Play Testing (21/2/2014)

* Over reading week I was able to play test Remode's upcoming game 'Campy Command' which tries to get across the importance of cooking food correctly. Playing as a germ (Campylobacter jejuni) you start in a chicken before going into a slice of cooking ham and then into a person's digestive system all ending in some funny, yet gross toilet humour.

You can see my notes on my first play through below.

Positives: 

• Awesome music, reminds me of Spyro.
• Being able to upload a photo for your avatar was a cool idea. I also never expected it to turn out to be the person you had given food poisoning to by the the end, thus, although it was a fun idea, my robots body didn't suit the posted person's face. Still, at least I know for next time.
• Well animated - graphics and animation reminded me of the video 'Dumb ways to Die' which was their inspiration. Really liked how videos blended into the corner without interrupting the game's flow.
• Good and well informed tutorial that included all the controls and enemy types in advance. 
• Good tight controls.

 Negatives:

• Despite enemy slowly fading into the scene, I still felt that they would appear and kill my character out of nowhere. Thus a clearer health bar and damage indication would be appreciated.
• Having to repeat cut scenes and the tutorial every time you play the game is a bit of a pain, but I suppose it is a necessary one in order to get across its message. 

I then tried to break the game and got the following results...

• I couldn't get the sprite to go entirely off screen despite rubbing across the boundaries or trying to spin into one from an angle. However, I could get half of its body off screen if I was fast enough on the first level. This isn't game breaking in anyway however, and therefore should be ok. 
• I couldn't break the controls trying to go in the completely opposite direction or going forward and turning as the controls were just that tight. However, if you pushed forward and backwards at the same time it made the sprite face the opposite way and go backwards super fast instead of slowly. 

Thanks to the above I have not only seen what play testing is like having only heard mixed responses about the career, but I will now be able to include play testing in my CV.

Play testing itself was a lot of fun as the game was enjoyable and so was the company. Granted, I only spent a short amount of time on it and it was a contained experience. The real job I hear can be quite lonely and tedious. Therefore, despite having had fun today, I doubt I will try and pursue the career.