Blog Post 2 (Playtest 1)

Playtest 1:

From the first playtest, I realized that the game felt a bit too easy for some people. The playtester got through the game in his second run, and only failed the last jump. After he was done, he went through the game a few more times, and it felt as if he had already mastered the level. 

There is a part where players have to run around a curve while having their momentum sped up, which I thought would be too tough for players--however, it turned out to be a good addition, as they had something to do during the just running portions. 

But it's pretty obvious the game could have more challenges--maybe some sort of obstacle blocking their way. Because right now, they're just running and jumping. 

Also, the last platform is too far forward, the player had to take multiple attempts for that jump alone. Maybe some sort of checkpoint system would be good. However, I'm not sure if the sudden break in gameplay would hurt the momentum based gameplay I had in mind.

Notes 2:

This playtest took a completely different turn than I had thought. My playtester really struggled with the game. She couldn't get past even the first jump. This sort of pointed out a big flaw in my game, it's too hard for people not used to mouse and keyboard based movement--i.e console gamers. The jumps that I had thought were too easy took her multiple attempts and the curve parts which I thought would just be something to do during the running parts were pretty much impossible for her.  

Now, the big problem I face is who should I be designing for? If I design for the people who thought the level was too easy, the people who thought it was too hard would struggle wayy too much. Similarly, if I design for the people who initially struggled, the people who thought it was too easy would get really bored. 

There were also some small issues I noticed.

Horizontal movement is too fast. When the player is running at faster speeds and presses A or D, they get launched to the side. It feels jarring and takes them out of the game. It's an easy fix though: 

float xDirection = Mathf.Lerp(movementDirection.x, inputDirection.x, Time.fixedDeltaTime * turnSpeed);
float zDirection = Mathf.Lerp(movementDirection.z, inputDirection.z, Time.fixedDeltaTime * turnSpeed);
return new Vector3(xDirection, 0f, zDirection);

I just have to lower xDirection when the momentum speeds up, it should take like 10 minutes.

Another issue I notices was that to make some jumps, the playtester would stop and time them. Since the movement system has really high drag, it completely stopped her momentum which let her time the jumps perfectly. It ruined the flow of the game.

Future Changes

Some sort of momentum cancellation obstacle could be a cool addition. Something that when the player collides with, it reduces their speed.  It would just be some obstacle to look out for.

Momentum resets too fast when you stop moving. I.e. deceleration should be slower. This should also be an easy change:

if (!IsMoveInput) {
    movementDirection = CalculateMovementDirection(0, 0);
    rb.velocity = MovementVelocity / 2f + YVelocity;
}

Drag is calculated here, all I have to do is reduce that 2f to something reasonable.