We were present on Glitch Mundo, an event that happened simultaneously in some Brazilian cities. The game was presented in São Paulo! The majority of the public was other Game Devs and people interested in the development side of games. A demo of Future Flashback was available for playing!
The setup
The computer was configured so that anyone could freely play the game anyway they would like, a joystick was available, a mouse (with mouse pad!), and even keyboard or touchpad. I tried to place myself away of the game, let the person discover themselves how to play. I observed.
Most people went for the joystick, some people used the mouse and no one used either the touchpad or keyboard – probably due to placement. On the joystick people played without using the hat arrows, that can quickly jump between interesting spots, and didn’t used the right stick to walk with Kyle or scroll the texts. On the mouse, I didn’t see anyone using the middle click to quickly reach the menu. This gave me an idea to show the input keys on screen when pulling the phone menu. Also it alerted me that we should polish the joystick experience because people can prefer that over the mouse when available. I still want you to be able to experiment the game with just your notebook touchpad.
Still on the hardware, a headphone was kindly lent to us by a member of the event organisation. People who put it on, instantly balanced on the game rhythms with their heads. Later when asked, they praised the music as something that strongly helped to immerse in the game universe. There was some silent parts right at the start at game. While they work great, if someone only thought about putting on the headphones on these scenes, once they put it, they thought it wasn’t working. Some people liked the music a lot and suggested that we make available to buy the game soundtrack after it’s released.
Gameplay in the Event
On the game itself, I made sure you could skip cutscenes with either a click or a press of a button, and that the text could be quickly skipped by just mashing buttons. You could click hold to walk faster too. Surprisingly, most people didn’t skip any text or even the opening cutscene. Some people mashed clicks around the room looking for pixel hunting, but once a text message emerged, they rested their hand and calmly read. When I asked later, they were just interested in all the messages, primarily for clues on the puzzles, but they liked the information on the story they got when doing it. Some people complained it was a little too hard sorting out what was relevant to the puzzle. A person complained about how we worded a specific puzzle, saying the he was mislead by the choice of words. Noted! A better way to phrase this puzzle is now in our to do list!
The event was in a bar. It was crowded. People were drinking. People were noisy. At the beginning of the event it was quieter. The majority of people who played the game in the first half of the event, were able to play through it and reach credits. Even at this time, one person played just for the music and art, and once a puzzle was reached, he get up and told me “I like this, but I want to play this in my home with time to explore, where can I download it?”. Soon I hope to answer this. And then on, most people were getting stuck – all in the same puzzle. A couple who played, had a very cool “OH!” moment once they figured out the last puzzle in the demo. Some people complained on the game interface, we have this inventory, that has autohide, you have to place the mouse anywhere on top of the screen for it to show up, and some people couldn’t find it, they suggested the inventory not autohide – we can then add a configuration on the menu for allowing it to autohide.
Our title screen is very blue pink, with a blazing fast scroll over a procedurally generated city. I thought it was eye catching, and I felt it helped to attract people to sit in front of the computer and play it. People also complimented the art of the game rooms when they saw someone playing.
Overall the event was a good experience. I liked to talk to other developers, people with different backgrounds, and play their games, talk about difficulties, see how people were organising to help each other. The community felt thriving! Most people I met for the first time, some people I had saw in previous events, now involved in different projects.
Other Games in Glitch Mundo – SP
Some games I played during the event were Unsighted, 2d top down that plays like Devil May Cry where the feeling of urgency screams at every point, made by Studio Pixel Punk; Corona Black, a game that to me felt like Pokemon Stadium meets Real Steel and One Piece; FISH Person Shooter, a smooth happy Doom like game, with a hook; Dream Dasher, a cute platformer where you can combo dashes to blaze through the levels; and Trago, a game where you use your keyboard to drink – but don’t play it drunk.
Lessons learned, games played, now to keep working!
