Abandoned

Very, very cool platformer. Immediately I felt the mood of the game upon starting it, the somber tone is really strong. Playing this game really does emulate an emotional response from me. Visually, it's incredibly appealing too. I really enjoyed the hyperrealistic assets paired with the handmade ones-- this is a wonderful effect. I enjoyed how the visuals added to the feelings of depression, being lost, and dysphoria. Overall, a really nicely made game, and I hope to see more like this in the future :) 

Extremely creepy in a good way. I think you are a talented artist and I can see that in your games and animations. The animation is gritty and I think that it blends well with the semi-real background. I did encounter some bugs. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I could get out of the tunnel in one of the sections. I eventually figured it out. 

In the first level I had a bit of trouble figuring out what to do after finding the syringe. I kept dying if I crawled from the very front. When I discovered that you have to go through the middle of the rocks and crawl, it was like a reward in itself. I’ve always admired that in games.

The style choice came off well! The character blends in very well with the environment, making for a cohesive visual experience. The photography used for assets is a cool and unique decision but needs to be approached with caution to make sure the player always knows exactly where they can and cannot be. The crouching along with the movement animation flowed well, and the crouching mechanic was introduced seamlessly. In any future development, I would reduce speed and/or jump height while crouching because there is no reason not to crouch all the time to navigate obstacles and avoid enemies easier. Overall though a charming game! Great job!

I think the art style here is very strong and adds a lot to the atmosphere. I think that the basic platforming works well and the game is overall interesting to play. I would like to see more space for the player to explore and maybe more collectables. The sound design also works well and sets the mood for the game. The crawling is a nice addition and makes sense with the narrative of the game and gives the player more options to engage with the terrain. 

I really enjoyed the mixed media art style! I think that it really plays well into the patchwork style of the character themselves, and the story that you’re trying to tell. I think that having an indicator for how many items you need, or an indicator for the items you’ve collected would be nice, as it lets the player know when the game has been completed. Additionally, some areas are difficult to navigate without a lot of experimentation. I think while it’s good to allow your player to experiment, too much may lead to the player feeling lost. However, at the end of the day, I still really enjoyed playing Abandoned!

Playtester Name: Chang

Developer Name(s): Chloe & Milena

Playtest Date : 10/ 26

What were your favorite moments of the game?

-  The atmosphere that the art and music of this game bring to me is overwhelming.

Where do you see room for improvement?

- I thought it would be nice if I could know how many items are required and how many items I got. From the 3rd round, I didn't know that the game couldn't proceed, and I thought I didn't find enough items so I kept walking around. 

When did you stop playing and why?

- There was an area where you can pass only by jumping while crawling. 

What was confusing or intuitive about the interface or controls?

- The first stage explained well about controls.

What was confusing or intuitive about the game mechanics?

- I thought it would be great if the game had some text that explains how the mechanic interacts with the sphere. The mechanic itself and the level design using it was a completely brilliant idea.

What was frustrating or imaginative about the visual art, or sound design?

- I always wanted to try the art style using images like this, after seeing the results in this game, I want to try more! I personally thought it would be nice if the bats and characters were more unified with the background.

Do you have any other feedback that you would like the designer to hear?

- I wish the game was a little more difficult! I like the atmosphere of the game. Especially the platform with the image of stone.

>What were your favorite moments of the game?

The intro was really cool! The art has a really tangible-feeling quality to it which I think is really strong, and the theming is interesting. I’m not sure if there are more enemies than the bat, but the moment it appeared was really interesting too.

Also, I think crawling works really well as a mechanic! It helped feel like I’m exploring this out of the way place, going through crawlspaces and so on, and it adds a lot of depth to things like avoiding enemies. 

>Where do you see room for improvement?

I think the big thing is it’s kind of unclear where you can go sometimes. In level two after you get the syringe, the way the rock appears made it seem like (to me) it was supposed to act as a floor for the entire thing; I didn’t realize at first you could drop down there. The exit to the next level being bright red made me think “don’t go there!!” at first, too. 

Also, I might be wrong but it seems like there’s no disadvantage to crawling? You stay at the same speed and can jump just as far, but your hitbox is smaller. Just adding a drawback would help with that! I ended up just crawling the entire time.

Also, just adding an icon and proper name woulda been nice! It makes the game feel so much more polished and really doesn’t take long to do.

>When did you stop playing and why?

I think midway through level 3? I had to pause for a second and accidentally hit escape when I got back, so I lost my progress.

>What was confusing or intuitive about the interface or controls?

I personally prefer using wasd to arrow keys so ideally I would have liked that option, but I thought the controls were intuitive.

>What was confusing or intuitive about the game mechanics?

With the things you pick up being so specific, I felt like they should have some kind of effect on me? (Maybe they do had I gotten farther), so them just sort of not doing anything felt strange to me. The crawling felt super intuitive though, and water = bad was nicely consistent and visually readable.

>What was frustrating or imaginative about the visual art, or sound design?

The colliders on some of the platforms were a bit hard to judge, but the art was really neat otherwise. 

>Do you have any other feedback that you would like the designer to hear?

The concept and mood in this game were really rich! I was curious about the backstory, and I thought the art all around was really effective visually, even if sometimes a bit frustrating mechanically. The way the crawling worked into some of the puzzles was really novel and interesting too.