Playtest Data

9/28 Playtesting Club (Adam, Alex)
http://nasg.wikia.com/wiki/File:PlaytestNotes_9_28.pdf

8/30 Mass Pax Testing (Oland)
All tests performed in groups of 3 or 4, only recorded major observations and direct comments by players. No raw observations this time, sorry!

Every group: At least half of all groups: A quarter, or less of all groups:
 * Player commented that super move needs a more clear indication when it's ready
 * Literally no group used their super ability before reaching the first treasure room, despite always having 2-4 players with the move available before that point
 * All groups spent considerable time on the lobby screen selecting color, spent much less time once weapon options were presented
 * All players seemed to enjoy the treasure room and run around collecting as much gold as possible. All players continued to collect gold even when full
 * At least one player per group requested a dash button
 * Any player who chose the bomb commented that it really sucks leaving the group and trying to fight an enemy alone. Our game frequently activates a spawner on one or more sides of a player when they walk into an area, when this happened to a player solo with a bomb, this almost always resulted in death
 * After the session, every group commented that the purpose of gold felt unclear
 * In every group of 3, a 4th spectator would ask if they could jump into the game midway in. They cannot :(
 * Players who chose the hammer ended up using the hammer secondary (wide sweep) as their only attack, even against single targets. In all cases they were aware of their primary attack, and had been seen using it earlier, but they chose to not use it in favor of the sweeping strike
 * Casters are extremely deadly. A group of 3 casters all targeting and firing at the same time is capable of instantly killing a player
 * Players in all groups requested a way to cancel their super attack to stop burning gold once everything was dead
 * For groups of 3, the game is extremely difficult. For groups of 4, the game feels very easy.
 * Players in all groups commented that the spawn rates are very high, and if the party is reduced to 1 or 2 players while one or more active spawners are still generating enemies, they have an extremely difficult time killing enemies faster than spawners can spawn them, to reach their team mates. There was only one instance throughout the entire day where the party being reduced to only a single living member was able to actually recover
 * All groups ended up using one or more of their super moves to clear every room after the first treasure room. If no super moves were available, groups would simply die while trying to clear until super was unlocked. Primary attacks appear completely ineffective at the moment
 * Any group that reached the rat king with an active hammer super managed to kill the boss before it had a chance to do anything. Hammer super deals pretty insane damage.
 * All groups seemed surprised that winner was determined by gold, and asked if that was the whole purpose of gold
 * All groups complain that striking a caster does not stop their cast, and even knocks them away and out of melee range of the player, which almost always results in the caster finishing their fireball and hitting the player for a ton of damage
 * In general, players seemed frustrated with having to always chase enemies because they were getting knocked away from them
 * During the rat king cutscene, if a player is holding a hammer in the front row, the head of the hammer clips into the body of the player behind them
 * Player requests health regen, health drop, or any other method of healing mid fight
 * Player commented that fireballs appear "washed out" and difficult to see against most backgrounds
 * Player with shield attempts to attack, and then shield against a ranged attack, but the lag between swinging and being able to block is too great, and they get hit. Following this, they only shield and do not attempt to attack anymore unless they are alone
 * Player commented that the camera zoom effect on super attacks is very slow, and is especially noticeable/annoying if multiple players attempt to use a super move at the same time
 * Commented after the session that they either weren't sure what the gold bar was for, or weren't sure how it was charged
 * Players requested a kill counter to be displayed either in game, or at the post game screen
 * Player was observed planning with their team to intentionally die so that they could be revived and healed
 * Some players commented that it feels really lame to use a super move to kill a room, only to have many more spawners appear once they move to a new location in that room
 * Any group that had a shield that actually defended the group, the shield became team captain/MVP, and team play was much more successful. A shield wall with bombs was discovered to be incredibly effective in all situations. Players commented post-game that they didn't feel this sort of synergy was present in the hammer or claymore, and that they would not chose those weapons because of this
 * Many groups commented that there is very little "room to breathe" in the rat king boss fight. They specifically mentioned that once the last rat spawner is destroyed, even if there are still active rats, the rat king immediately begins to charge again
 * Many players commented that the whirlwind super attack is way too hard to control
 * Almost all groups seemed to disregard tutorial text in the first room. Some players commented you can stand over the tutorial images and block them from view
 * Player commented that both player resource bars are too square, and nothing else in the game is square. Suggested zelda style heart pieces
 * Player commented that drops are hard to see, and should be lit more
 * Player commented that tombstones are hard to see when not being lit and moved by player
 * Player strongly recommended edge detection and outlines, so that certain elements are more visibly defined against the background
 * Player requested some form of progression: leveling up, unlocking abilities, or finding equipment
 * Some players requested the ability to leave the exit door once they had entered it, one player commented they entered it accidentally
 * One group (only one) was observed rationing gold drops and prioritizing collection to those who didn't have fully charged super moves. This group of 4 was able to use two super abilities per room to clear, and only suffered one player death for the whole run

8/28 Informal Pax Test (Oland)
Test was run with 4 testers who had all seen the game before, but had never played it. Two of the four were extremely familiar with twinstick top-down games, the other two had minimal familiarity.

At a glance: Hammer swings missed more often than they hit Lobby screen still seems confusing Pink used their ultimate attack almost constantly. Green only used it once when near death, and still ended up dying. Purple used it and claimed they didn't know how, blue never used it Airborne rats don't seem to properly communicate that they can't be hit Shield was used to block fireballs many times Both hammer players used hammer secondary swing to clear enemies when surrounded, but primarily used their primary attack Players did not seem to be aware of using the right stick to aim Players that were dropped to very low health tended to avoid combat for the rest of the room Party wipe in tiny arena room </li> Raw observations:<ul>All players joined the lobby immediately

</li>Players spent a very long time on color selection without locking in a color

</li>One player dropped from the lobby on accident without selecting a color

</li>Pink selects their color first, the other 3 pick almost immediately after

</li>Party consists of 2 hammers (pink, blue), a shield (green), and a claymore (purple)

</li>Players exit the first room immediately, do not appear to have looked at the controls

</li>First combat room, pink ignores all enemies and begins to attack rat spawner, other players clear rats with no issues

</li>Blue complains fireballs are "faded and hard to see"

</li>"Bridge" level, golem lands a punch on pink and purple, both retreat from combat for the remainder of the room pink comments "I'm going to stand over here so I don't die"

</li>Ult attack acquired for blue, but it isn't used to clear the room

</li></li>First treasure room, all players make "oooo" sounds and run to grab all the gold that spawns

</li>First room after treasure room, pink uses hammer ultimate to clear majority of the room

</li>Golem lands punch on green, green retreats from combat for remainder of room

</li>In the large sprawling level with 4 keys (what is that one called again?) Pink uses hammer ult to clear bottom half of room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies to fireballs in same room <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Pink immediately begins to revive blue

</li></li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Treasure room 2, all players scramble to collect gold. Pink is the only player to have actually used their ultimate

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Pink uses hammer ultimate to clear an entire room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Tiny room with spawners on all the walls and multiple floor spawners, green almost dies and uses their ultimate to save themselves <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Announces "spin to win" and laughs"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Kills several rats and casters, does not kill any spawners

</li></li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Entire party except for green dies, green still at critically low health <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">green uses shield for an extended period to block fireballs, but is unable to reach the rest of the party to revive them

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">green eventually dies while trying to clear a path to reach an active floor spawner, whole party has wiped

</li></li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Attempt 2 of tiny arena room, pink collects gold and immediately uses ult to clear the room, nobody in the party suffers damage

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple uses an ult to clear most of a room immediately upon enemies spawning

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Final room before boss: pink uses ult to clear first section of room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to a fireball <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"That fireball went through the wall, I was on the other side and it just went through and hit me" <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Didn't see to confirm this

</li></li></li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Pink takes a golem punch and almost dies, retreats from combat without grabbing key

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and purple run past remaining enemies and grab keys, pink exits room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Boss encounter, purple immediately is struck by a charge and retreats from combat without attempting to hit the stunned boss

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple avoids rats that spawn from middle spawners, only attacks rats that go after them

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green comments "it's hard to tell when rats become active after leaving the spawner, I keep swinging through them. If they're above me they need a shadow on the ground or something"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Boss is killed with regular attacks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Pink comments "this is neat" while standing on a large chunk of boss gold and draining it

</li></ul>Post session comments: <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Fireball was really hard to see against the background, it looks really washed out and needs to have an outline, or be a more distinct color"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"It was really hard to see when the enemies were winding up fireballs and about to launch them"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The wind up on the big bruiser enemies was really hard to see and he kept hitting us with his big punch, he's also really punishing because he pretty much one shots you"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Dead and active generators look really similar"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The progress bar looks like a loading screen, it feels kind of tacked on"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Keys feel tacked on, key rooms really don't feel any different than kill rooms because you end up killing everything to clear the room anyway."

