Blog 5: First Playable

Play-Testing Report

Moiz Ahmad

I am the programmer and producer for our game. 

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Most players responded positively to the concept of our game. The role reversal of a dragon protagonist defending the princess from unsavory knights appealed to everyone who play-tested with me. My roommate disparaged my lack of feature implementation, but decided he still enjoyed the aesthetic of the application. My classmate was much more benign in his commentary and was pretty enthusiastic about the upcoming beta version. 

Both players enjoyed controlling the dragon instead of the knight. Both understood the intended rules and game-play mechanics, though one play-tester insisted I make the princess vulnerable to accidental damage from the dragon. The art and design of the game was unanimously praised (due to my partner's excellent artistic abilities), but one suggested we update the look of the dragon and make it more visible. Finally, we were also advised to add an edge or border to the screen to prevent the dragon from going too far off-screen. 

We plan to keep the core concept of our top-down knight-immolating game. We also want to add a music track, sound effects, and occasional knight and princess exclamations. We will definitely add a physical border to the game level and I also plan to implement fireball projectile mechanics as well as a score and health system for the dragon. The knights will home in on the princess's location to woo her and possibly pursue the dragon to kill the player. We may also add environmental interaction by making certain obstacles flammable or destructible. Further, we need to add a start/splash screen and add instructions preceding game-play. I'm still undecided about including a friendly-fire element by making the princess vulnerable to the dragon's attacks. 

Pictures