It has been two weeks since our beta feedback. Our Beta Build didn't go quite as well as we may have hoped, but could of also gone worse than it did. Our visual design overall was liked along with the game concept, however there were a couple small mistakes and one large problem that needed to be sorted.
As mentioned our visual design and game concept was liked a lot, but what let our beta test down massively was our control system. It became apparent early in the demo that the controls were unclear to the player, and for a few even when they started to work it out they struggled. However it wasn't all too bad. It was clear that the controls were causing struggle for some people, but once we explained the actual way to play the game the way we understood it, people started to get into it and enjoy it. But without us guiding the player into these controls it was clear they were being misinterpreted. This left us with two options, completely change our control scheme which didn't sit so well with most of our group, or keep it in and work on an instructive tutorial/control screen that can guide the player in game to the correct controls.
Another big problem relating to the controls was the shake mechanic, when our testers understood what to do they were still struggling with picking up speed to get away from the predator. Resorting to them shaking the phone so violently they couldn't actually see the screen, and in one case almost dropping the device.
There were a few small problems as well that were brought to our attention as well. Again relating to the player control was about the turn speed of the player. Once the player did understand the controls and they actually started playing the game they were struggling to get all the fish as the turn speed on the player fish wasn't high enough meaning most players missed the fish they were targetting to eat.
Another problem was with our predator mechanic. The idea was liked that there is this threat coming after you and you needed to swim away from it, but in the beta build the idea of the threat wasn't properly simulated. A couple of our testers pointed out that without seeing any threat, the player doesn't get the adrenaline rush to swim away, and when they do get caught it is just meaningless.
Thankfully no problems at all were found with the AI stuff, but this was sort of expected as it isn't the main feature in the game. So a lot of my time was spent helping in other areas to address the issues at hand.
Now being qutie a bit later most of these issues have been addressed, by having detailed control animations, greater turning speeds and having a constant speed reducing the shake amount to increase speed. Here is how our game is looking at the moment:
Now most of our beta feedback has been addressed I can return to adding another threat into the game with the pufferfish, which will require some basic AI to move up and down and perhaps a little bit forward, that will puff up in defence when the player fish gets near.