. Level Light - Playtesters were split on this. Some felt that the world was bright enough without having torches or flint. They said that the light mechanic seemed almost unnecessary because they could still see with no problems.

6. Flint - players kept spamming the flint button which made the torch mechanic pointless. If players ran out of torches there would not feel worried because they could continuously spam the flint. It was also suggested that the flint should have a cool down time as opposed to just instantly going out.

7. Torch respawn - When players die the torches in the area should respawn as well. It was also suggested that after a set period of time torches in the area also respawn.

8. Make torch areas checkpoints - players felt safe at these spots and thought that these areas were actually supposed to be checkpoints.

9. Sound - It was mentioned to me that sound would add a lot to this game. Even just having ambient cave noise would be really helpful.

10. Block falling speed - The falling blocks fall too fast and players have very little time to react. Even when the player knew the blocks were going to fall they still felt it was difficult to go across without falling.