Hello everyone,
Yesterday - the first group play-test of Foundation of Civilisation took place. Whilst the game is still heavily in development, the first feedback was both promising and insightful! I was a little bit nervous - as I think many people tend to be when showing of their new work; especially when it is of personal importance. The overall response to the game was positive - the game in it's limited state shows promise to being a fairly enjoyable game to play.
Before-hand, I'd like to take this opportunity to, again, thank the play-testers for their support and willingness to help try the game at this incomplete state - which I am confident will help make it a far better experience as a game!
A small informal survey at the end of the play-test helps shed some light on how the play-test went. The results will now be used to help plan what needs to improve, what needs to change, what is highly requested to be added next, and where there is interest. Needless to say - this was a small play-test of around 6 individuals, so the size of the sample is limited - but it remains useful none-the-less.
When asked what should be prioritised for the next build of the game - the average responses were as follow;
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Higher variety of resources and approaches to fulfilling different needs and tasks: --------------2.16
More structures to build that perform different tasks: -------------------------------------------------2.3
More depth to the population: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------2.83
More depth to the environment [By environment - it is referred to the tiles which structures occupy]: -------3.16
Better reasons to explore the world itself: ---------------------------------------------------------------4.6
Better authentic-feel to tiles: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------4.6
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At it's current state - there is also a major need towards giving players a reason to plan ahead, and perhaps even the tools to plan ahead better. When asked how much did you plan ahead when placing your structures, players responses average was as follows;
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How much did you plan ahead when placing your structures? [1 not a lot, to 10 a lot]: -------------- 5
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When asked about what they'd like to see in the game, the suggestions and ideas were highly varied. Ideas ranging from different types of events to help cause disruptions to the game, which would make planning more critical, to tools that would aid in planning, and controlling the nation itself. Many of these suggestions will likely find themselves in the already planned out systems, to perhaps even being added to the list of features to be added in the future!
The next week will involve planning what to add and test in the next prototype build - which I am hoping to schedule at the end of August. Needless to say, due to the shorter cycle [For the first prototype, it was a 2 month cycle] - less features will be added, and the focus will likely be on both refining what already exists, and adding new features that are planned out for testing.
Thank you for reading through this if you have, and thank you for the play-testers who participated in this play-test!
Until next time,
Dylan
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