A Successful Semester! -- Week Ending 8 Dec

I'll keep this introductory paragraph brief because there's more interesting stuff that follows. Suffice it to say that this week was all about getting ready to show off Last March of the Dodos. I am pleased to report that the public really likes it! From non-gamers to gamers, students to faculty, and amateurs to professionals, the response we heard from people who tried our game was almost entirely positive (if not entirely!). I want to take a moment to thank our whole team for all the hard work they've poured into the project. It's been a long road (and we're still not finished yet!), but we've learned a ton, and we're thrilled that people are having fun with what we've created so far.

Here's what I did this week:

- Prepared public display materials for our game and sent them to Rachel so that she could compile and print them; this included taking screen shots, capturing video of the game in action, writing instructions on how to play the game, and writing appealing descriptions for "marketing" purposes
- Loaded our game onto our designated computers for Arts/Tech night and for the EAE Open House
- Volunteered at the Arts/Tech night to guide visitors through our studio
- Helped guide visitors and make contacts at the EAE Open House

With that out of the way, I want to note several things that we heard (or observed) from new players during the Arts/Tech night and the EAE Open House. It was quite valuable to have fresh eyes and hands on our game!

 Praise:
- A non-gamer woman in her 50s wanted to keep playing after continual failure. She was intrigued and wanted to keep getting better at the game. Part of her inability to perform well was because she had trouble using a two-button mouse (I'm guessing that she either uses a Mac or doesn't use computers regularly). She also said that she actually thought it was fun. After 5 or 6 attempts, she did successfully complete the first level.
- Many people really like the Dodos' animation. I heard "it's so cute" about a dozen times. Mission accomplished.
- People enjoyed the toony feel in the aesthetics.
- The various traps and their different uses and effects went over very well. A few players commented specifically on how the traps each felt unique and that they understood the point of having them all available.
- It's fun! People liked the pressure of having to keep up with the Dodos and continually be involved in the placement of traps at all times. The feeling of setting a trap in a great place was very rewarding.
- Tossing the Dodos around--especially to specific places like volcanoes--was also rewarding.

Suggestions or negative experiences:
- Messaging can definitely be cleaned up. Certain pieces of information are shifted around from menu to menu (Doin display, for example), there's not much to tell the player whether they're doing poorly, etc.
- Specifically, some sort of marker that floats around the border of the viewing area to designate which direction the entrance, escape exit, and king Dodo lie in would be great.
- A "safety" or "warning" meter/marker that alerts the player to Dodos getting close to the exit would be great (could flash red when a Dodo escapes)
- Appropriate visual and audio cues that celebrate the player's successes are a MUST. Chimes, bells, sparkly numbers, flashes of light, Dodo squawks, etc!
- Get the hot air balloon nest in the game and have it fly off when the level ends! Giving the player a visual reason to not let them escape would make the point even stronger.
- The camera still gives some people trouble (make the UI on the right side of the screen transparent so that people more naturally push the mouse to the far edge of the visible map to move it...?).

So there you have it. Check back next week for the final installment of the semester. Here's a teaser: GAMEPLAY VIDEO!

- Troy