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"There's no way to regain health and that's really tough on some rooms, maybe gold could restore health if the bar is already full?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The gold bar is hard to see, and there needs to be a bigger visual indicator of when a player has max gold and can use their special"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"When a player goes through the door, their life bar is still visible through the wall and it feels immersion breaking"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The arrows in the character select screen block the weapons, and I thought my color was my class. Maybe you should have players select weapons before color? Also some weapons (hammer) are held behind the character so I couldn't see what I was really selecting. Maybe have them do some swings with their weapon so we can see before we select?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Players should start different colors by default when selecting, it's disorienting the way it is"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The hammer felt clunky and hard to aim, but the hammer special killed the whole level every time, it's OP. The aiming mechanic for the special felt weird though"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Character movement controls felt smooth"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Game would be better if it was a bit more puzzly, every room is just kill everything"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Hammer ultimate feels mismatched? It seems weird for such a short range weapon to have such a long range ultimate, I feel like it should be another short ranged attack like a ground pound or something"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Weapons need more clearly defined roles"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"What if there was a time limit for rooms, and if players beat the timer, they got extra treasure?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The tutorial needs to be way more in-depth, and actually let us use what it's teaching. There should be more than one room, and they should force the players to use their ability in order to open the door. Maybe use a button you have to attack to open the door? Or turn off regular attack and make players use their special to kill a group of enemies that just stand there"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"You should add barriers you have to attack to move through"

</li>

7/11 Oland feedback; wes gameplay branch
At a glance:

the range enemies are a great addition and provide some needed variety to combat. There is a pretty huge jump in power between archers and golems, and I feel like adding a very limited number of melee weapon enemies would probably be a good call. Now that we have an enemy that can reliably disrupt and harass players at a distance, the lack of a way to heal is extremely noticeable, and in some rooms is totally game breaking -- There are some rooms I just can't solo with any weapon because they're big rooms and I get slowly chipped to death. <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">X to attack feels great with the claymore and shield, but it feels weird that secondary attack doesn't also have a face button bind.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Can't seem to access any super move

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Keys are blocking enemy pathing

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The gold spewing rooms are a huge improvement over the old ones, but with a constantly full gold meter the joy is totally lost. The first gold room appears directly after the first room is it actually possible to get enough gold to perform a super. If I were to elect to hang onto my super and then progress to the next room, finding this treasure room would be like playing zelda and finding a silver rupee with an already maxed out wallet. What's supposed to be a nice treat instead becomes a huge middle finger to me for not using my super when the game decided I should.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Love the new spawning behavior. Hitting the crystal bridge and having two hordes spawn on both sides felt great

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">For the triggers near keys, it would actually make more sense to trigger the spawn when the player grabs the key, and now when they're just in that area

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ranged enemies need to move around a little, even if the player is not near them. As they are now, they are essentially turrets

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">At first I thought the circle on the ground was the ranged enemy attempting to bomb me as area denial. They should totally actually do that, because it would be awesome

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Hammer could benefit from a charged swing to make up for not having a combo swing like every other weapon. When a spawner has no minions and is helpless, I would love to be able to take my time charging a massive swing and just obliterate it

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Spawner pieces don't fly anywhere when broken, and it looks bad

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Sound effect for hammer impact is pitifully weak sounding, and happens almost a full second after the hit actually lands

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat spawners that summon rats from the floor (instead of shooting them out) look wrong. Want me to make a magical looking obelisk-thingy?

</li>

Boss fight: <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Boss pattern needs heavy work. <li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The stun phase is too quick, and when it ends, the boss vanishes immediately. Recommend having the boss travel back to the center of the room at a fixed speed, pausing again, and then burrowing from there.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">When the last spawner is killed, give players a brief moment to get their bearings before sending the boss charging at them again. Currently there is no break in the action, and for the length of the boss fight this is exhausting

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The rat emitters need to not constantly stream rats; if the player falls behind in culling the herd, they are overwhelmed and stand no reasonable chance at making a comeback

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Lack of healing items is absolutely crippling in this fight. I've only been away from playing this game for about a month, after playing it basically once a day for a year, and I can no longer solo this boss fight. After 7 attempts and always slowly dying to chip damage, I gave up. I wasn't ever even hit with a boss charge, this damage was entirely from the rats slowly me down. It is incredibly demoralizing to see all these hits coming, knowing I'll die 5 minutes from now, and not being able to do anything about it.

</li>

Summer Playtesting; Raw Notes (Adam, Aviva, Jasmine)
See attached PDFs <h2 data-rte-spaces-before="1" data-rte-spaces-after="1"> 4/8-4/13 Testing (Ryan)

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-filler="true">At a Glance: <p data-rte-fromparser="true">Hammer remains the biggest weakness in our weapon pool. Most notably, the stun seems to be nearly useless against the bulk of our game. In addition, the slowness and lack of AoE clear makes it difficult for some players to even destroy crystals. This, combined with the fact that the hammer is picked by new players more often than any other weapon, are leading to some bad play experiences. We should noob-friendly up the hammer, and probably change the secondary entirely.

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Certain other elements - namely, the Super Prompt - still aren't entirely clear to the players. I thought that pressing both LB and RB at the same time would be a cool way to activate supers, but it's causing occasional confusion for testers. We should consider switching to allow players to use either button.

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Another thing that came up repeatedly in this round of testing was expressed interest in changing weapons more frequently. Our current gameplay loop is a little longer than expected, running ~7 minutes from start to finish. This is turning out to be quite the commitment to a single weapon choice, and more than one tester lamented the fact that they wanted to try something else before the boss.

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Finally, we should look at where we're putting gold in our game. Players - especially new players - use the super moves as a crutch to get through the more difficult parts of the game, but as things stand, a player who is struggling has no real way to generate gold. We should add periodic gold drops to things like the Rat King so that players who are floundering have a recovery mechanism in place without just having to die.

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">4/8/15 Session 1 Raw Notes: Two Players, Low Experience

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players stopped to read entire tutorial

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players get quickly overwhelmed by rats (both using hammer)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Call rats "crystal bugs"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I don't like it, help me!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players intentionally stick together after first death

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players don't use super moves once gauge is full

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players get "stuck" in hammer special, don't realize how to drop

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players discover revival only after walking close enough to see prompt

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">One player must leave early, other wants to stay to finish clearing room

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">4/9/15 Session 1 Raw Notes: Three Players, Med Experience

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players confused about what weapons are; should consider adding weapon names

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Hammer player seems bored

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bottoms of pits don't collide with particles

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Treasure goblin seems non-threatening, needs to move faster+try to escape

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player has trouble discovering purpose of hammer secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Leaving a room mid-super move refunds partial gold.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Treasure goblin functions much more effectively with more players

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players move in a very rigid pattern on their way to the boss (Cutscene), should be staggered slighly to be more organic

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players attempt to attack Rat King mid-charge by attacking his path

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player accidentally activates jump super: "Am I bleeding to death?"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">4/13/15 Session 1 Raw Notes: 1 Player, Low Experience

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player struggles to kill single enemies with hammer

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Hammer stun not very impactful against majority of enemies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers super move instantly

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Hammer seems to be picked very often among new testers

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Golem has no "stunned" animation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player sighs audibly after dying near the end of Bridge Room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Hammer is noticeably slow at clearing treasure room, especially w/ one player

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Goblin appears, player lazily chases for a moment before it gets caught in a corner

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">needs to move more quickly, actually attempt to escape

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">After dying in 2nd key room, player aggros all enemies before using super to clear

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player repeats "aggro+super" strategy every time she has enough gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player struggles to break even non-moving crystals with hammer

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Treasure goblin doesn't get stunned by hammer

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player begins dying more regularly in lava rooms. Player begins dying intentionally to scout the room/collect gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player begins to rush for keys, ignoring all enemies. Visibly growing tired of game.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">On rat king, player struggles to deal enough damage during "stunned" phase

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player attempts to kill only spawners, not rats. She gets overwhelmed as a result.

