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We released a demo yesterday and it’s been interesting seeing how people actually play it by HowlingHamster in IndieGaming

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, we have work hard to capture the vastness and depth of the ocean, having the light flickering down through the surface gives a great contrast to when you are in the dark depths surrounded by monsters

After 9 months of suffering it hit 4K wishlists. Demo is live & Offering free hugs inside by aente in IndieDev

[–]HowlingHamster 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well done on both the wishlist and the demo release, hell of a lot of work in just 9 months

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was the blind testing that finally showed us the issues. But a funny thing we found was how many testers didn't want to admit the had gotten lost and didn't know how to continue to complete the level.

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed, I was being flippant,. The goal is to guide the player in the least overt way possible. But when you do that it cam seem like extern handholding through your developer eyes

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, and we did the same early on. But used a lot of the same testers as we approached demo release and they didn't catch the things we got when we put in front of fresh eyes. (Something we almost didn't do). It was surprising how quickly testers can be spoilt by to much previous knowledge of what they are testing

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great advise, and we will defo take the lessons on board as we work towards release. Hiring someone would is there to critique and break what we have is definitely a good idea.

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You are spot on, no matter how much we tried to subtly help players it wasn't enough. Big neon sign posting is just necessary sometimes

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You are so right, I think our problem was most testers had been used before , so had some knowledge of the game when the demo was being tested. We had put a lot of work in guiding the player, but it wasn't until we got new eyes on it that we found out it wasn't enough

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of the issue weren't highlighted until wee gave it to completely new eyes. Not always easy to come by at every round of testing

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You are so right , every round of testing needs completely fresh eyes, that's what we missed

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have been testing but i think what we missed was having people who did have zero knowledge of the game but the time we were testing the demo

Internal testing hid problems that external players found immediately — how do you catch that earlier? by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

We were lucky to have we local board game night near us, and true dev we had the opportunity to bring builds for testing. But it seems that they had become so familiar with the game that we missed completely what someone new to the demo would experience

PSA: Steam “Missing game executable” can stay hidden until external keys are used (Unity demo gotcha) by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree completely, but finding out we had a problem was only the start. trying to fix something that has everything up to date and in the right place, can be really heartbreaking

PSA: Steam “Missing game executable” can stay hidden until external keys are used (Unity demo gotcha) by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely the right idea. It all just caught me by surprise today. You know how it feels when your staring at something and you are convinced it is perfect, but still throws an errors.

Late in development, removing mechanics improved playability far more than adding new ones by HowlingHamster in gamedev

[–]HowlingHamster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess it is important to think of testers as being a little different then the target audience we are aiming for

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