After holding a testing session for the game, we had a great sense of the overall first impressions. Many players in their feedback said the game looked and felt very similar to portal. As we lined out in our earlier devlogs this was one of our key inspirations, so it was great to see that it showed. The players ranked the game on average 4.5 stars out of 5. So we know that what we’re doing works and that players are enjoying it. There was no negative feedback on the core concepts of the game.

In terms of visuals, among our playtesters there was only one complaint about the visual design of the game in regards to the black skybox. The overwhelming majority of players enjoyed the minimalist / sci-fi design. One player commented that the design of the title screen needed some more clarification as they struggled to get into the game so we will also look into how we railroad the players onto the first level. We noticed that none of the players used the level select feature (which may be a result of the testing environment as they were all time limited) but as a result of this we will likely remove the level select when pressing play for the first time so players don't get confused. Instead making it accessible after the first level is cleared.

In terms of controls there were no major problems. Some players struggled to understand how certain controls worked, but that's more of a mechanics and clarity issue than the fault of the control scheme, so no changes need to be made there.

In regards to said clarity, a major issue we stumbled across in the playtest is that players were not understanding new mechanics as they were introduced. When players started getting multiple states or especially new ones altogether, they struggled to learn how to use them. The first ‘halfway’ level (h1 in game) stumped many people who needed hints on how to use it. We plan on reworking this tutorial stage to make how the state works much clearer for new players as we aren't keen on using tooltips. We want players to figure it out for themselves and have an 'ohhh' moment.

Bugs and exploits were at a minimum. Two players discovered an exploit that allowed them to fly using the box which is largely a fault of Unity's physics engine rather than the code, but we will still do our best to fix it. There were a couple of issues with mouse locking and efforts will be made to reduce the issue. A couple of players have complained about the ‘jitteryness’ of the floating platforms which we have tried on multiple occasions to minimise without great success. So this problem is lower on the list of priorities.

When it comes to level design, all players thought it was challenging but fair. Aside from the clarity issues we mentioned beforehand. Introducing new mechanics acted as a sort of ‘difficulty spike’ as players learned to use them, but often resulted in a great sense of satisfaction when they were figured out. This was tied to unclear mechanics rather than the design of the levels, but we will change the level design where we can to encourage players to learn the mechanics faster.

 Key Takeaways

1. The core game is strong and people genuinely enjoy the mechanics.
2. Clarity is our biggest weakness.
3. Most issues stem from:
   • Poor mechanic communication
   • UI confusion
4. Fixing onboarding/tutorials would massively improve the player experience