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player may have been searching for gold for her superspam strategy. Rat King should summon gold at some phases of fight

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">After 2nd rat king attempt fails, player quits.

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">4/13/15 Session 2 Raw Notes: 2 Players, Med Experience

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Are those Bombs?" commenting on weapon selection

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is That A Sword?" commenting on weapon selection

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Can I charge?...yesss" comment while using bombs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is There Healing in this Game?" commenting on being at low health for large section of room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomb player uses self-destruct instead of throwing bombs to kill rats

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">seems to be a result of difficulty aiming, wen presented with aim controls, player stated he was unaware they were in game, and continued to not use them after a few moments

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Oh! That's killing me" player realizes self-damage mechanic of bombs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Additional player wants to drop in to game; can't

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomber player continues to self-destruct, although seems less happy about it now

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"My character kills himself to do anything productive" commenting on preference for self-destruct

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Bombs aren't nearly as good as I had hoped" commenting on difficulty of throwing/aiming

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"How did [last tester, single player] do this on her own?" commenting on difficulty

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Revival exchange: shows some rivalry between players

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"revive me!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"hold on, let me get this gold..."

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"you pizza shit!"

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">One player has to explain to the other the super attack functionality

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players check wall to try to leave key room with 1 key, intuitively know there are more keys

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player struggles in key room, begins scrounging for gold to try to get through.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomb player has some real Yakety Sax moments, fleeing from rats with only 1 health and attempting to revive his ally

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player 2 suggests dying on purpose for free heal

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player 1 : "Nah, Fuck That."

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Later, player  uses bombs to suicide for free heals relatively frequently

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel like I don't even need more gold" commenting on both players having full meter during treasure room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players begin priortitizing spawners over enemies in lava biome

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">players begin to skip remaining enemies on key rooms

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players stop using specials; "I'm saving it for the boss"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player complains that he can't see red enemies in lava biome

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player gets upset at ally when he is revived instead of ally simply killing boss; "Reviving you was the tactically superior choice"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomber gets more gold at win screen: "Get Rekt

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I let you have it."

</li></ul>

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">4/13/15 Session 3 Raw Notes: 1 Player, High Experience

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player Chooses bombs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player attempts to use super move at tutorial prompt, to no effect

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player immediately takes to aiming as his primary strategy

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player has no trouble clearing rats and destructible

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player discovers spawn radius for spawners, begins standing just out of range and attacking where rats will appear

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player proceeds carefully throughout test, relies heavily on RS aim

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player kites a rat all the way to exit; "Oh", kills rat. Implies he didn't realize he hadn't cleared room.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player confused at super move at first; "Why Can't i move it?"

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">later asked about this behavior: "I expected the RS to move it, because that was the aim controls from before"

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player carpet-bombs a room, but doesn't kill unspawned door enemies: "dang"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"So my secondary hurts myself..?" commenting while discovering elements

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is this the final version? It feels like there's no point."

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player expresses that he wishes he could try other weapons before the boss

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel like i'm missing out on a lot of content"

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"If I charge the bomb, is it stronger?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Golem has more health than player expects while super-ing, slight frustration as he has to go back to finish off golem

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player begins to ignore some destructibles, even without full super meter

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">player has some trouble kiting guys, when compared to rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player is cornered by large number of enemies with full meter: "Oh, i dead." instead of super to escape.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Finally. The Boss" Player comments upon cutscene beginning. Possibly related to long game length

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Some strange creature... Oh! A Rat! They're All Rats!" Player previously thought they were bats, or bugs.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player has suggestion about bomb movement, wants reduced movement speed instead of locking in place.

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">4/13/15 Session 4 Raw Notes: 3 Players, Mixed Experience

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">

3-27 Playtest (Oland)
<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Informal questionaire:

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Every session was ended with the following questions, and with the following responses:

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">What was the most satisfying thing you did this session?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1 collectively agreed that large claymore and bomb AOE attacks to clear clumps of guy enemies was very satisfying, also breaking large clusters of yellow crystals

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 2 felt the moment of teamwork where one player plugged a bottleneck with their shield while the other player used bombs was a very satisfying moment

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Ryasa enjoyed listening to her own sound effects

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4 "seeing the golem at the end of a long hall, it's very intimidating"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish "Making weapons break, that was definitely the most satisfying thing.  Also getting launched across the room and dying, and also when those enemies walked over those things I couldn't and killed me, that was also really satisfying"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">What influenced your choices as a player the most?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1 collectively agreed that their "lack of care and not paying attention to when weapons are timing out" shaped their decisions the most

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 2

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow: "I felt like I was punished for being aggressive and attacking, the durability system is ridiculous"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue: "The weapons break so fast, I end up being forced to use just whatever's there to pick up"

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "I just needed to not miss, and it was fine"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa "I just wanted to hold into the sword and shield, but I guess I'm bad" sadface

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4 "I liked the sword and shield because it had less durability loss" (that wasn't the question, but okay)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish "It sucked, though bomb lasted longest"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Describe a weapon you feel would go well in our game.

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1 requested guns, bows, and magic attacks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 2 requested a bow, and a longer range bomb. A chainsaw was also suggested, but implied to be a joke

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3 requested a spear, ryasa requested a pickaxe (what?)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4 requested long ranged bomb, and support items such as a healing/weapon repair aura

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish "Spear, scimitar, glaive -- like the chinese version, not those shitty throwing ones -- chakram, bow and arrow, and a super huge fist that I can punch things with"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Any final comments?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1: "the colors are good, but gold doesn't look like gold, it looks like crystals.  The tutorial said I should find gold for my weapons but I wasn't sure if I was ever finding any. It's also weird that everything in your game is crystal but then we're supposed to find something non-crystal like gold, I expected it would look way different than crystal but it looked the same, just with a different color"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 2: "the enemies are fair, when I took a hit I felt like I deserved it.  I like the top down perspective. The durability system was lame, sometimes enemy HP was a bit unclear, and it's also unclear how much damage weapons do"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow: "I guess the durability system is supposed to encourage variety? If I don't miss my attacks I can keep my same weapon the whole time though so I don't know if that's how it should work"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa: "I like the bomb bag, though it's weird that the bag doesn't empty when I run out of durability, also that I can keep throwing bombs"

</li></ul>

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4 requested the ability to dodge or dash away from attacks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish "I don't like gold anymore, why the hell is it kinda red? I want an enchanted weapon with glowing fog and ice and fire and shit.  What if extra gold overcharged your durability or hp?"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Bugs:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">It's possible for a player to revive themselves if they die with a bomb in-flight, however if they are the last alive the level will still restart

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The miracle pixel sometimes does not function, and a player can be killed with a single attack from nearly full hp

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(maybe a feature?) Guy enemies can walk over crystal clusters, while players cannot

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">This session at a glance:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The claymore is still slightly preferred, but only slightly, and this could be attributed to currently being the only weapon with full animations. The bomb was the next most popular weapon, while the sword and shield were a less common pick, but one playtester who realized the shield could fully block golem punches decided it was his favorite weapon

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">A few players requested the ability to cancel a charge attack to escape a large attack or avoid spending durability on an empty room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Salty ragequit in session 2 over a weapon breaking out of combat, roughly 5 rooms (not counting tutorial rooms) into the game

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players are straight up not reading tutorial text

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The most common reason for weapons to break was out of combat experimentation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Tutorial rooms are unpolished and visually unappealing, also many players were confused by the glow crystal props and thought they were objects they could interact with because they were on the ground

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Lobby menu is confusing as ever

