I know that this may sound a little extreme, but I think if anyone here is actually serious about producing a GREAT and HIGH QUALITY game. Before you guys actually officially release SMWCP2, this is what I think you guys should do.
When the game is just about finished do a sample release to a small group of 5 or 10 people for the sole purpose of gaining valuable feedback from them before releasing the final version of the game to the public.
So why do this? What am I talking about? Am I nuts?
No. I'm not nuts, if you guys are serious about this game, what you do is select a small group of people, who are OUTSIDE of the SMWC hacking community and you give them your pretty much final version of the game to test play.
You ask them to play the game all the way through without cheats, saves states, tools, ect and you ask them to make a screen recording of their entire play-through. You also ask them to have a mic enabled, so you can hear them talk and ask them to give feedback during their entire game playing experience. When they have finished the game they are also asked to e-mail that video to someone in charge of this at SMWC.
The main designers/decision makers of SMWCP2 then watch all of these play-throughs, and they study and take note of the feedback from what the players said.
This way you can see a glimpse of how the game will be played and how well it will be received when you release it publicly.
For example. Lets say that pretty much everyone who tested out the game thought that level 5 was just totally unfair. Well then, before releasing the final game go back and adjust level 5 so that it no longer feels unfair.
Another example: Say your watching someones play-through and they get frustrated on the over-world map just shout out "How come there are no directional arrows that tell you what paths you can take?" Well then, before releasing the final version of the game, go ahead and add in those directional arrows.
Actually companies do this all the time whenever they are releasing new products. A company which makes potatoes chips will be wanting to release a new flavor of chip on the market. So they get a bunch of taste tasters who come in and sample the different flavored chips and ask them which ones they liked the best.
Just think if a car company designed a new model car, but then never bothered to give it a test drive and then released it out on the market. How well do you think that's going to go? This is why whenever you make something, you test it out and evaluate the results and then make any changes if necessary.
Now I'm sure that you guys already have beta testers right? But I don't necessarily think that just having beta testers does the job. Correct me if I'm wrong, but SMWCP1 was beta tested right? But look how negatively it was received for its unfairness in difficulty by the public. Having beta testers is good, but I think having regular people play the game too while giving their feedback is better.
Also, please make sure that I'm included in the list of beta testers for SMWCP2. Believe it or not, I actually care about this project and would like to see a great game as the final result. Thanks.
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When the game is just about finished do a sample release to a small group of 5 or 10 people for the sole purpose of gaining valuable feedback from them before releasing the final version of the game to the public.
So why do this? What am I talking about? Am I nuts?
No. I'm not nuts, if you guys are serious about this game, what you do is select a small group of people, who are OUTSIDE of the SMWC hacking community and you give them your pretty much final version of the game to test play.
You ask them to play the game all the way through without cheats, saves states, tools, ect and you ask them to make a screen recording of their entire play-through. You also ask them to have a mic enabled, so you can hear them talk and ask them to give feedback during their entire game playing experience. When they have finished the game they are also asked to e-mail that video to someone in charge of this at SMWC.
The main designers/decision makers of SMWCP2 then watch all of these play-throughs, and they study and take note of the feedback from what the players said.
This way you can see a glimpse of how the game will be played and how well it will be received when you release it publicly.
For example. Lets say that pretty much everyone who tested out the game thought that level 5 was just totally unfair. Well then, before releasing the final game go back and adjust level 5 so that it no longer feels unfair.
Another example: Say your watching someones play-through and they get frustrated on the over-world map just shout out "How come there are no directional arrows that tell you what paths you can take?" Well then, before releasing the final version of the game, go ahead and add in those directional arrows.
Actually companies do this all the time whenever they are releasing new products. A company which makes potatoes chips will be wanting to release a new flavor of chip on the market. So they get a bunch of taste tasters who come in and sample the different flavored chips and ask them which ones they liked the best.
Just think if a car company designed a new model car, but then never bothered to give it a test drive and then released it out on the market. How well do you think that's going to go? This is why whenever you make something, you test it out and evaluate the results and then make any changes if necessary.
Now I'm sure that you guys already have beta testers right? But I don't necessarily think that just having beta testers does the job. Correct me if I'm wrong, but SMWCP1 was beta tested right? But look how negatively it was received for its unfairness in difficulty by the public. Having beta testers is good, but I think having regular people play the game too while giving their feedback is better.
Also, please make sure that I'm included in the list of beta testers for SMWCP2. Believe it or not, I actually care about this project and would like to see a great game as the final result. Thanks.
Your layout has been removed.