Our First Outside Playtest

Hi everyone, it’s time for the weekend dev update!

Earlier this week we held our first playtest with people outside the team, and got a lot of valuable first-hand impressions. The feedback we heard most was about two things: the tutorial, and understanding how combat works. So this week, besides an across-the-board pass on the UI, the team put a lot of work into improving how new players are guided in.

Personally, I think the key to a good tutorial is not over-restricting what players can do. Teach the core controls, and leave the rest of the fun for players to discover on their own. If a game pushes players too hard to learn through trial and error, frustration builds up, and some might quit right at the start. “Trying something and failing” and “the game making you fail” are completely different experiences, and any tutorial should work hard to avoid the second one.

The core gameplay is coming together more and more! Once we’ve confirmed this round of changes is heading the right way, we’ll move straight on to expanding later stages and new content. Stay tuned!