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The room AlexMadeThis was repeated several times per run, each time I offered to skip the level for the play testers. Despite appearing up to 4 times in a single session, the room was only skipped once, in one session. Players seem to enjoy cleaving through large piles of crystals, followed by the cluster of enemies on the other side of the bridge

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The room GolemFight proved extremely difficult for playtesters, who died repeatedly to golems, or were reduced to 1hp and then finished off by rats while fleeing. Many testers attempted the room several times before asking to skip it. As of writing these notes, I've adjusted the room so that it has only a single rat spawner, only 2 golems, and one additional chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players seem to give no fucks about competing for gold for points, and even when they realized what the treasure tracker was for, didn't seem to care. The end of floor score display is largely ignored

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Note: In the following notes, I will use the term "limbo" to refer to the situation where a player's weapon has begun to shatter in combat, and is constantly bouncing back and forth between being repaired just barely by a single gold drop, and immediately spent so that it begins to shatter again. I will additionally note if the player seems aware of what is happening when they do this

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">--- Session 1: 3 players ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players struggled on the join menu, repeatedly readying and un-readying. One tester readied themselves, but thought they had dropped from the lobby screen. Visuals badly needed, text is apparently not being read

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Starting loadout

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow - Claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple - Sword and Shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green - Claymore

</li></ul>

</li></ul>

<ul data-rte-empty-lines-before="1"><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">First tutorial room: Yellow breaks claymore while experimenting with swing, picks up bomb as replacement, seemed confused as to why their weapon had "exploded"

</li></ul>

<ul data-rte-empty-lines-before="1"><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Second tutorial room: All three players destroy all crystals, seem to enjoy this very much, despite expressing that they don't know what the crystals are for. They are definitely not reading the tutorial text.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green and Purple both break their weapons while swinging at nothing after all crystals have been destroyed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Third tutorial room: players complain that tutorial text is hard to see.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's bomb breaks (all players now unarmed) while fighting rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green is revived some time after all enemies have died, players figured it out with minimal experimentation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips bomb, almost suicides with bomb secondary spam, but they are saved by their weapon breaking. It takes some time for yellow to notice their weapon is gone, commenting after a moment "how did I lose my weapon?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow finds a claymore from a chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players react to the treasure goblin and declare it to be a giant mouse. Seem unaware that goblin is taking gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple discovers claymore charge in combat and destroys an entire room ("cool!") despite the claymore breaking from the durability cost immediately after

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players split up in room ThisHasKeys

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips a claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow almost dies fighting guys while split up and retreats back to companions, is killed by guys along the way

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple revives yellow, which causes purple's claymore to break

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's weapon breaks in combat - "oh crap!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green almost breaks their claymore breaking crystals

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips another claymore from a chest, declares the claymore charge to be "so satisfying!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow breaks their claymore using charge attack, "how did I lose my weapon?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple is almost killed by a golem

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple corners themselves behind the golem and lives by using their shield to block the golem's punches while their teammates punch the golem to death, which is declared to be "Awesome teamwork"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The whole party wipes in GolemFight 6 times before beating the fight. Occasionally while dead they would laugh that the golems were "dancing" over their bodies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">On the last attempt of GolemFight, golems are defeated by punching them to death and taking turns having players die so they could be revived at full hp

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple asks if "the yellow hp bar" is what keeps their weapons from breaking

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players encounter AlexMadeThis a second time, declining the offer to skip the level

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players encounter AlexMadeThis a third time, again declining the offer to skip

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips sword and shield, almost breaks the weapon from experimentation with raising the shield after being informed the shield block is "very overpowered"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's sword and shield enter limbo state at the start of KillAllOfThem, weapon remains in limbo for entire fight but does not break. Yellow does not stop swinging at any point during the fight, and at no point do they seem aware (outwardly) that their weapon is about to break

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king fight starts, yellow has sword and shield, green has bomb, purple is unarmed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">All three declare the rat king to be "a mouse of evil" and laugh

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's sword and shield break, rat king's hp is over 90%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green's bomb breaks, rat king's hp is ~80%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green comments that it's hard to aim the bombs at the target

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to the rat king's minions, is revived by purple

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple requests that they die so they can be revived

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue also requests a turn dying so they can heal too

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king dies on first attempt, with significant revive trading, all players are unarmed at the end

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"So many crystals!" more laughing

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 2: 2 players ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue starts with sword and shield, yellow starts with claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I love the low poly look, it's very underutilized, it looks great here"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel compelled to grab all the drops, I like the little plink sounds they make when I grab them"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's weapon breaks in second tutorial room, "what happened? I'm punching now, where is my weapon?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips a bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">In tutorial room 3, yellow is having a very hard time hitting with their bomb. They aren't using their right stick to aim at all, despite the tutorial text explaining how to do so

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow comments that the bomb's are not very satisfying unless they hit something, and that they need a better explosion

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue comments that they keep encountering rats, and it's just the same enemies being repeated

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players pass a chest without seeming to realize what it is

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue "I don't like that swipes expend my weapon, this doesn't make any sense, is air the most powerful thing here?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow seems to be under the impression that breaking crystals for gold will heal him, comments that he isn't sure why "sometimes this heals me and sometimes it doesn't"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks their bomb in combat against rats, equips another bomb immediately

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips a sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue discovers bomb charge attack, yellow: "you can hold it?! holy crap"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow and Blue both spam their charge attacks (sword and shield, bomb) in next combat

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow comments how he likes that there's no friendly fire

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's sword and shield breaks "god damn it I'm weaponless again"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips the bomb "I don't know how you hit things, this thing is trash, I want my shield back"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies to a golem punch, is revived on accident immediately "is the bomb somehow giving me HP?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "I think something gave you HP"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue uses sword and shield to block the bridge on AlexMadeThis while Yellow uses charge bombs from behind him

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks sword and shield while hitting crystals, yellow accidentally takes the gold that drops

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue: "This is bullshit, I think I'm done"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow: "yeah I'll be done too, same"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session ends early

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 3: 2 players - Ryasa plays --- 

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa starts with sword and shield, Yellow starts with the bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa complains that tutorial text is too low

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple "oh, it's weapon HP!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players smash all crystals in tutorial room 2

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa demonstrates sword and shield charge attack, spins to win in Tutorial 3

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa trades sword and shield for bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow trades bomb for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa uses claymore charge to clear a room "haha, okay"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa, while weapon is breaking "I can still swing!" After breaking "I can punch things!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa almost dies to a golem

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa claymore charge kills a large group, "HA!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow dies to a swarm of guys in AlexMadeThis, is instantly revived with an accidental swing from Ryasa

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "What does that bar mean?" pointing at the treasure tracker

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "So gold is points?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa dies to a golem punch "What? instantly?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "I attack the tombstone to revive people? That seems so disrespectful!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa "Give me your disrespect!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's bomb breaks while in combat, spams bombs rapidly while weapon is breaking, but makes no attempt to pick up gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow "So my best strat for points is to let my partner kill things and then take all the gold, and I can keep my weapon"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow equips claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa trades weapon for claymore from chest before the fight

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa's claymore enters limbo around 80%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Yellow's claymore enters limbo around 50%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king defeated on first attempt, both weapons intact

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 4: 2 players --- 

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and green both start with sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips a claymore "oh cool, I can switch"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green's claymore breaks while experimenting with basic attacks, "what? how did that happen?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players proceed to break every single weapon in first tutorial room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why are we punching crystals?" players punch and collect every crystal in tutorial 2

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both player equip bombs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green discovers bomb charging

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks their bomb while experimenting with bomb charge "what? it exploded again?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks their bomb while experimenting with bomb charge "mine too, I don't get it"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green bottlenecks guys using shield block on the bridge in AlexMadeThis

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green discovers sword and shield charge attack while in combat, blue: "how did you do that?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks sword and shield while experimenting with charge attack

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips claymore, discovers charge while fighting a rat swarm

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks claymore while experimenting with charge attack out of combat

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips sword and shield, breaks it while experimenting with shield block

