You say the playtest went poorly, but this is actually what a fantastic playtest looks like. If you spend 2 hours and all you learn is "everything I thought was correct" then effectively all you did was waste 2 hours and potentially whatever money you compensated the testers and UR team with.
I think the solution to the crosshair problem is to make a crosshair that exists within the world (instead of UI) AND have the golf ball interact/move through the "crosshair" when dashing. This will help correlate the cross-hair's direction with the direction of the dash (and by extension, the camera). For example, maybe there is a ring of particles that hovers next to the golf ball that is pointing in the direction the dash will go. When the dash is activated, the ring stays in place and the golf ball flies through it. Now players know ring = direction and will get the gist since the ring moves with the camera. Since the old ring gets left behind after the dash, you can even use the respawning of a new "ring"/crosshair to give a visual indication for when the player can dash again. Give the ring a good animation for the dash and another for its respawn and I think it would be a pretty nice-looking system.
An idea for the dash could be to slow the game down a bit and have the dash activate on mouse release to give players time to aim. Or maybe that could be the assist mode feature.
one thing that might help with the boost is an "action" that causes the boost. let's say a rocket boost behind it or a pool q hitting it. i think that would be more intuitive because players know where the blast is coming from so it will be easier to learn from their mistakes. humans don't naturally understand that if you are looking at something from behind and you press space it goes directly forward but they do understand that if you hit something from behind it moves the opposite way.
Very good devlog!! And yes, playtest is a really important part of a game development, to test than all works well, and also to know how players will react Good luck working on the game!!
Not to backseat dev, but a potential solution to removing the crosshair (albeit a lot more work) could be to add a slight time dilation when "charging" the boost and show a trajectory arc of where the ball is going to go, perhaps as an optionalized feature, or something you can ween the player off throughout levels. UE has functions for both of these. "Global Time Dilation" and "Predict Projectile Path" Might be worth a prototype to see if it helps with the issue of less experienced players not being able to aim the boosts correctly, even with the crosshair.
dont think you gotta dumb down the entire game though. lots of very hard games have pretty easy starting levels for the same exact reason youre talking about here. when you got a game with unique movement mechanics, you gotta make a few baby levels to teach them.
Is the crosshair an option now that can be turned off? Oh, and what about the walls? Do they bounce or does it restart? Cause they could almost be like ‘bumpers’ in Bowling where they could just be an option (but you’ll only be able to get 1 star or something)
To be honest I don't think crosshair is necessary. I would rather have direct message on the screen with some screenshots showing some interaction with certain mechanic (or video) and level with new mechanic should be purely focused on this mechanic while level design should make painfully obvious what to do. When it comes to stuff like "press space to use boost" - yeah, this needs to be directly communicated either in instruction or tutorial. Cool game idea, really liked it. Also another proof how important playtesting and iterating is. Good luck on your journey.
Wait, I thought this game was about golf.. but if the player has to hit a hole in one and spend the time boosting platforms, it becomes like a version of sonic 3d
cursor could be switched out for a line that shows where the ball will fly or at least dont have the cursor and the ball overlap the ball could be lower or the cursor higher, also definitely add slow that the player can control
You could make the cursor an optional thing, too! Maybe some players would like to get rid of it. Tutorializing that you can aim is def important either way though.
Yep, I actually set up a framework to let people turn the crosshair on/off, or to make it stay on all the time (instead of fading away when you don't have a boost). Also want to have options for different designs.
Could make no cross hair a separate game mode. Or just have the option to turn it off. 🤷🏻♂️ I like playing games that are fast and particularly the ability to style my own movement in the game if that makes sense? I’m rambling, point is if I was playing this and had the option to turn off the cross hair I would. Anyways, good video.
Hey man! Your game's looking really good so far! I would love to get in touch to discuss how I can contribute to its growth and success of it as well as improve your online presence. Keep up the good work! Cheers.
It's awful that you rendered this video in 24fps, makes it borderline unwatchable since the gameplay was obviously not locked to 24fps or a higher multiple. Cool game though! Also, it's neat that you are dating Greta Thunberg.
You say the playtest went poorly, but this is actually what a fantastic playtest looks like. If you spend 2 hours and all you learn is "everything I thought was correct" then effectively all you did was waste 2 hours and potentially whatever money you compensated the testers and UR team with.
I think the solution to the crosshair problem is to make a crosshair that exists within the world (instead of UI) AND have the golf ball interact/move through the "crosshair" when dashing. This will help correlate the cross-hair's direction with the direction of the dash (and by extension, the camera).
