Tutorial quest playtest with Joana

[wjt]

@jofilizola kindly tested the new tutorial quest last week. Of course she has played the game many times but she had not seen the tutorial quest before – or, for that matter, the recent changes to always show the input hints on-screen and to grant the player all abilities at once.

She was playing with keyboard + mouse.

Scene 1: ruined_village

She easily found Arun to talk to him on the first level. No further notes.

Scene 2: tutorial_stealth

She was briefly detected by the first guard but evaded him easily. No further notes.

Scene 3: tutorial_sequence_puzzle

New arrow indicators for interactable things: “What’s the little heart” - people seem to see the arrow as a heart. “I like that” (but didn’t know what they were initially).

Inconsistent naming: “Plinth” vs “altar” naming for the hint signs.

Arun is too close to the objects and is in the path. Move him off to the side?

Moving with the keyboard is too quick, hard to hit the rocks accurately. Could move the rocks further apart? Or reduce the acceleration.

Scene 4: tutorial_ink_combat

Doesn’t realize that she got the powerup (maybe because she was talking to us?)

Didn’t see the input hint in the bottom-right. Expected them to be in the bottom-left. Not easy to spot. Ideas on the spot:

• Try a drop shadow HUD hint buttons: Project shadow for better contrast #2167
• Putting a solid background behind them - c.f. Turnip Boy
• Maybe we need to highlight the hint the first time they appear.

Scene 5: tutorial_void_runner.tscn

Void runner: “It’s super stressful!” Died right at the very end of the run, on the approach to the bridge. “Maybe it should be a little slower?” Died 5 times before reaching the goal. (Will notes: actually I think this is better balanced than the previous one - people who find that one hard often can never finish it.)

Since this playtest I tweaked the path so that there is a long-ish straight path leading to the bridge, rather than an annoying jagged diagonal section just before it.

Stephen noted:

That alert noise [when the enemy detects you] doesn't always translate well in calls... sometimes too loud.

Scene 6: tutorial_grappling

Grappling: Didn’t stand close enough to catch the first pin but figured it out soon enough. Aimed with keyboard even though she has an external mouse.

Didn’t remember she could throw with the mouse. Maybe we should switch between keyboard & mouse indicators in this HUD. Because: “Aim” label, is that for the icon at the left or right?

Powerup: At grabbing, she expects audio/visual clue and shiny effect.