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "So gold refills my weapon?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue "no no no! I need those!" while green takes gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green "not sure how I'm healing"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue is using claymore charge for every group, regardless of size

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies to golem, green instantly revives on accident

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green gets cornered behind two golems at low hp in GolemFight, survives by shield blocking both golems and scooting away, "I'm alive!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks sword and shield while fighting rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green "my weapon broke, you take the gold"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and green both equip claymores

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players run from a single rat to avoid using their low durability weapons

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green "What a waste" doesn't sound happy. At the start of AlexMadeThis while breaking piles of crystals with full durability weapons

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue sighs audibly after almost breaking his weapon in the same room in combat

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">AlexMadeThis is repeated, both players decline skip

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green is killed by a golem mid-charge, "I can't cancel my charge, I'm screwed"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players wipe 4 times in GolemFight before requesting a level skip

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">AlexMadeThis repeated a third time, players decline skip

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king, blue has claymore, green has sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players clear on the first attempt using claymore basic attack and sword and shield charge. No deaths, no weapon breaks

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 5: 1 player - Ish plays ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Since Ish is familiar with the game, and Alex was providing tips on how to play, notes here will not be as detailed due to the bias introduced

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish likes to gather many enemies together into large groups without attacking, so he can clear them with one hit

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Alex is telling ish how mechanics work (way to invalidate my data, alex :p)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish revived himself with a bomb that was mid-air while he died. Well, I guess not all the data is invalid, then

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ish complains that the lights are too bright and intense, "I have special eyes, oland"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Man this durability sucks, you should fix it"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why can't I make fire and lightning and stuff come out of my sword? Didn't I ask for enchanted weapons like 3 months ago? Fire yourself

</li></ul>

3-20 Playtest (Oland)
<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Informal questionaire:

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Every session was ended with the following questions, and with the following responses:

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Did you feel weapon attacks cost a fair amount of durability for the damage they dealt?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1: "The bomb cost way too much, the sword spin attack hardly costs anything and is a bit overpowered, the shield costs way too much just to lift up"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Fist user "haha yes, my fists were very fair"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Purple "The greatsword charge is super expensive, and the shield shouldn't break unless I block things"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Blue declined comment

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Blue "They seemed to break really fast, but gold repaired them really fast so I guess it's okay"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Purple "Seemed fine, but for the boss it was pretty impossible to keep my weapon"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">How did you feel about the gold being dropped?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1: "I didn't feel like there was a point to it"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Fist user "it felt good but I guess I shouldn't" (taken after blue ragequit)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Purple "I think it feels good"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Blue declined comment

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Blue "there needs to be more gold dropped during the boss fight, and he needs to drop weapons during the fight in case mine breaks, or if I wasn't able to keep the weapon I wanted when I got to him"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Purple "yeah ditto, was totally weapon starved for the boss fight, rats should have been easy  but it was impossible because we both only had fists at that point"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">How do you feel the durability system effects your choices as a player?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1: "I don't think the durability effected my choices as much as the weapons, the greatsword was way too powerful so I just stuck with it"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Fist user "I wanted to stick with fists but some weapons are just too good, but I can still make it work"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Purple "It didn't feel like I had a choice, my weapon would break and I would be forced to just use the next weapon I found because going unarmed is terrible"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Blue "I feel like the more people there are the harder it is to make any choices, with two other people rushing everything I had no chance and I had to either never attack or just let my weapon break, it's lame"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Blue "I don't think I had a choice, I feel like my weapon is my character, but using my weapon made them break so fast so I was pretty much forced to be whatever dropped next, and when I got to the boss and lost my weapon it just sucked"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Purple "I think it makes the choices more interesting, like it's more strategic to put down my weapon and use my fists to kill weaker enemies and break chests and stuff, and it slows things down a bit, if that's what you're going for"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Any additional comments?

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 1: The art and use of light was good, the crystals looked good, player wished the sword and shield combo was a more viable option, player didn't see the point of playing with more than one person, "I could roll everything in the game with just the greatsword"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Fist user "please make fists better again"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Purple "nah everything seems okay"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 3, Blue "I really dislike this weapon breaking, I don't like losing my weapon because I hang back a bit, players who don't even need ammo end up taking it all anyway"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Blue "Were we the first ones to find that soft lock?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session 4, Purple "Could weapons have a weaker attack I could use just to kill rats and stuff, without wasting my durability?"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Bugs:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player entered a door while weapon was in the process of breaking. In the next room his sword showed as having low durability, but not broken. When the player dropped their weapon, they became frozen

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Pressing select will kill all players within a large radius of the player who pressed the  button (not a bug, cheat code was left too easy to find)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Using the D-pad on a controller during character select will scroll twice for a single button press

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Two players in game, one player opens a chest with a bomb in it, the other player pauses the game, views the "how to play" screen, and then clicks "resume game". The game crashed and had to be terminated through the task manager

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">If a player dies while using an ability that generates particles or a targeting circle, none of it vanishes, ever

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king hit one player at the beginning of a charge, and with the same charge he hit a second player near the wall. Game soft locked

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">This session at a glance:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The claymore's secondary attack is widely considered to be overpowered once found, as it is fast, deals high damage, has a wide area effect, and costs little for the amount of damage it puts out. Players frequently commented that once the claymore secondary was discovered, they felt no reason to use the basic attack.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">A returning player from previous sessions insisted on sticking with fists to attack, even though he was sad that they had been heavily nerfed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Two players asked to continue a session into a second run so they could try a weapon

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Fist using player was asked repeatedly to stop taking gold from players with weapons, this eventually resulted in a tester quitting the session out of frustration

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The most common cause for the sword and shield to break was initial experimentation raising and lowering the shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The most popular weapon choice was the claymore, however the claymore's charge attack was rarely discovered

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Single players, especially players that discovered the  claymore's secondary attack, seemed to have little trouble beating the rat king. Players in groups seemed to have a great deal of trouble, and frequently lost their weapons

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The most player deaths were attributed to the rat king's rat minions, during cases where players lost their weapons early on in the encounter. Second most deaths were due to golems.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">In nearly every situation where players were given the option to split up and handle encounters individually, they instead went as a group, which contributed to gold shortages

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Note: In the following notes, I will use the term "limbo" to refer to the situation where a player's weapon has begun to shatter in combat, and is constantly bouncing back and forth between being repaired just barely by a single gold drop, and immediately spent so that it begins to shatter again. I will additionally note if the player seems aware of what is happening when they do this

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">--- Session 1: 1 player - Sword and Shield ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Weapon breaks in first room during experimentation with raising the shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player comments the sword and shield blocking animation needs work

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player equips bomb from first chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player almost breaks bomb during experimentation with charge bomb blasts

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomb is broken in combat against single rat spawner, player immediately loots claymore from chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers claymore secondary, begins to spam liberally

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player clears next room using only claymore secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player realizes the purpose of the durability bar

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player drops claymore to punch open a chest and equips the bomb. After throwing the bomb once or twice, player returns to claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel that the optimal strategy here is to drop [my weapon] to do things, instead of damaging it hitting crystals and treasure chests. It's tedious, I don't think it should be damaged unless I hit an enemy"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player baits a large group of rats close to him without attacking, to destroy the entire group at once with a claymore secondary attack

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player receives a large hit from a golem

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel that [the golem] is the only threatening enemy I've faced so far"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Does gold give me points, or is it only for repairing my weapon? I feel like it should award points"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player comments on being unable to see himself while against the bottom wall

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player kills the 4 golems in GolemShowdown very easily using claymore secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player comments that the solid walls behind doors looks strange

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player loots a sword and shield, then trades it back for the claymore without using it in combat

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel there's no point to blocking, since dodging attacks is much easier and I can attack while dodging. Will there be ranged enemy attacks?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king encounter

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player's claymore enters limbo at ~80% boss HP, player continues to spam claymore secondary, only occasionally using primary attacks when gold was not dropped and the secondary attack becomes temporarily unavailable.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king is defeated using almost exclusively claymore secondary attacks, weapon remained in limbo for nearly entire fight.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"There are tons of crystals dropping from this boss, I assume they do something?"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 2: 2 Players - Claymore, Claymore ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green drops claymore without using it, asks if "monk style is still strong". Last time this player playtested, punching attacks were incredibly powerful

