This post is written two days after I posted a playable build to itch. Given that this is only initial feedback that is incredibly apparent to players on first experiencing the game. First however I’ll detail some of the features I added to the game to be ready right before the prototype launched.
Features
Firstly, and this is less of a feature, I overhauled the interaction system in the game. Initially, I had developed a vessel docking system that allowed players to dock in an area, and interact with any local objects with their mouse. While this will be invaluable as a system later, where some regions will have many traders, or be large in scale and have multiple characters to talk to, in the prototype I’m limited by time and resources, and therefore implemented a simple prompt system, wherein a player can approach an interactable and a prompt will appear in the UI for them to interact.
Currently this functions with Characters and loose items that players can approach and collect.
Next, I decided to look into onboarding as I felt like the current onboarding was limited to purely character interactions, some of which were optional. I introduced a small tutorialization system wherein prompts would appear on screen when appropriate to teach mechanics. I used this to teach less intuitive stuff like the controls for camera rotation, opening inventory and using the harpoon.
Next I decided to add in some simple inventory damage, as while I think the only failure state in the game will be running out of fuel, I want the player suffering damage to be meaningful, and therefore prototyped the system I had in mind for damage.
The current system damages inventory slots when you take damage, depending on the direction you took damage from. (if you take damage from the front, your top slots get destroyed, and can no longer be used.
This system punishes taking damage by limiting what you can carry, which will influence the ending of the game as well as your moment to moment gameplay capability.
Finally, I added basic consumable functionality, with two consumables currently in the game. The vessel has a consumable controller component, which has a switch statement to select and apply an effect for each consumable, this is extendable easily, and will suffice for any number of consumables I decide to have in the game.
After all these additions, I did some testing myself to ensure there weren’t any glaring bugs, and proceeded to post the prototype. The prototype was a very unfinished state of the game, with most if not all the mid/endgame content still under review, so not pushed with the prototype. My goal was to get feedback on movement, tone, UI, oboarding and visual/sound design.
Initial Feedback
While I collect feedback on my google form, I have collected some initial feedback from testimonials that I wanted to write about as they are key to improving the initial feel of the game.
Movement
The overall feelings on the movement mechanics were positive with regards to the feeling of movement itself, but there were major and minor issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, there was no reverse function. This led to some players getting stuck, and although it is possible to unstick oneself by rotating around and spamming keys, it isn’t helathy for the game to have players be stuck in that way. For this reason I’m going to add a simple reverse mechanic wherein players can reverse the vessel by holding the back key (S) when it’s speed is set to zero. This reverse will be slow, and consume no fuel, merely present to allow players to unstick themselves.
The issue I immediately see with this in the long run, is that if a player runs out of fuel, they can just reverse their vessel towards their goal, so I’ll have to ensure players can’t game the system.
Fuel Consumption
It seems that players had a hard time understanding the fuel consumption system. While I feel it is intuitive, it only reaches intuitiveness once a player has understood how it works. This is something that needs a remedy. Sadly this is compounded by a similar lack of understanding of controls in other areas, which is why I’ve decided to include a controls section to the pause menu to explain all the controls needed.
Furthermore, it seems that players didn’t understand how to refuel their vessel. It is explained in part by the refueling NPC you can interact with (more on that later) as well as the final NPC you talk to before leaving the port (Branok). It is also explained in the inventory menu when you mouse over the Fuel deposit slot, as well as on items that contain fuel when you mouse over them. This explanation needs to be expanded, but a better system of explaining the refuel controls is necessary before I can say that the problem is resolved.
Interaction Prompting
While I think the prompt system is perfectly fine as is, there is an issue with players not knowing what characters/items are interactable, and therefore not approaching them to talk/collect. This was evident where many players didn’t interact with characters in port, and receive the many requests/bits of help that I had prepared for them during their journey.
While overused, I think the simplest and best approach to this would be to include interaction prompts over the areas where these characters are positioned. A simple “exclamantion mark” would identify these certain areas as those that players can approach to interact with, and would more often coax people into starting those interactions.
UI Feedback
An element that I knew about but overlooked was that of movement dynamics. Given that scrimshaw uses a “gear” system of movement, I should show the player how fast they are moving somewhere with an icon that tells them what their current move speed is: Reverse, Zero, Slow, Half and Full. This would simply show players what setting they’re on and allow them to decide how fast to move, and manage their fuel better.
Similarly, a simple chang I plan to make is to include prompts on screen for the non enabled crew states (Harpoon, Cannon, Voyaging, Neutral). A simple UI change where the non enabled icons are shown next to the “crew state” UI with associated button prompts to tell you what states you can change to.
Beyond this, tomorrow is the day I record every voice line in the prototype… once. Sadly with the way that I organized things, it left little time for redoing a core part of the project, the character voices. The voice lines and dialogue all serve a functional or narrative purpouse, and if that purpouse changes with feedback, the lines need to be rewritten and recorded. For this reason I’m aiming to nail down the game’s functions tonight, and get the characters set up correctly, from there the recording should be the final version, at least for the prototype. I’ll write up the voice line changes, as well as notes on the session and my evaluation of it tomorrow.
Cheers ‘n gone.