Sew's Art Blog

Been kind of all over the place this week design wise. I’ve been a little disillusioned with the project itself, too. Some days I think the game is great and fun, and some days I just wonder ‘how do we make sense of this mess‘. I think that’s probably a normal feeling for a long project like this one.

However, the last few times we’ve gone to test I just didn’t want to. It felt like a chore, something I didn’t really want to do. I haven’t been really having fun playing the game. Part of it is because I don’t understand easily what is going on with a lot of it. I’m picking a class on my first turn, most of which I don’t really understand what they do. This could be partly a reading comprehension issue, except even the few classes that I understand, I don’t understand them from the class info I get when I have a chance to pick it. We have to improve this information so it feels less like homework or a guessing game to figure out who you want to be. The problem is only amplified when you get to pick your second and third classes once you hit the appropriate levels. It’s difficult to wrap my head around how interesting and useful a Mystic Bruiser Acrobat is going to be, when I can’t fully understand the benefits and drawbacks of each of them. [Classes that alter the stats you get on level up should probably show you a ‘total after you take this class’ to prevent further confusion when picking 2nd and 3rd classes? (Like if one class raises your HP but the other one lowers it by the same amount per level, you can know that easily?)]

This is pretty hefty and maybe not practical, but it’s the kind of information I think people need to know?

I’ve also lately been having a problem of really not knowing where to go or what to do. I know how the game functions, I know I should be completely quests but. I feel like I keep making poor choices (not including death chests >.>) that put me almost infinitely behind. If someone else starts out strong, my only hope is that they meet some great misfortune or I get incredibly lucky. Usually when something bad happens to someone else though, it never seems /that/ bad. Having said that, I haven’t got to finish a full game in awhile, not since the respawn timer was added, and that might help that completely.

I’ve been caught in the ‘pretty boring but important’ part of this for awhile now. Interface design might feel more rewarding when it’s actually in game and I know what’s going on, but all the parts that will make the game charming don’t exist yet, and that’s on me. I haven’t been able to get to enemies, their animations, story backdrops, more backgrounds, eventually making the map not look like a train wreck. You know, the.. artsy stuff. The things that will make everything seem more lively and engaging. When I look at this I think, “Oh, yeah, we totally got this. This is exciting!“. And I’m sure I’ll feel a ton better once we’re back around to doing that. Regardless of my current feelings, be that from my mood or something just being off, I haven’t forgotten that I love this game and I remember what it can and will be once we get it done.