For example, maybe there is a ring of particles that hovers next to the golf ball that is pointing in the direction the dash will go. When the dash is activated, the ring stays in place and the golf ball flies through it. Now players know ring = direction and will get the gist since the ring moves with the camera.
Since the old ring gets left behind after the dash, you can even use the respawning of a new "ring"/crosshair to give a visual indication for when the player can dash again. Give the ring a good animation for the dash and another for its respawn and I think it would be a pretty nice-looking system.
I'm a student in user research for video games and you have more UX maturity than some triple A studios. keep going !!
If you're a student, how do you have reference for the processes of AAA studios?
you first level is genius and I like the crosshair, playtesting is over powered
An idea for the dash could be to slow the game down a bit and have the dash activate on mouse release to give players time to aim. Or maybe that could be the assist mode feature.
That's a nice idea.
I like it! I think it would probably be too disruptive for the main game, but as an accessibility option would be perfect.
Very useful finding; really feels like as a dev, you were only really aware of the positive use case scenario, which is a big danger.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of small (
I love this game concept. Excited to see more!
one thing that might help with the boost is an "action" that causes the boost. let's say a rocket boost behind it or a pool q hitting it. i think that would be more intuitive because players know where the blast is coming from so it will be easier to learn from their mistakes. humans don't naturally understand that if you are looking at something from behind and you press space it goes directly forward but they do understand that if you hit something from behind it moves the opposite way.
Very good devlog!!
And yes, playtest is a really important part of a game development, to test than all works well, and also to know how players will react
Good luck working on the game!!
Not to backseat dev, but a potential solution to removing the crosshair (albeit a lot more work) could be to add a slight time dilation when "charging" the boost and show a trajectory arc of where the ball is going to go, perhaps as an optionalized feature, or something you can ween the player off throughout levels. UE has functions for both of these. "Global Time Dilation" and "Predict Projectile Path" Might be worth a prototype to see if it helps with the issue of less experienced players not being able to aim the boosts correctly, even with the crosshair.
the crosshair looks kinda bad to me, maybe replace it with drawing a line from the ball showing the direction it will move
dont think you gotta dumb down the entire game though. lots of very hard games have pretty easy starting levels for the same exact reason youre talking about here. when you got a game with unique movement mechanics, you gotta make a few baby levels to teach them.
Is the crosshair an option now that can be turned off? Oh, and what about the walls? Do they bounce or does it restart? Cause they could almost be like ‘bumpers’ in Bowling where they could just be an option (but you’ll only be able to get 1 star or something)
I mean- some people just aren't gamers.
To be honest I don't think crosshair is necessary. I would rather have direct message on the screen with some screenshots showing some interaction with certain mechanic (or video) and level with new mechanic should be purely focused on this mechanic while level design should make painfully obvious what to do. When it comes to stuff like "press space to use boost" - yeah, this needs to be directly communicated either in instruction or tutorial. Cool game idea, really liked it. Also another proof how important playtesting and iterating is. Good luck on your journey.
yo, how did you generate that mesh using a spline ? never seen that before
Wait, I thought this game was about golf.. but if the player has to hit a hole in one and spend the time boosting platforms, it becomes like a version of sonic 3d
Super interesting, good job! 🙂
cursor could be switched out for a line that shows where the ball will fly or at least dont have the cursor and the ball overlap the ball could be lower or the cursor higher, also definitely add slow that the player can control
This is so interesting. Your poor partner probably hated being honest, major props to them though! 10/10 video!
You could make the cursor an optional thing, too! Maybe some players would like to get rid of it. Tutorializing that you can aim is def important either way though.
Yep, I actually set up a framework to let people turn the crosshair on/off, or to make it stay on all the time (instead of fading away when you don't have a boost). Also want to have options for different designs.
@@SwitchbackStudio33 love it. Those details really show the players you care 😇
Maybe you could slow down time while holding space/ boost?
Don't really have any specific feedback based on what i've seen, but it looks like a fun little game tbh
Awesome work!
Could make no cross hair a separate game mode. Or just have the option to turn it off. 🤷🏻♂️ I like playing games that are fast and particularly the ability to style my own movement in the game if that makes sense? I’m rambling, point is if I was playing this and had the option to turn off the cross hair I would. Anyways, good video.
Hey man! Your game's looking really good so far! I would love to get in touch to discuss how I can contribute to its growth and success of it as well as improve your online presence.
Keep up the good work! Cheers.
most of the stuff mentioned i just call: skill issue
instead of X crosshair make it circle
It's awful that you rendered this video in 24fps, makes it borderline unwatchable since the gameplay was obviously not locked to 24fps or a higher multiple. Cool game though! Also, it's neat that you are dating Greta Thunberg.