Beta Testing Feedback I

Beta testing has been open for a few days now. Only a handful of people have filled out the feedback form so far, but I've gotten a lot of useful feedback already. I also got to watch two people play the game from start to finish. It was really informative to see where they got stuck, where they got confused, when they had fun, etc.

I've started a list of all the changes I want to make to the game. Ideally, I'd be able to finish everything by May 14th (my thesis' due date), but that's not realistic. Instead, I'm going to rank everything by what is most important and work my way down the list until May 14th. Here's my list so far:

Fixes to Make by order of Priority

• 1.Change the mouseover script so that characters change colors instead of change sprites to indicate they can be clicked on
  • a.People get confused and don’t know what to click on as things are right now
  • b.I’m not going to get around to making a glow version of all the NPCs so this is better for now
• 2.Make the dialogue font bigger
• 3.Make the speaker portrait and name bigger
• 4.Remove the “Next Scene” button:
  • a.Resolves the issue of the 1.7 scene being useless without me having to reorder my changescene script
  • b.Fixes the issue of duplicating the player and canvas across levels
• Better visual for when you’re done with a level:
  1. This can be a pop up canvas element that gets activated at the end of each level. It should include a “continue” button that takes players back to the main menu and destroys all the same things as the Main Menu button… it can just be a reskin of the same button.
• Level 2: finish the art mini game… it is currently unplayable
• Level 4: Finish the fetch quest or cut it
• Level 5: Finish the timer mini game and take out the dialogue that holds its place atm
• Level 2: make sure you can only go to the artist workshop first:
  1. Make it so that if you go to the Medici palace w/o the apprentice, Guido is there reminding you what you have to do
• Some NPCs still don’t have bodies. Give them bodies.
• The backgrounds are still stand-ins. Find/make some real backgrounds.
• Level 2: just activate Gozzoli on a canvas, don’t have him fly in
• There are lots of notes to self in the script, take these out
• Cardinale Raffaello has gravity so he falls through the floor on start, fix this
• Add Cardinal to 5.2 Save Lorenzo
• Level 5, Signoria: Make crowds actually form around Jacopo
• Level 5: be explicit about what happens to each brother in the conspiracy 
• Credits: make some credits that tell what actually happened
• Credits: write a speech or something for Lorenzo to give in the garden. Have this play even if you go to the countryside, like you heard it through the grapevine or something
• Add a Save Button:
  1. This can be in the same place as/replace the “next scene” button in the UI
• There are lots of places where you talk to someone and it gives you text describing the location as if you just arrived. Stop that.
• Cut the Pazzi servant or make good use of him
• Level 5, Signoria: cut “whine” as it takes away from the exploration
• Level 5, Signoria: better dialogue here… more info on what people think about the Medici/Pazzi
• Change the file name from Russia 1877 bc that’s a mistake and ppl get confused
• GIVE THE PLAYER MORE OPTIONS:
  1. The game feels “on rails” in the last three levels right now. I need to give the player more choices in conversations and more of a chance to explore different areas. However, this is a pretty big structural overhaul, so this can’t get done by the time my thesis is due.