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple comments "I'm spitting rocks" in response to the damage particles that appeared when taking a hit

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green comments "I'm sad punching doesn't work so great anymore" as he equips a claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green trades claymore for bomb without using the claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks his bomb during experimentation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple trades claymore for sword and shield, then breaks it while experimenting with shield block

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips a sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green is almost killed by claymore guy enemies while attacking them with his fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green engages same group a second time after getting clear, and is killed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple revives green on accident

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple discovers a debug button that kills all players, purple kills himself and green 3 additional times, making lighthearted jokes about being a dictator

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple comments that team damage should be enabled, to encourage strategy

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green engages in a lengthy discussion of how punches should look, recommends changing side-to-side hook punch animation with straight forward jabs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple breaks their sword and shield while in combat against guy enemies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple and green are expressing vocal surprise over how far a guy with a claymore can knock them away

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple and green manage to kill a golem using only their fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "Yes a treasure chest! Aw it's only a weapon"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips bomb from opened chest, comments "using a weapon is definitely better"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips a sword and shield, complains about how terrible his fists are

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to a rat swarm in RatShowdown, comments he wants a death animation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "I want a greatsword, reach is king!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple trades bomb for sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple breaks sword and shield experimenting with raising the shield, does not re-equip bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green breaks sword and shield in combat against guy enemies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green and purple are continually excited by guy enemies holding claymores, and then always disappointed when they do not drop their weapons when killed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green takes a large hit from a golem while unarmed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green asks to die on purpose so that purple may revive him to full health

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "I want their greatswords!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "oh, the crystals are ammo!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple throws bombs over a gap in EnemiesFromDoors to assist green while he punches

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "I wish we had more weapon choices"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green equips bomb, "I wish this was a sword"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"We are stuck with two bombs"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green's bomb breaks, rat king hp ~90%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple's bomb stuck in limbo from roughly 90% until 70% boss hp, when the bomb breaks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple is irritated and asks green to stop taking gold while unarmed, as it cost him his weapon

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to a swarm of rats, purple revives and is instantly killed himself

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green revives purple, dies to rats and is killed by rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple revives green

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The rat king should flash when he takes damage"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "Does the boss drop enemies during the fight?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies to rats, is revived

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "let's trade off tanking"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green: "the boss isn't even dealing damage, it's just his little guys"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Oh I get it those are rats, it's a rat king, I thought they were arrows"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to rats, is revived

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to rats, purple has to kite a large swarm a significant distance while at low HP to reach green

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies on purpose for a full HP revive

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Despite a huge number of deaths, rat king is defeated in the first attempt

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players spend extra time grabbing all of the gold, despite both being unarmed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"You should use these big gold chunks more often"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple asks to play a second time so that he can try the claymore, green also wishes to play a second time and vows to be "pure monk"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 3: 3 players - claymore, claymore, bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green and purple are both continuing on from session 2, blue is a newcomer

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green drops bomb immediately and switches to fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple discovers claymore charge attack, seems very excited

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Greatsword is the best, this attack is so awesome"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue drops greatsword and equips  green's discarded bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks bomb during experimentation, discovers bomb charge attack, comments that bombs should have a targeting circle as they are hard to aim, also suggests that bombs be a secondary item instead of a primary weapon

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green and purple are explaining mechanics and enemies to blue

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green dies to golem in GolemShowdown, is revived by blue

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green leaves purple and blue and fights golems at the opposite end of the room, kills one on his own

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple's claymore almost breaks from claymore charge attack, is restored to full from crystals

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green is killed by surviving golem

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue's sword and shield breaks while reviving green

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue asks green to stop taking gold since he has no weapon

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips bomb, uses full bomb charge to kill a spawner and a treasure goblin, trades bomb for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue claymore enters limbo while fighting guy enemies in EnemiesFromDoors, blue seems aware of this and is constantly chanting "no no no" while spamming his primary and collecting gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue claymore breaks while fighting golem in same room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue player ragequits game, complains about players taking gold when he needed it

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Session ends early

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 4: 2 players - sword and shield, bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Immediate crash! How to play screen possibly broken while in-game

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players try again, this time loadout is claymore, bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue tries the bomb from the chest, it almost breaks, and they switch back to claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue attempts to attack purple

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple discovers bomb secondary, spams it several times to confirm that it is damaging the player

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "is gold special power? like mana?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks claymore while fighting rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple breaks bomb experimenting with bomb charge shot

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "I want to move faster"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and purple both equip a sword and shield, both players immediately break their swords and shields by testing the block function

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips  bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue blows up an entire room with one bomb charge, "YES!!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue comments to purple "I don't think you get any benefit from those, I think they only recharge weapons"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue asks purple to leave some gold for him, as he is not in melee range when most of it drops

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue trades nearly broken bomb for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue discovers claymore charge, "oh god is this hitting the whole circle?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue uses claymore charge to kill rats from across a gap, claymore breaks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple and blue split up in GolemShowdown to fight golem packs alone

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and purple die nearly simultaneously to different golem packs

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and purple stay together, but still take two golem punches in rapid succession and die immediately

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue is nearly killed by golem, is finished off by a rat while running away

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple equips claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies whlie charging claymore, the claymore's charging particles and target circle do not vanish ever

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips sword and shield, is killed attempting to block golem punches, purple discovers revive

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple and blue both equip claymores

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue: "it's hard to tell us apart now, we have the same weapons"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat King

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue and purple both perform claymore charge strikes on the rat king after he becomes stunned on a wall

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both claymores enter limbo, boss hp ~ 80%, players seem aware of what the black particles mean

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple's claymore breaks with boss hp ~50%

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies to rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue revives purple

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies to rat king charge

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue is revived

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue drops claymore to fight rats with fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"There's no way to keep our weapons going for this"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue attempts to kill rats with  fists, then re-equip the claymore to collect the gold, however most attempts fail and he collects the gold while using fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies to rats, is revived immediately

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"We're spending more time fighting rats than the king"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple gets charged at the beginning of the rat king's charge, blue gets hit by the charge right at the end, pinning him to the wall. The game soft locks

</li></ul>

3-13 Playtest (Oland)
<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Today's session at a glance:

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Ben ellinger came to playtest, with these suggestions for the game: The weapon select screen is unintuitive, don't need weapons in the start room as it becomes confusing, the bomb looks like a trinket/non-weapon collectable, empty rooms need to be removed from rotation, bomb is very difficult to solo with, players are not taught about right stick aiming, gold needs to be given a purpose (used to repair weapon durability?), gold/score needs to be displayed even in single player, the objective of most rooms is unclear unless it's a key room, certain spawners need to communicate that they are indestructable, add a reward room with just treasure, show the door being opened after a room is cleared, large enemies seem underpowered, rewards feel weak, find a way to build anticipation for rewards.

