UI/Polish (Week 5)

Another busy week so no new content to present, i will instead be sharing and discussing feedback data.

So i was pretty happy with the feedback i got from the testing sessions on Friday, in the first session a few people were having issues with the cooking menu as my canvas scaler wasn't set up properly causing the menu to break on some resolutions, but i was allowed to join the second testing session after fixing it so i got double the feedback on balance and still got some feedback on the upgrade system!

So my first feedback question was "How hard did you find the game?" with a scale from 1- (Very easy) to 5- (Very hard).

These were the results

These results were pretty expected, most did not play long enough to bother with the upgrade system, and the game should be hard when you have none of the upgrades. A lot of players also didn't understand what was going on, a few thought the radish was shooting lasers, some didn't know they had an invulnerable dash, some were playing on a trackpad and couldn't really move and shoot at the same time, a lot of people stand really close to the enemies when trying to shoot them making it near impossible to dodge anything the enemies shoot, i don't think many people used blanks.... so.... i think the solution is a tutorial. A simple linear path you have to play first, introducing one enemy type at a time, teaching you how blanks and dash works, so when you are thrown in the deep end you know what to do. I do think if i had the time some balance is necessary, but i don't think i have the time for that right now. I do plan on some major adjustments to the upgrade systems costs so you can scale a lot faster which should hopefully make the game more fun and give the feeling of progression more effectively. But i am overall fine with these results, 4 would have been the ideal majority answer but this is close enough.

Second question "Which enemy type gave you the hardest time?"

These were the results

This kind of surprised me, after the first session broccoli was at like 90%, i had never really considered Broccoli to be that much of an issue, but i guess it makes sense, it shoots the second most projectiles, and they are directed at the player unlike the carrot. This is an easy nerf though, i will simply bring the projectile count down, i would like to have less random projectiles on screen anyway, it can be a bit chaotic when there is 6 enemies at once. Radish and Carrot sharing the other half is expected and i am happy with how they were performing. I am a little surprised nobody was getting clipped by the leeks wider projectile so maybe a little buff for that guy, but i am pretty okay with him being weaker than the rest, its a nice relief to see a few of those guys on a platform. Corn wasn't included in this as i consider him a mini boss, and he wasn't in any of the questions but i am also pretty happy with them, they was giving players a decently hard time and were as chaotic as i hoped but also manageable, a few players did manage to take them out.

Third question was "Did you make it to the boss fight?"

Results

This was also very expected, the boss fight is the end of the game, if they were able to finish it in a 5 minute session that would be a problem, this was only here so if some insane person managed to do it they could brag about it.

Question four "Did you notice the level was changing every time you died?"

Sad results

This definitely sucks, the procedural generation, and creation of different levels and decorations on each was a pointless use of a week if people don't notice it. I am very unhappy with even the 21.4% here, i don't know if i can do anything about this, in the time i have, ideally i would just drop the rectangle levels so its more obvious, i just really don't have the time to make that work.

The fifth question was "What did you think of the upgrade system?" This was multiple choice.

Results

"Upgrades were too expensive" This is being addressed, i am changing the costs of all recipes to be cheaper.

"Upgrades didn't feel worth it" I am shocked nobody said this, i assume its because most didn't get many upgrades, when they become cheaper their worth will increase anyway so i don't think this needs changing either way.

"I didn't understand it" Understandable, there is nothing explaining it so that is on me, i will add some sort of guide, maybe in the tutorial.

"What upgrade system" ........  a tutorial will help with this

"It was good" I'm glad this is the majority!

"I would like to see more single item upgrades" I would like to add more, i need to figure out a stat, or upgrade, that will not be broken if it's that cheap, i am thinking flat damage +1. Attack speed is better for damage anyway, so making attack damage a cheap stat shouldn't be too bad. Or if i can figure out a different projectile type, maybe you can swap between them with a simple one item recipe.

"It was broken" Fixed after session one, this was the canvas scaling issue.

"Lack of corn" Fair, its hard to get to the corn mini boss early, and most upgrades needed it, i have removed corn from some recipes and decreased it for others. But most major upgrades are locked behind some corn, its a good way to measure how many good runs you have done, a good run will get you two corn, so for example health upgrades need three., meaning you have to had done at least two good runs with 3 health before you get the privilege of 4 health.

"It was cool and fit the game atmosphere" Glad to hear this!

Question six was "Have you played any other rogue-lites?

So the reason for this question was that i wanted to see if the difficulty people had with the game aligned with their previous experience in rogue-lites and it did. Basically, most of the people that had only played 1 or 0 rogue-lites had said difficulty was at a 5, and then most of the people that had played more than 1 rogue-lite gave the game a 4. This is interesting, to me it means my balance isn't super far off where i want it. I expect people with no rogue-lite experience to find it near impossible at first, rogue-lite/bullet hells are notoriously rough for new players and i don't expect it to feel easy for them. Ideally though, the upgrade system allows them to put a bit of time into it to become overpowered enough to beat it anyway while better players need less upgrades and do it faster.

Question seven was an open ended "Any other feedback?"

This was the feedback:

The watering can being able to move far away from the player make the gameplay feel a little disjointed.

This is a bug with the way the watering can works, the watering can distance was based on mouse position so that if i had any wacky different weapon types you had a lot more freedom to move your weapon around, i haven't added any yet though so the watering can will just be set to a fixed distance.

I feel like the first platform is too hard to begin with. Also invuln frames when you get hit would be nice and would stop one shot instant kills from the brocoli

Invuln frames are easily able to be turned back on, i had thought the blanks had replaced the need for that, but there is some niche cases where it doesn't work.

"I absolutely love the pixel art sprites"

https://cupnooble.itch.io/sprout-lands-asset-pack 
https://elthen.itch.io/2d-pixel-art-vegetable-monsters-sprite-pack
All credit to these lovely art packs!

"Enemy projectiles could be more "visible" to help filter all the visual clutter going around"

This was directly related to the Leek i believe as it doesn't have the same outline as the others, i will add the outline!

"Great work with the game project! fantastic idea (interaction of the player with the enemies and gameobjects on the game). I would probably add some sound effects, but apart from that great job!"

Sound effects are hopefully coming, i am struggling to find sound effects that match my ideas but i will keep looking!

"It wasn't clear how to exit the cooking station, I just sort of hit buttons till it worked and once I added a vegetable, I couldn't take it back"

Yeah its not clear that you still control your player in the cooking menu, i had some helpful feedback that this walk up, walk away, works better if you can still see your player, so that will be changed to make it more clear. Being able to take it back is surprisingly hard to implement but i will try!

"The watering can would be easier to aim if it was at a fixed distance and the upgrade menu was little confusing"

Watering can is being changed and tutorial will be added for the upgrade menu!

"Keep it up"

Thanks!

"Fun game pretty punishing initially. maybe have 1 vegetable grow in the little farm every time u die"

This is a good idea, if i can find the time i would like to implement a passive vegetable income so even if you have a bad run it still feels rewarding!

"Have cabbage doors be killable. Have a growbed at home to collect more rare resources faster. Buttons for autocompleting recipes."

These were great ideas and should be easily implementable if i find the time!

That is all the feedback! Lots of useful stuff so thanks to everyone who participated!

I am finally finished with all the work i had for other classes so this next (last) week i will be crunching as much as possible while trying to not get distracted by the relaunch of Multiversus, or Hades 2 that is still waiting for me. 

Thanks for reading!