Journal Entry #4

Date: 18.04.2024

Activity:
- Implemented some changes based on some of the feedback received during the playtest session and fixed some minor bugs.

Notes:
The biggest thing missing from my game were guidelines on how to play. I completely overlooked the fact that what keys do what and which abilities are available will need to be taught to the player, and without this, the game was unplayable. So, I had to decide how to implement the tutorial. Implementing a full tutorial level would go too much outside from the GDD, and the players are not inclined to read large amounts of text, so explaining the mechanics at the beginning would not be good, so I decided to show text explaining or hinting at a mechanic at the points at which the mechanic becomes relevant for the first time. I also decided to show the hint to hit P and revert back to the last checkpoint whenever the player finds themselves in a softlock.
A common misconception was that the double jump gems were collectibles, because I used the key sprite for them. This was a big mistake on my part from the design stage, I should've chosen a different sprite. I tried to remedy it by putting a hint when the first key sprite is encountered that it can be used to jump. I also noticed that the players tried to use the exit portal, so I put it more in the background and made it more transparent. Another piece of feedback I received was that it was too difficult to tell when the double-jump was deactivated, so I switched the deactivated sprite from just a more transparent version of the key sprite to an outline of it.
I also ended up fixing the colliders on the spikes, since they were unfair.
The bigger pieces of feedback I received, like the fact that the bounce into the double jump is far too difficult and that the top platform is too slow, were things I realized during the creation of the game, but changing them would be going against what I had put in the game design document, so I had to leave them in.
Outside of the things brought up in the feedback session, I also discovered that I had overlooked the fact that if the first box is moved off the pressure pad, the door doesn't close, so I fixed that. I also went back on the decision I made earlier to make the box squish the critter if it fell on it, and I just made the box fall behind it. Since there was no mention of what behavior should happen in this case in the GDD, I opted for something more neutral.


Duration: 3 hours