Continuing on from the layout of my prototype level, I set about completing an early finished prototype as I had a very important play-test session coming up in class. I first of all began working on a very simple mechanic that would act as a puzzle for the players. If they approached a door they would not be able to open the door. Instead they would have to pick up a key object to aid them in opening the door and advancing through the level. When the player approaches the key object, they press “E” to pick it up and the door opens automatically. I tried to have the key not open the door unless the player pressed “E” near it. As things currently stand I can’t get it working but I aim to fix this issue shortly.
I am due to begin work on the audio part of my game soon. I must organize someone to provide voice acting towards the game. For this instance I myself provided audio so the player could make sense of what was going on in the game. I am taking my time on this aspect of my game as this will be in my opinion what makes or breaks the user’s experience with my game.
Another mechanic I got working for this play-test session was the note reading mechanic. When the player approaches notes on a table it pops up on screen. I used my knowledge of Photoshop to make realistic looking notes to help further immerse the player in my game world. I need to write more of these but for the play-through I used bits from the script I wrote from the audio.
The Play-test session was a great success. I had lots of problems building up to the play-test session which made me feel on edge throughout. I opened up Unity the night before to tweak a few things and to also double check everything was ok. When I did this I got this very strange error which would not allow me to play the game to test it. When Googling this strange error it informed me there was a problem with the Package Manager for Unity. Unity was not allowing me add simple things like Audio sources and colliders. The solution told me to set the packages to default. Every time I did this the loading bar would freeze halfway. The next day I went into College to solve the issue but unfortunately the issue was still there. To help rise the tension, the play-test was on a Wednesday which is the busiest day of the week which means no computer labs are available. The only room available has sub-par machines barely able to run Unity. And still the issue that I had from the night before was still there. The computer technician in the college then sorted out a license issue on the machine and then suddenly Unity and my game started to work. This provided me with a short window of time where I finished off anything that needed resolving before the play-test.
When I received the feedback from the play-test session I was delighted with the mostly positive feedback. I am aware there is still plenty to do but everyone that played it genuinely enjoyed it and had some great suggestions. The majority of gamers are not into narrative games like I am. So when we had a chance to provide a questionnaire I was curious as to what I could do to help people enjoy my game. So one of the questions was what kind of puzzles would you like to see in the game that would help you enjoy this game. And the feedback I got was invaluable. I look forward to continuing work on my project and implementing the feedback into the final prototype at the end of the semester.
Here is the latest gameplay from the prototype of “The Room”
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