Whitebox Playtest (Ian)

This week, we started whiteboxing GRVTY and did some in-class play-testing amongst the different groups. Unfortunately, all three of us were really busy last week and continue to be really busy this week, so we didn't make as much progress on the level as I think we would've liked. We at least got the general scale of things figured out and started boxing in the different elevations and structures across the main area and the memories, but not much beyond that--which didn't leave a whole lot for play-testers to comment on.

In terms of good feedback, play-testers seemed to enjoy the tall buildings and some even thought they created an intimidating feeling (in a good way). Some testers also commented saying that they liked the differences in elevation across the main area and memories, which I thought was nice, because that's something I liked about our level as well. Despite our relative lack of progress, we still got some useful constructive criticism. Some highlights include making the character move a little faster and making sure that there's nowhere in the level that the player can fall through. Initially I thought testers were talking about the gaps between the main area and the memories--which are very close right now, since we're still just whiteboxing--but it seems like some of our plane objects didn't have colliders, causing testers to fall through them. That's definitely something we'll need to fix before the next time we playtest.

Some play-testers also echoed some of my own concerns about our level. First, they suggested that we make sure to guide the player, so they always know what they're supposed to do. That's definitely something that's been on my mind, and I'll have to keep thinking about it so I can properly do so when we start picking art assets for the level. Second--and something I was particularly worried about--one play-tester thought that our level felt a little small. Comparing our level to some of the others I saw during play-testing, I think GRVTY is definitely on the smaller side; we might have spent too much time planning out our mechanics and not enough laying out the level. Fortunately, we're still in early phases, so we have time to make a change if we want, but I'm also planning on packing the level with lots of small things for the player to do on top of the level's main objective, which will hopefully make our smaller level more interesting.