Playtesting: Overcast

The name of the digital prototype game that my partner and I created is called, Overcast. It is a 2D game that uses both platformer and shmup mechanics. Specifically, you play a flying pig that is running on clouds and can shoot up angry cloud enemies. The current win condition is that you have to stay alive as long as you can to complete the level by reaching the rainbow cloud of safety.

My roles were the artist and the producer. In this process, I mainly focused on the art of the game like the cloud tiles, the hero, the enemies, and the background. As a producer, I was in charge of making sure we are getting things done in time and delegating what we have time for and what we don’t have time for.

From my two playtest rounds, I got really good feedback. The three people who tested my game said that it was really cute and wholesome. Most people rated the completeness of the game with a 5 and that there were just a couple of minor changes to polish it up even better. I was also glad that people enjoyed it as well as I saw ratings 4s and 5s. So, I think we will be keeping most of the art and objectives of the game. Based on the feedback on what we should add or change to our game, people had trouble with knowing where to go next and confused with the overall directions of the map. So, to help with that, we will be adding arrow signs to help with the direction of the players. We will also be decreasing the volume of the sound because people thought the soundtrack was very loud. For the game over screen, I also got feedback on changing the dead pig to bacon because that just makes it more sense and it fits better within the cute theme we have going on. Additionally, we will be fixing the projectile shooting mechanic because it does not get destroyed when hitting the enemy, it just continues forward through the game.