September 24th - Postmortem

I was able to have three people playtest my last update.

Based on the feedback I got from them and how I watched them play, I noticed two big things I wanted to improve.

1. Better visual aide pulling the player towards the objectives.

One player in particular completely ignored my little soccer field, and was confused as to where the last piece was. Other players were able to figure it out quickly, but I felt the need to better push the player towards that goal without outright telling them to play with the ball. I decided to add a soccer ball texture to my sphere so players would better understand why it was there and hopefully be more inclined to kick it into the goal. In addition to this, a player kept walking past my shop location without stopping to see the puzzle piece for sale. I decided to aide this by putting a big red canopy tent over the shop to draw more attention to it. I also put some coins on top and made it bouncy, as all tents should be. 

Side note: The tent over the shop was there in my last video, as I had recorded that video after the playtests and already started working on solutions. Just wanted to note that it was *not* there when people playtested my level.

2. Quality of life improvements for the player.

I noticed that *all* of my playtesters struggled with a platforming section which I *thought* was easy based on my own testing. One playtester in particular suggested that I add a drop shadow to better convey where the player is going to land. I thought it was a great idea and I got help from a classmate to implement it (Thanks Dameron). In addition to that, I added a little coin counter on the bottom left of the screen so the player knows when they have enough coins to buy the puzzle piece from the shop.

Overall, I learned a lot by watching people play my level. Not only did I learn how to improve on my own design, but I learned about the design process in general and how important playtesting is to understanding the player experience.