Week 13 began with Softs presentations on Monday, and the feedback we received set the tone for the rest of the week. Faculty observations boiled down to a few key points:
- Design Concerns: Many faculty felt the game wasn’t achieving the transformational goals we had set out.
- High Barrier to Entry: Keyboard and mouse controls posed a challenge, with a gradual learning curve that made it hard for some to engage with the game fully.
- Gameplay Intuition: The controls and mechanics were not intuitive, and many couldn’t progress beyond Day 1.
In our post-Softs meeting with faculty advisors, the tone was more optimistic. While they acknowledged the general concerns, they assured us they still believed in our vision and progress. Some of their key takeaways:
- Faculty advisors were confident we were hitting our goals, though they felt the rest of the faculty didn’t experience the game as intended due to limited playtime.
- They encouraged us to focus on a final build, prioritizing smoother transitions and fixing remaining bugs to deliver a more polished and cohesive experience.
Week 14 was a mix of final refinements and festival preparations. With Softs behind us, we directed all our efforts toward:
- Resolving lingering bugs, especially those that broke immersion.
- Adjusting transitions to improve the flow of the story and gameplay.
- Reworking mechanics to make the game more accessible and intuitive without overhauling core systems.
In parallel, we prepared for the end-of-semester festival. We created a quick video to showcase the game and decorated our project room with items from our own homes, along with 2D assets from the game, to recreate the game’s atmosphere and make our space inviting for festival attendees.