(In case you’re wondering, Update 7\u00a0only really changed the internal UI systems so it didn’t really merit a test report. It did have some minor gameplay tweaks like letting players continue movement if they defeat a battle in under two turns. )<\/p>\n
Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n Test Results<\/strong><\/p>\n Probably the worst received version of the game by testers in the entire history of the project, especially by new players. The new systems have tipped the game past the point of “incredibly confused by the wonky interface for 20mins, followed by understanding” that the previous builds had. In this version\u00a0the systems are impenetrable enough that some players will just plain give up on understanding them (partially amplified by the impression that their initial fumbling has lost them the rest of the remaining game). Meanwhile the more inquisitive players who do end up figuring out most the systems aren’t exactly\u00a0bowled over by the game.<\/p>\n Despite cutback measures game length still seems quite high in 4 player (2hr and 1.5hr games), but I’m actually pretty sure these lengths are more due to new players adjusting to the game and asking lots of questions than the game itself necessarily being all that long (the movement system also contributed to this, with the princess often ending up lying on the ground after two players exhausted themselves fighting to reach the end).<\/p>\n Next<\/strong><\/p>\n Way back in Update 6 (which was March 2015) I said I was finally happy with the basics and it was finally time to move on to polish. But then we look at this update and we’re right back to a ton of new systems.\u00a0It certainly started towards that purpose, with\u00a0the next several months and Update 7 being focused squarely on setting up the new\u00a0technical foundation for UI. But the PVP mode still haunted me with its inadequacies. The smart thing to do would have been to cut PVP and focus squarely on co-op. Instead I delved into one last major system overhaul- the primary system\u00a0being that of a deck representing random events that can be manipulated by players, allowing players to\u00a0tilt\u00a0fate in their favor.<\/p>\n The result is that I’m pretty satisfied with the PVP personally now? Only in theory since I haven’t run enough tests with the same players for people to pick up the mechanics to really start using them (and really most testers don’t want to do that many sessions anymore since the game is so offputting). The closest has been with one of my longer term testers who started picking up what I was throwing out\u00a0during the second test. But I can sit and do a quick test session with myself and go: ‘Yeah, This is good stuff. this is really good. Probably.’<\/p>\n Was it worth it? I don’t know.\u00a0There’s still a lot of game to make.\u00a0I like hedging my bets by having two very different modes, but the time cost is undeniable (and now an added cost in making these new things clear).<\/p>\n For now the big goal is\u00a0to clean up the usability mess I’ve created, and hope there’s a game under there that other people can appreciate. If it turns out there is, then I can move on to the\u00a0issues of adding\u00a0required functionality and the rest of the content. I think we’re collectively adopting as a group more of a “Get It Done” mentality so I\u00a0still feel ok about this thing despite the reception to this update. I want to push out a major update every month from here on out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (In case you’re wondering, Update 7\u00a0only really changed the internal UI systems so it didn’t really merit a test report. It did have some minor gameplay tweaks like letting players continue movement if they defeat a battle in under two turns. ) Changes Shrunk map down to 1\/3rd its size while keeping existing\u00a0quest size intact.… Continue reading Update 8 Test Report<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-update-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crabattack.org\/blog\/hawk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n