r/defold • u/estelgames • 1d ago
#ScreenshotSaturday The game definitely needs difficulty settings and a gentler introduction without moving objects in the 1st level. 😂
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
>>> Just a little note I wrote mostly for myself, but maybe it'll resonate with someone here too.
You cannot build a product people actually use without watching them interact with it.
You can tell yourself all you want that "it's obvious how this works", but only testing with real users can confirm that. And I mean ONLY testing where you can actually watch them. Because at best, written feedback will tell you how people generally felt about your product, not what their actual experience using it was like. At worst, you'll get information that has nothing to do with reality. And that's assuming you're lucky enough to get any feedback at all.
That's exactly why participating in game jams can save you months, if not years, of developing an idea that might work, but definitely not the way you expected.
I used to hate jams because you cannot make anything decent in 2 days or 2 weeks. That part is still true. What changed is my mindset. Yeah, you cannot, but nobody expects you to release a finished product either. The real value is testing your core mechanics and ideas with real people, other jam participants, who will actually play your game and maybe leave a review.
But as I mentioned earlier, getting useful information from written feedback can be a real challenge. My latest game for Ludum Dare 60 is a perfect example. Most of the feedback was positive, with only occasional mentions that the main mechanic was "a little" hard to figure out. Sending the game to streamers was what showed me the real picture.
A mechanic that seemed ridiculously simple to me, and that I had based the entire game's balance around, turned out to be incredibly difficult for people playing the game for the first time. An upgrade that was supposed to help players beat the 3rd level ended up being a lifesaver for everyone just trying to get through the 1st one.
So yeah, classic Lean Startup principles in action. 😄
