How Can I Remember You? Iteration update
Link for Web version: https://paprikachen.github.io/howcanirememberyou/
Link for downloading the desktop version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d5czZpNJhOMOsQy_WujsUQ16U9NyrNx4/view?usp=sharing
⚠️ Before you play:
- Please wear headphones. The game already has some basic sound effects.
- The Chinese version is recommended if you can read it. The English dialogue hasn’t been fully polished yet.
- Expected playtime: about 40 min to 1 hour.
Feedback Wanted
- A full playthrough. I’d really value feedback from someone who plays the whole current version. Because the game is long, both in-class playtests only covered the opening. I iterated heavily on the opening as a result, but I have little feedback on the rest.
- The rainy-night battle scene. I’d like more feedback on this scene in particular. Does the back-and-forth feel tense? Do the timed choices work?
- Scope vs. polish. I know the scope is on the large side, which left me without enough time to polish the writing or add more choices; some long passages still have none. My current approach is to make the game as complete as possible first. I’ve put more than 25 hours into the project this weekend (and will definitely do another iteration before Friday), and I’m planning to fix the remaining weak spots during Project 4. Not sure how this plan sounds like.
The rest of this post is just documenting changes:
Changes Since Playtests 2 & 3
Overall
- Visuals: I added a lot of visual content, including background illustrations, movable character sprites on top of them, and UI design. I’ll document the full design and iteration process in my final post.
- Dialogue: I revised a large share of the dialogue based on playtest feedback.
- Interface and controls: I made several rounds of adjustments based on what I saw during playtests.
Specific design change examples, and why
1. A cold-open hook
Observation: Neither player seemed very immersed in the opening. The story read as flat and linear, like a list of events.
Change: I added a cold open with some mystery to it. It gives players a goal (finding out the truth) and a stronger reason to keep playing.
2. Completing Maizi’s bullying story
Feedback: One player wanted to hear the full story of the first time Maizi was bullied. They felt the scene ended without a payoff.
Change: I wrote out the full story.
Feedback: Another player wanted to see some kind of resolution to the bullying later on.
Change: In the middle-to-late part of the story, I added a small moment where Maizi slowly starts talking with her classmates.
3. More tension in the rainy-night confrontation
Feedback: The Playtest 2 player pointed out that the rainy-night scene is the biggest (and almost the only) conflict in the game, yet players have very little agency in it.
Change: I added timed choices and turned the scene into a series of consecutive choices, so it feels like a real back-and-forth.
4. More interactivity: the timed braiding sequence
Feedback: Players in both Playtest 2 and 3 felt that interaction and their sense of impact were too weak.
Change: I added a timed braiding interaction.
5. More context on the environment
Feedback: Both players said there was not enough context about the poverty the story depends on. One player also said that the phone detail broke her immersion in the setting.
Change: I added details to the first few chapters that convey the setting more precisely, including a fuller description of the phone so it fits the world.
6. Pacing: getting to the core sooner
Observation: Several players didn’t reach the core of the game within a reasonable amount of time.
Change: I cut the “dormitory building” and “straw mat” sections from the opening, since they had little to do with the setting or the main theme. Even so, this is still a fairly long IF (about 40 min to 1 hour), though I don’t think it’s unusually long compared to IF in general.
Playtest 4 (Second Outside Playtest)
WILL COME BACK AND ADD THIS PART TOMORROW MORNING.
I ran this playtest this morning, so its feedback isn’t reflected in the current build yet.
- Player: [TBD]
- What went well: [TBD]
- What didn’t: [TBD]
- Planned changes: [TBD]
Plan Before Wednesday
- Sound: Add BGM to the goose-chasing scene and the other lighter, happier moments.
- Photography: Make taking photos feel more interactive, and finish the missing photos for the epilogue.
- Long stretches with no interaction: Either add choices to them or cut them.
- English dialogue: Polish the English text.