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Playtest club overview:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Given the option, the bomb was always picked for the starting loadout for at least one person (5 out of 6 unique sessions) however it was almost always traded away immediately (4 out of 5 players). The claymore was the favored weapon to keep, and the sword+shield was regarded as the most boring, but serving a purpose, and the large shield was seen as useless. Nobody could figure out how the shield worked for either the sword+shield, or the large shield.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The title screen of our game is very boring.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The character select screen is very confusing.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The rat king is bugged and if he charges into the exit door, will become stuck and deal massive damage to anyone that touches him.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Large piles of gold cause significant lag when players come near

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players seemed confused that the bomb secondary did no damage to enemies, but still hurt themselves

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Character model can be pushed off center if attacked repeatedly while charging fist secondary. Wasn't able to replicate, but saw it happen during testing

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 1: 1 player - Starting loadout: Bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player unlocks claymore in first room chest, decides to keep bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player unlocks sword in chest, decides to keep bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomb secondary is discovered, player kills self trying to kill rats with bomb secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discards bomb, uses fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I don't need bombs, I'm the fist of the north star!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like the sound in your game"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers fist charge during combat, uses it to full charge repeatedly

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">An enemy becomes stuck in the wall inGuyShowdown, cheat codes used to advance

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player dies inThisHasKeyswhile cornered by many Guys, quits the playtest session

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player remarks that the damage sound was "too sharp" and suggested a "cystalish hum"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 2: 1 player - Starting loadout: See notes ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player is extremely confused by the ready screen. Player selects bombs and readies up, then waits for a long time for the game to continue. Player mashes buttons, reaches game start confirmation, accidentally hits no, accidentally quits out of ready screen. Clicks play button, selects bomb, readies up, reaches game start confirmation, accidentally hits no, readies up with claymore (accident) starts game

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Oh no, I thought I selected the bomb"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player walks past first chest without opening it

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"This is low polygon, it's very hard to see edge [of the floor near pits]"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The A button does nothing, I readied up with it and it's doing nothing!" - while under attack

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is the top bar my health?" - correct

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player clears a room of enemies, and waits for door to open. Does not realize empty spawner still counts as an enemy and must be killed. After 1 minute in the room, is told to kill empty rat spawning mounds

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player finds bomb, trades claymore for bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player spams uncharged bomb primary, right stick not used

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Bomb seems not useful"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Bomb dropped, fists used

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Fists traded for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I healed, do the polygons [gold] heal me?" - after advancing to a new room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is the winning strat to just go after the spawners?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"My player moves pretty slow"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why does the chest give me what I already have?" - Player opens a chest, receives a claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"What if chests gave speed boosts or size boosts? At least give weapons I'm not holding"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Shield not so useful as sword, also boring" - Player equips large shield, then kills one enemy with it, switches back to claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I can't tell how much damage I'm doing, if it's more or less than bomb, can you display numbers?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why am I collecting keys?" - inEnemiesFromDoors

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Claymore is just so much better, has better range and damage and speed, I don't see why I would use anything else!" - while kill-farming Guys inEnemiesFromDoors, player also discovers claymore secondary attack and begins to spam it

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like collecting the gold, but I still don't know why! What is it for?" - actually sounds angry

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Is this second bar stamina?" - after swinging sword at the air repeatedly and noting bar draining. Sword almost breaks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player encounters large golems at the back end ofEnemiesFromDoors"Oh god, the shield!" player retreats to grab shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player dies attempting to shield a golem hit

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Shield is useless!"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player dies after chasing a golem into a corner and attempting to hit it with the claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Secondary for claymore is just better [than the normal swing], it's fast and powerful and hits everywhere"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player opens chest and is showered in gold, remarks that this was the most rewarding chest but still doesn't understand gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"How much gold do I have? What does it even do?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Does gold refill my stamina bar?" - yes

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why can't I kill these?" - while attacking wall spawners

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"These levels are all blending together, they seem really similar and it's all just killing things" - player is 8 levels in at this point, currently onGuyShowdown

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"There's supposed to be a key, where is it?!" - onGuyShowdown, there is no key

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"There should be fewer levels, and get rid of all the really small ones and ones that are empty rooms"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"This is harder, there are two giants, but mechanically it's the same" - while fighting two giants

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Can I have a dodge button?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The sword should run out like the bomb"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I feel like if a door is blocked by a keyhole, it should be opened with a key, and there should be an unlock sound. If I have to kill enemies to open it, it should be bars or something"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player reaches rat king

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Are these rats? I didn't realize until I saw the big one, he has a crown and rat kings are a thing" - yes, they are rats

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Dies to rat king

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Oh no, he's growing more rats!" - after rat king shakes off all rats and more begin to appear

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I enjoyed the boss shedding rats, and the screen shaking and ramming the walls, but I expected him to change his behavior after all his rats came off"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 3: 2 players - Starting loadout: Claymore, bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players are disoriented by the ready screen, start hitting the keyboard trying to make the game start and accidentally join the keyboard player as an empty player 3. Players back to the main menu to remove the keyboard before starting the game successfully

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple trades claymore for bomb from first room's chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue trades bomb for purple's discarded claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple discovers claymore charge attack "OH GOD YES"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple enters door, blue begins to break crystals, purple complains that they are unable to leave the door to grab some of the gold being found

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple attempts to land a bomb on a spawner and misses repeatedly, blue eventually kills the spawner. Purple drops the bomb and comments that it feels weak

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I don't even want weapons, fists are the best! Monk style!" - purple, while killing many rats with punches

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like the sword animations"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue breaks claymore while swinging at nothing, correctly identifies secondary bar as weapon durability

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue picks up purple's discarded bomb and carries it into next room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"These bombs are mega shit, they're so damn slow and I can't hit anything" blue, while killing enemies inw_06

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">blue drops bomb, uses fists, both players now unarmed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue equips a claymore inEnemiesFromDoors, comments that weapons might be useful against larger enemies that don't die in one hit

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue sword breaks while farming Guys

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players seem to be really enjoying fighting for gold from the spawning enemies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players encounter golem enemies

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue retreats to grab another claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies trying to punch a golem to death, "okay this guy is hard as balls"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue dies while charging the claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"okay we need to do this together"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Gold is how you win" after defeating golems

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple opens a chest, "Chest!! Aw it's fucking bombs, nobody wants that shit" purple sticks to fists

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies inGuyShowdown, is instantly revived by a swing that was already in progress from blue "Did I just heal? Do these guys drop health?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king encountered

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king charges door, becomes stuck. Purple attempts to punch rat king in the tail and is instantly killed by the charge hitbox on the tail

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The tail shouldn't hurt me when it's dashing"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Fight is reset with cheat codes

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue nearly dies while trying to keep rat king's minions down

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue requests that purple revives him after he kills himself on purpose to heal

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Your game is really pretty, but most of the weapons are garbage, fists all the way"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">-- Session 3: Ryasa plays - Starting loadout: Claymore ---

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Oh this is what claymore meant, I wanted explosives"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa stops playing to let two testers take her place

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 4: 2 players - Starting Loadout: Sword/Shield, bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Ryasa tells blue about charge attacks (Ryasa no!)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue trades sword and shield for claymore from first chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue discovers claymore charge through button spam

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Your snow is pretty"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple: "Oh god I have a shield, what do I do?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple trades sword and shield for next available weapon (claymore)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like how you regain your life between levels"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue trades claymore for bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I don't like that I can't come back out of the door"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I don't like how the bomb throws itself once it's at max inflation"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Game lags severely onEnemiesFromDoorswhen both players attempt to grab a large pile of gold

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"We should be able to bomb the wall spawn doors"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple trades claymore for sword and shield

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies to golems inGolemFight

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue attempts to revive purple with bombs, and is killed by a golem inGolemFight

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies to golems inGolemFight

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Blue expresses confusion that bombs seem to deal little damage, tries to kill rats with secondary, kills self on accident

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Purple dies to golems inGolemFight<sub data-rte-washtml="1">, is instantly revived by a bomb from blue "Did I just heal?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Rat king encountered

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Game lags significantly when players pick up gold dropped by boss

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players don't know who won when looking at the post game score screen, "I don't know which one of us is player 2, is that purple?"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--- Session 5: 1 player - Starting Loadout: Bomb ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers bomb charge

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades bomb for sword and shield from first chest

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades sword and shield for claymore from chest in immediate next room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers claymore secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player comments that it looks weird to move during the sword plant animation

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player is spamming claymore secondary attack almost exclusively

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player uses claymore charge directly on top of a rat spawner to instantly kill is

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player almost breaks weapon while swinging it at the air

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">While fighting inRatShowdown, player forgets what the clear objective was, asks me for reminder

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player sights a golem inEnemiesFromDoorsand retreats without engaging them

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player fights golems while cornered at the enterance toEnemiesFromDoors, spams secondary attack to kill them

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades claymore for sword and shield, comments that shield is probably useful against golem attacks

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why do I drain energy for lifting up the shield?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player dies to golem while trying to shield it inEnemiesFromDoors

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades sword and shield for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player discovers aiming with right stick, begins to use it for everything

