Playtests October Project Beta

I played alongside the first group, while for the second group, I simply observed and took notes.

Current status of the project

A few words on the current state of the project: the player characters have models and animations, likely the ones that will appear in the final version. Otherwise, everything is constructed from basic, colored geometric primitives. Items are built the same way, though some already feature early-stage effects and even a few sounds. There are also some ambient sounds, though some feel random and don’t quite fit the game.

As you might guess from what I’ve already mentioned, there are bugs and some odd physics behaviors. Surprisingly, however, the multiplayer functionality worked perfectly, as did the proximity chat, even though I had expected those to be the biggest pain points.

Playtest

Regardless, the experience, both playing and observing was fantastic. Despite the game’s current state, it’s already a lot of fun. To be fair, a big part of that is simply playing with friends, but even when I test it alone, I still feel a sense of excitement whenever I step into this world. I’ve ended up with several pages of notes, suggestions, bug reports, and new ideas.

Comparing the alfa and beta projects playtests, it’s no surprise that I’m leaning toward continuing work on this. In any case, the main takeaway is clear: conduct playtests as early as possible.