Since I am a bit behind due to a busy weekend, I do not have a playable link where the game is published, but was able to conduct an out-of-class playtest.
Playtest 10/22 – Christina
This was an in-class playtest with Christina, the instructor. Christina is well-versed in AI tools and has first-hand experience with their work being trained on. Christina has also worked in the game industry, where there is often a “passion” tax towards artists and game developers.
Observations
- Christina related to the intro, noting the Dad’s manipulation and missing Christmas with your family.
- Christina kept pressing enter or right arrow to progress.
- Change: Add different options to progress (space, arrow, and enter)
- Christina did NOT like Landon (a success!) and wishes there were options to end the conversation early or more free-will here.
- Change: Added an option to exit his AI-yap session early and jump straight to his thoughts about ethics.
- Christina mentioned that most artists are introverted, but the AI-artists seem extroverted. Said Stella was pretty introverted and reserved.
- Change: Keep pushing Stella’s character to be more like an artist.
- During the section where it asks you to reflect on your thoughts about AI and art after Landon’s conversation, Christina wishes there was some way to resee his piece.
- Change: Add a small icon in corner
Playtest 10/24 – Julia
Julia is a college-aged student and poet.
Observations
- When I asked Julia how I could make her feel more emotional towards the playable character, she mentions adding a scene where you don’t have food / can’t afford food or something.
- Change: First scene will be you at home, before going to the pop up gallery.
- Change: If time permits, add a grocery store scene or a scene where you open your fridge and its empty
- Julia thinks the Wandering Man should have a name
- Change: Give him a name
- Julia thinks adding more audio or sensory descriptions would help bring the game together. A big to-do for polishing the game.
- Change: Add more environmental art and polish
- Change: Add sounds and more descriptive language via narrator
Questions
- With the rubric coming out, how can I make some of my choices feel more impactful? I’m not quite sure how to make some choices in the early or mid game impact the endings. I feel like adding more options in the dialogue is just an illusion of choice since they lead to the same outcomes.
- For example, there’s a choice to listen to your Dad’s voicemail and I made it so even if you say no, it says “curiosity gets the best of you and you decide to listen anyways.” I want the user to get the full experience of the emotions that come with your Dad going off on you, but it feels linear to just have one choice.
