I had my second playtest with Sabrina! The playtest video can be found in this link:
https://stanford.zoom.us/rec/share/EqoSS8ysQdRONS7Of8h5_8kQRwOKhZY1ehzyhMXAutBgJMBTz1Ia7MXp7gYzalGZ.fGSIut_GK53VW8vd
Passcode: hgh!8DGX
This playtest I implemented more of the introduction of my story, where you possess a goat and wander into a village rife with scarcity. What I wanted from this playtest was whether or not the exposition’s language was good for evoking curiosity and self-discovery. I also wanted to share and get feedback on a more concrete premise and story map.
Sabrina said that:
- The defamiliarization/ostranenie in the goat’s perspective was interesting to read. However, there were inconsistencies, like when the sheep understands “fence” but not “well”.
- She said it would be good if the goat handled the what of worldbuilding. It could observe events and things in the world that would otherwise be common knowledge for the human characters.
- Then, the political and more complex analyses of crisis can be handled through a human perspective, exploring the why of worldbuilding.
- The placeholder images actually does help visualize the space, and is necessary. With good visuals the goat’s unfamiliar observations, the player can figure out what objects are, but the goat can describe it in its defamiliarized way.
The changes I plan to implement are:
- Add a little bit more explorable so that the goat can establish what materials like wood, straw, and stone are (since that is what the village is made of)
- Make “learning” ideas more consistent, so fence -> collection of wood sticks that separate space (?)
