We had multiple play testing sessions between various groups. Teachers, classmates, ourselves, BTEC students and various people we shared the game to -- through Itch.io. Below is part of the Google Form we would ask testers to fill after playing, we would also record anything happening while they tested. This information is then taken into an Excel spreadsheet by Owen McNally, where he categorises supplied feedback.
The playtest results below are of the BTECs. We ran two playtests with the same class. The first being in an early version of our game, testing on completely new players. This feedback helped guide us heavily in what direction to take the game next, we returned with said changes and a much more developed game at a later date. We received feedback from both previous players and new ones. Fortunately, a majority of the feedback was overwhelming positive, only suggesting small changes, from both new and returning players.
It's extremely important to frequently gather feedback from new players, as their bias of the game isn't skewed through comparison. This is why reviewing our game alone wouldn't be possible, and why developers release alpha/ beta builds or have private play tests.
Below is some feedback received through our tutor; Mike Acosta. It was verbal feedback, from our pitch, so I quickly jotted it down. Quickly reading through it, you'll see most of this feedback has been implemented/ worked on within our game.
We were also fortunate enough for developers from Ubisoft to play our game, if only for a short moment. We had a small conversation with them and they helped bring forth any flaws within our game.
To quickly list some feedback and how it applied:
Players could hide behind large obstructions, hiding the character's entirety -- Assets, in the play area, are scaled to be no higher than the character's waist. Any larger assets are moved outside the play area for decorative means.
Suggestions of Powerups. Plus, the suggestion of a "Split-Ball" -- Both powerups and the "Split-Ball" idea were fully implemented to add variation and changes of pace to gameplay.
Destructible Assets -- Implemented through various destructible pots within the environment, see my blog post on said topic.
Play area too large, player's had too much space between one another -- Play area was simply shrunk to a size play testers preferred.
Dash to slow, short and unresponsive -- New methods were applied to completely reimagine the dash. Meaning it covers more distance, much quicker and has a larger impact on the game.
Unsure if ball hit enemy player -- Hit VFX placed in. Plus, projectiles have trails so they're more readable.
Player couldn't find ball pickups, or the opposing player easily, as they blended into the environment -- Silhouette shader developed to mitigate this, see my blog post for more details.
Forcefield not visible enough/ Forcefield blocking view -- A happy medium is created, which blends both aspects, which play testers had no issues with. See my blog post on the Forcefield Shader,
This is just a taste of the copious amounts of feedback we received, from multiple sources, and the changes we made to correct them.
If I were to redo the collection of feedback, I would run OBS while play testers are playing. Collecting recorded feedback, which we could analyse later, would provide optimum data collection.