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades claymore for bomb

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Bomb secondary hurts me and deals so little damage, it can't even kill rats in one hit"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"What does bomb secondary even do?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Door fails to open after killing all enemies inGolemFight, cheat codes are used to advance

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player trades bomb for claymore

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player slow-walks the corridor to the rat king, pauses to examine the statues

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player kills the rat king using only claymore charge and claymore secondary

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player remarks that they loved cleaving with the claymore, but the bomb needed an aiming mode

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player comments that the sword and shield was boring and didn't protect them, and that it only had one swing animation and seemed boring, and was overall nothing special

</li></ul>

2-17 Playtest (Oland)
<p data-rte-fromparser="true">Today's session at a glance:

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Adding redundant face button controls seemed to help a great deal. Every player began the game and immediately discovered attack, secondary attack, and equip without being directed. Roughly half of players went on to discover the triggers were also controls, but nobody used the right stick to aim their characters.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The sword spin attack was the clear winner for most popular attack, and is capable of defeating the rat king in a single, fully charged hit. All players seemed surprised by the speed at which the boss would die when using the spin attack

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The shield drew consistent comments about how it appeared useless, and no player used it for more than a single room, opting to immediately trade it for a sword when it became available, or preferring bare fists. Nobody discovered the shield's charge ability.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The bomb was used by a single player, who grew incredibly frustrated at its inability to deal with targets that swarmed at close range, and dropped it to use his fists instead

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">The gold tracking bar was noticed roughly half of the time, and when noticed, players always assumed it was tracking which player was "winning" over the other, however it was not clear that gold was the sole contributor of points.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Only one pair of players began the session by trying to attack each other.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">All sessions with more than one player commented that it was "really annoying" to press start to advance to the next level, usually both players would press start and accidentally pause the game.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Every player smashed every yellow crystal for gold. Literally no player skipped a room without destroying every yellow crystal first. Awesome.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players spent considerable time in the rooms that spawn "guy" enemies from doors, and endless rats from the walls, just farming them for kills.

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 1: single player ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player independently discovers equip, attack, secondary attack, and charge. Player selects sword and leaves the room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player kills rats and the spawner without direction, then destroys the yellow crystals and moves to the next room.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player insists on breaking all yellow crystals and collecting all the gold.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player is now using spin attack exclusively. Player will spin to destroy crystal clusters, single crystals, and single enemies. Player allows himself to become surrounded by rats so he can spin them to death in one strike

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">single-key room: player understands that collecting the key unlocks the door. Player hangs behind and farms the infinite enemy spawners for kills for several minutes.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Triple-key room: player is initially confused when the first key does not appear to do anything. Seeks out the other two keys (visible on screen) and successfully opens the door. Player hangs behind and farms the room for kills for 3 respawn waves of the "Guy" enemy before advancing.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player encounters a level previously encountered (the room with shitloads of crystals, thanks alex) and declines the offer to level skip ahead instead smashing all crystals and killing all enemies a second time.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The shield sounds like it could be okay for teamplay, but I think it's kind of pointless for solo"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on reaching the boss corridor) "oh this seems ominous"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player laughs when boss dies immediately to spin attack, asks if this is a bug

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 2: 2 players ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players discover all controls through random mashing. Green selects the sword and leaves the room. Blue selects the shield and attempts to use it in the next room, but immediately drops it in favor of the sword that is there.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players smashed every crystal in the run before leaving the room, even when the door had already opened

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Same strong preference for spin attack as player from session 1, for both players

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on noticing the gold bar) "I think I'm winning, does that mean I'm winning?" player accurately noted his lead over his ally

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I think I get points for killing enemies and for gold? See I killed a bunch of rats and my bar is bigger now"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players were excited by the vortex crystal test room and smashed all crystals before advancing

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"Why do three of my buttons drop the sword?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I need a dash"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players understand the key mechanic

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green enters the opened door, blue remains behind and farms the infinite wall spawners for rats, "hey I'm in the lead now"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">  green laughs and spams buttons. Upon inquiry, he asks if there's a way for him to leave the door so he can catch up in gold.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">  eventually the timer runs down and blue is forced to stop enemy farming, but now has a significant lead

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Duplicate room, players decline offer for skipping the level

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on seeing the shield) "why would I need to defend? I'm never in danger"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(after defeating the boss) "this wasn't co-op, I totally won"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I wish I could slap my allies"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the shield seemed really boring"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 3: 2 players ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Green accidentally starts the game before blue has properly joined, and is forced to quit to menu to allow blue to join.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">All controls discovered successfully with random mashing. Green equips the sword. Blue equips the shield, and then drops it in the next room after the rats are defeated

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the shield seems useless"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"what if I had to hit a rock a whole bunch to break it so I could advance, like deformable terrain?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"can we have health bars that match our player colors?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on trying to walk into a pit) "shouldn't I fall?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the hit feedback seems really weak, could they flash or get knocked back or stunned?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"do any enemies shoot?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players spend several minutes farming guy enemies for kills in the 3 key room, long after observing the door has opened

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the environment seems gorgeous"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players spend time backtracking from the exit door to locate a single rat that had escaped death so they could advance (den of evil syndrome)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(after locating single living rat) "having one method of unlocking doors seems okay, but having both makes less sense"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"what if you had variations, like enemies that were the same but slightly different colors and they behaved slightly differently based on their color?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">In the boss room, green advances into the boss chamber. Blue lags behind and becomes disoriented by the cutscene, and doesn't emerge from the sealed tunnel until after the boss has already died

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players decline offer to skip a repeat level

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"learning the controls and having all the weapons in the room at the very beginning was kind of overwhelming"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the bar is showing who is winning, but I'm not sure what constitutes winning"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">---Session 4: 2 players ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Controls learned. Green equips sword, blue equips bomb. Blue spends some time throwing bombs around, learns the charge bomb mechanic

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"am I throwing a pumpkin? it looks like a pumpkin, is this a bomb?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(green to blue) "how do I kill you?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(trying to break a crystal with basic sword attack, missing) "I feel like I should be hitting this crystal"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(about the shield) "it's a useless thing"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Both players hit the start button too many times and accidentally pause between every level transition, become annoyed

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Players accept offer to skip repeat level (walkway with no crystals or enemies, why is that there?)

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"the spin attack is really nice, I don't see why I would want to use anything else"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on rats) "I like your little zerglings, they're really cool" I totally can't unsee zerglings now.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"The score bar should be across the top"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"doors should glow when they open"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">---Session 5: 1 player ---

<ul><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">All controls discovered, sword selected before progressing

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">(on discovering a second sword) "how do I know which sword has better stats?" player spent a significant amount of time switching between two swords and swinging them at nothing before I finally told him they were identical

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"shield but no sword?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like the pits, they look good"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"can there be an indication an object can be destroyed, like make it glow?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player got stuck on a level, didn't seem to understand that killing all the enemies was the goal. Began attacking walls randomly. Eventually discovered a rat spawner so that it became active

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player doesn't seem to understand keys. On 3 key level, spent several minutes killing guy enemies waiting for the spawners to run out, despite them being infinite.

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"spin to win"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">Player wished to skip two repeat levels, the 3 key room and the vortex crystal test room

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"does the boss always charge bottom right?"

</li><li data-rte-spaces-before="1">"I like killing lots of little things, I feel strong. The boss feels too weak however"

</li></ul>

<p data-rte-fromparser="true">--Room Damage-

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">AAAAPresent1:     0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">EnemiesFromDoors: 10, 8,  20, 15, 12, 8,  4,  3,  2,  2

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">RatBattle:        5,  3,  21, 0,  9

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">AlexMadeThis:     2,  11, 2,  2,  2

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present2:         0,  0,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present3:         0,  0,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present6:         9,  4,  1,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present2:         0,  8

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present7:         0,  4

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">Present8:         4,  0,  10, 5,  10, 6,  3,  5

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">BetaRoom1:        0,  0,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">BetaRoom2:        3,  2,  5,  2,  0

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">BetaRoom3:        4,  5,  1

<p data-rte-fromparser="true" data-rte-empty-lines-before="1">BetaRoom4:        0,  8,  2