The Twine game was just a quick way to try out the story for my 2D game. Since the game isn’t finished I ahd players play from the start and finish at the first boss (Denial), then provide feedback and any other opinions. I asked five people to play and provide feedack – two of these knew of the game and my work previously, and the others were learning about it for the first time, not all users considered themselves gamers.

As the prototype was incomplete I sat down with the player character whilst they played and answered/guided them whenever needed. I noted down any feedback they gave me whilst and after playing.

Crits

• “Player character feels a bit like an empty shell, I think there should be a solid real backstory or have the dialogue feel more alive like the boss feels.”
• “It should be more clear how the tree is connected to the character [protagonist] maybe quickly in the prologue mention “in order to heal, both of us need to do this together” so it makes sense with the dialogue between the player and the grief”
• “Would be nice to see the distinction between realms. Having at least two of them available to play would mean that we can get a better sense of the emotions of grief and better understand the mechanics of the realm being closed down after finishing it.”
• “Is there a consequence to not doing anything? I think it would be interesting to talk about what the risk of not dealing with grief is. That way there feels like there’s real purpose in playing.”
• “If you had any of the other realms ready you could have shown that grief isn’t a linear journey and that it doesn’t follow a set order or path.”

These were really important points to consider, some that I honestly hadn’t even thought about (player risk). What stood out to me the most at the time of receiving feedback was the need to flesh out the player character, which I worked on as I was designing the character. I agreed that giving the player the decision felt like a cop out, by creating a backstory I could truly cement a story about loss.

The crits about the other realms were expected as having one area to explore is not much of an experience, but it was good to keep in mind for any future prototypes.

Positives

• “Super intersting way to translate your game idea even though the gameplay is very different – you could even consider a low-concept version of your game being turn-based RPG style”
• “The dialogue feels super accurate. I loved the way you were able to characterise Denial and how fun it was to know your choice can affect what happens”
• “Feels weird to say but dying actually feels fun, I know that when I do come back down that path I can make another choice or take another direction. It’s annoying to die btu at least there is something new.”

Bugs

• Death doesn’t always work (not displaying death message when health >= 0)
• Skill tree doesn’t function properly (because it is incomplete)
• Health not resetting in Limbo

The solution to all of these bugs are learning how global and private functions work in harlowe so that I can not only optimise the existing code but also ensure that they will work.