Participant 1’s responses to my questions:

1. They said it helps when a game appeals to their genre preferences and if they are recognisable brands, they went on to say it was important to show off gameplay, interesting character designs and story to draw them in.
2. They especially liked the idea of using anxiety as a key character trait for the main character and how overcoming that anxiety was going to be a key part of the story.
3. They suggested that in addition to the cave dungeon teaching combat they should be limited light for the player to see and that defeating enemies could make torch brighter. They suggested traps in cave and hidden land map like frozen arrows that slow player. They suggested a mini boss at the end of the cave level to help learn the combat system better before the final boss. They also suggested to limit area for players to stand for bosses and to have an edge
4. They said that the cave needs limited light to reflect the inspiration of the Mlynki Cave where no natural light is present.

Participant 2’s responses to my questions

1. They said historical setting tend to draw them in as well as again brand recognisability. They said they like to see refreshing gameplay styles. dynamic movement/parkour is something else they said they look for. They also echoed participant 1’s point about story saying they liked it to be immersive.
2. They said they like the story idea as it is unique, they said it was important in modern climates to stand out from the crowd.
3. They really liked my ideas for mechanics, for further enhancements to what participant 1 had said about limited light they suggested power ups for torch brightness and that the enemies drop fuel for the torch or health. The elaborated saying suggesting that you gain fuel and or health when defeating enemies like Fortnite’s syphon mechanic, they said any level of reward for exploration or defeating enemies introduces strategy. Their final point was if enemies had health then there should be a damage indicator so you could learn their health and again introduce elements of strategey.
4. Based on the moodboard I showed them they suggested if I did a mini boss it should take place at a lake to limit the players movement.

Participant 3 could not attend this session but try and ask these questions of them before or at the start of the next meet. I also wanted to ask the group about the pixel art environment and how I could execute it but unfortunately we were pushed for time and I will make that one of my first questions next time. Next time I want the participants to try parts of my game as well explore the use of AI music in my game and have them listen to some samples.

L3 U8