After setting up the alpha build, we tested out the game and made minor adjustments before the start of the Science Fair.

Adjustments Before Playtest

• Cat increase movement speed
• Camera UI disabled - however still appears the text block randomly
• Loop music
• Moved some UI
• Lowered camera sensitivity

We gathered a lot of feedback and opinions on potential additional mechanics to better increase playability and interest points to our game. They will be categorised into comment reviews, potential improvements from current mechanics, and our own ideas for more additional features or notices in further development.

Comment Reviews

• Visuals and movement controls get compared to Minecraft and Pokémon
• Likes the lighting and the details on the landscape
• We frequently observed our testers like to click mouse button in a lot of situations: e.g. interact or taking photo etc.
• All get interested in the pillar and walking down the path
• Reviewed Comments…
  • ‘Want plushies of it’
  • ‘Genetically designed to be cute’
  • ‘Kawaii cats’

Bug Notices & Potential Improvements

• Mouse Related
  • When transitioning from start screen to main game the mouse is still visible, has to disappear when entered + camera looks up to the sky - snap to front view
  • The sensitivity for the camera is still too high (could add a sensitivity slider possibly in settings)
• Movement & Keypad Controls
  • Put WASD keys for movement in the tutorial page or level
  • Controls on screen as UI (critical for people who don’t know or remember)
• Turn Page Arrow?
  • No one knows to turn the book before help
• Grass Interactivity & Tree Bugs
  • Some tree have no box collider for some reason and are floating near edges of the cliffs
  • The camera and player capsule are not in the same place (will have to fix)

Our Ideas On Additional Features

• Changes To Current Style
  • Adjust sizes of the creatures reasonable according to the player’s height
  • Brighter sun?
  • Tree leaves LOD system → have the leaf mesh lowered on the model
  • Grass texture change for more colour variant → use colour or image textures
• Tutorial Guidance
  • Sparkles for directions on where to go?
  • Tutorial example to help players learn the mechanics (finding the tablet using sparkles?)
• Player and Creature Interaction
  • They can push and move for small ones
  • But freeze the collider for big ones
• Photo Mechanic Expansion and Improvements
  • Camera zoom feature (for overworld too or just for photo mode?)
  • Probably need a picture book / photo album for photo enthusiasts
  • Picture automatically disappears or refreshes a bit after taking the picture
  • Limit the spam of taking photo → if including photo album
• User Interface & User Experience Related
  • Text font choices outside of sketchbook interface and layout of text description within it needed small changes
  • Implement a button to close as well for all UI in sketchbook interface
  • Pop up sound effect add a writing sound to fit with the icon design of it
  • Change F to interact from tutorial to appear text box saying ‘F to interact’ in raycasting? (maybe)
  • Photo mode changes to key binds → change F to take picture to something else (players sometimes take pictures of objects which triggers the popup notification - not the desired outcome)
  • Change cursor → custom design for both the crosshair and sketchbook interface
• Dynamic Environment Expansion
  • Weather changes other than usual day and night cycle
  • Day and night affects the emergence of different creatures
  • Provide additional biomes and creature variant types with different looks
• Others…
  • We either add the yellow tab with a pen or get rid of it → responses from people click on it
  • Adjust the face animation → baby saurus always get captured with eyes closed in photos