Playtesting — devblog 68
I had my first playtests.
I created about 40 minutes of gameplay and let my kids play. The main goal wasn’t bug-hunting, but rather to see how intuitive the controls are, whether the game is fun, and what they would try to do. It was so hard to just silently observe without giving hints, especially when they asked questions. In the end, I did give some help — the game is far from finished and a lot of things really aren’t obvious yet. The most useful part was seeing what the kids tried to do and how.
Some things I implemented right away. For example, the player can now remove obstacles using tools (break stumps with a hammer, fill in holes with a shovel, cut dry bushes with scissors) — though it consumes energy.
I noticed that my older daughter didn’t try to explore the world or go to new areas if the quest list was empty and there were no clear instructions. Ideally, the starting quest chain should guide the player through the whole world. She played for about an hour, completed 5 in-game days, finished the quests, and adopted two cats.
My younger daughter focused on the cats and saw more in their actions than was actually there. She said things like “he hid behind the bush,” “he came to sniff me,” “he’s happy because those are his favorite berries.” She quickly finished all the story quests and kept asking to play more in the evenings. She made her own goals like collecting as many cats as possible and decorating the yard for them. She played for several evenings, 1–2 hours each time, completed 24 in-game days, finished all the quests, and adopted 5 cats.
Both kids easily figured out how to create a character, use the inventory, navigate dialogs, understand skills and crafting. Neither realized that you can give commands to cats. They also didn’t figure out how to use the extra info panel about the cats — but that was expected. Both said the cats were super cute, and the most fun part was taking care of them.
I don’t plan any more playtests in the near future, because the most valuable thing is that first impression — and you can only get one from each person. I only have so many people I can observe.
So, I made tons of notes for myself and plan to change a lot. I already fixed the easiest stuff.
I revised some quests. For example, the quest where you have to unpack and place your furniture now also counts furniture placed in the yard.
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I fixed a bunch of dialogs and descriptions, added tooltips explaining how to learn new recipes or tools.
I added a hint showing where roads lead. This will help players later when a quest says something like “go to the Dark Forest.” For now, it shows technical location names.
Redrew the mana potion — it’s now purple and shiny.
Removed the empty slot from the tools panel. Added tips to tools (here the mouse is hovering over the hammer).
Added a visual button to open the big inventory. I actually did this before the playtest because I knew they wouldn’t think to press “I”. With the button, they figured it out right away and used it without hesitation.
And not a result of the playtest, but just another update:
You can now craft a new type of food. Only one food type is available at the start, but better food unlocks as the cooking skill improves.
If you like the game — you can add it to your Wishlist on Steam.
