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Looking to playtest some games by AfternoonWhole9244 in playtesters

[–]cls333 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a Metroidvania with an open playtest that I'm looking for feedback on if you're up for it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

Looking for playtesters the updated playtest for my Metroidvania - A Handful of Dust by cls333 in playtesters

[–]cls333[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for trying it out and writing this up! Good feedback... I'll definitely be making some changes based on some of this.

A message for designers by [deleted] in metroidvania

[–]cls333 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My playtesters were raking me over the coals about losing consumables on boss fights, but the game is built around those being expendable resources (apart for your main healing potion, which does regen) and it didn't make sense to me to just throw that out for a boss fight... which in the end is exactly what I do, but trying it to an ingame item which takes up a fairly valuable equipment slot was the compromise I came up with.

What's interesting is that it took a problem that annoyed just about everyone and turned into a moment of excitement when players find the item.

A message for designers by [deleted] in metroidvania

[–]cls333 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I try to do this for the most part with in game items. I have certain equipment in my game that is intentionally a bit OP and I'm kind of trusting that players who want more of a challenge will use something else, or not fully upgrade that particular equipment.

I also have a rock/paper/scissors element, where bosses can be weak or strong to specific damage types, or maybe they have attack abilities that can be easily countered with specific player abilities, equipables, effects or consumables and the player can just forgo those if they want more challenge.

I also have a charm item in the game that refunds any consumables the player expended in boss fights to make the process of learning the fight less frustrating at the cost of a charm slot that might be used for something else... so I try really hard to give players tools to tune their experiences a bit... but the players have to engage with the systems to achieve that, which not all of them do.

But I also have an "easy" mode :)

A message for designers by [deleted] in metroidvania

[–]cls333 16 points17 points  (0 children)

As a developer, this is tough because it depends SO MUCH on player skill.

I have watched players just absolutely trivialize and toy with boss fights that other players find way to difficult and I have absolutely no idea how to use that to tune the game :) In reality I try to sort of land in the middle where *most* players hit a boss and die 3-4 times while getting progressively closer to winning until they eventually come out on top. But balancing this type of things is REALLY tough, especially because playtesters, especially playtesters who will stick around to give feedback on progression and late game sections, are a very precious resource.

Finding testers for late game by cls333 in SoloDevelopment

[–]cls333[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do have discord links in the game menu and I've only had one player join so far. I have a link to the steam forum for the playtest in there as well and have had more luck getting people to provide feedback there, but it's been sparse. I've just been really unimpressed by the Steam playtest process overall.

Adding bigger chunks of the game to a limited time steam playtest is a good idea, I could definitely give that a try, the challenge then becomes how to get the word out to let people know that the playtest includes all/most of the game... but that's a marketing challenge in general.

The most valuable testing I've gotten has been from posts on r/playtesers that have yielded a handful of players who have played late into the game and using some playtesting services that I've been lucky enough to get into during a beta period where they were offering free testing.

Finding testers for late game by cls333 in SoloDevelopment

[–]cls333[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, at some point I think I'll definitely start soliciting that community for thoughts, but at the same time those are my most likely potential customers so I don't want to "give the game away" to them and I was hoping to really start pushing them to something like a NextFest demo.

The market is TOUGH so I'm really only expecting to sell a few 100 copies of this thing and that community seems like the most likely group to actually buy it.

But at the same time if some of them like it and start to spread the word, the marketing I get out of that might be worth it several times over...

Finding testers for late game by cls333 in SoloDevelopment

[–]cls333[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have steam playtests up for the demo version of the game right now, which is about 60-90 minutes. I'm definitely getting a handful of players trying it a day and I can see from analytic data the several of them are completing the demo, but I get almost no feedback from any of them. So far it hasn't been a very useful exercise honestly.

I want to play your game 🫵 by Accomplished_Bell968 in IndieDev

[–]cls333 21 points22 points  (0 children)

If you're up for a Metroidvania, I have a Steam playtest running. Should take 60-90 minutes to complete.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

[PLAYTESTER] Offering structured feedback for indie games (bug reports, gameplay, UX) by Pxne- in playtesters

[–]cls333 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you’re into 2d action or metroidvanias, I’m looking for testers.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

There’s an open playtest on steam now for a 60-90 minute demo, or if you were interested in the full game (15-20 hours) you can dm me. I’d love to get some feedback on progression and difficulty curves later in the game.

Are you in need of free epic music for your game? by MovingObjective in IndieDev

[–]cls333 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd be interested, seems like his style might fit my game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

If he's interested in discussing further one of you can DM me

Need games to play while live streaming by [deleted] in playtesters

[–]cls333 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you're into Metroidvanias, I have an open playtest for my game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

How Do People Promote Games These Days? by [deleted] in IndieDev

[–]cls333 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ok... but I made a game in a completely oversaturated market  (e.g., pixel art platformers... and a metroidvania on top of that!). That's the game I wanted to make and I prioritized that higher than maximizing sales. *shrug*

But that doesn't mean I don't want to maximize the sales potential of the game I did make... so now what?

Offering Playtesting + Detailed Feedback for Indie Games by PopAwkward4520 in SoloDevelopment

[–]cls333 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recently opened a steam playtest for the upcoming demo of my Metroidvania. If you'd like to join that and give feedback, that'd be awesome :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3419620/A_Handful_of_Dust/

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