Development Update #10: What We Learned From pre-Alpha
First of all. Let’s preface this dev blog with a HUGE thank you to all of our playtesters who have taken part in our small-scale playtests so far! We are overwhelmed by the positive reception that our playtests have received so far and love being able to spend time with everyone, be in-game together and listen to all of the feedback everyone has to give.
Over the last three months, we have invited members of our community to experience parts of the game for the very first time! If you have not yet been invited to any of our playtests then do not worry. We are continuing to roll out small-scale playtests over the coming weeks and months. If you have not signed up for our playtests yet, be sure to do so over here and join our Discord server for updates.
During development, it is incredibly important for us here at Wolfpack Games to be active, attentive and engaged with our community (that’s you all!). Whether that is through keeping our question-and-answer opportunities open; being active on our social channels and, of course, through our playtests. We have always had at least one member of the Wolfpack Games team in every playtest to join in with everyone, answer questions and have fun with you all.
We still have plenty of work to do when it comes to implementing all of the feedback that our Pre-Alpa testers have given us so far but we are excited to share some of this feedback, and what we are doing to address them. We hope that you enjoy this bit of insight into Starkeepers, though do bear in mind that everything is still a work in progress.
Our earliest playtests were conducted with members of some incredibly passionate and experienced MMO communities. We are incredibly thankful to have worked with these knowledgeable communities and for their members lending their time to help us with our early tests. We hope to continue working alongside everyone and, if you are a member of a community who you think might be interested, do reach out to us and we shall see what we can do!
[h2]Fluidity of Combat[/h2]
Being an action combat game, combat is an integral part of Starkeepers so we are focussed heavily on testing this aspect of the game during our current phase of Pre-Alpha. We learned from playtesters that movement speed and how fluid our animations feel are areas that we should continue to polish. The detailed and specific feedback we have gathered has allowed our team to tweak areas of our combat to make gameplay feel more punchy and exciting.
[h2]Playability & Accessibility[/h2]
Building playability and accessibility into the game early on matters. Rebindable controls, clearer visual cues for telling players apart as well as creating more intuitive UI features were some of the key feedback points from playtesters. There is still plenty for us to do on this front and it will be a key focus in the following months. It is also a field where we will continue to seek input from our playtesters as we do not want accessibility to feel like an afterthought.
[h2]The Balance Between Vision & Gameplay[/h2]
Our playtesters helped us to reinforce our understanding of being able to find the balance between our creative vision for Starkeepers and what makes for good gameplay. We found this to be especially true when it came to some of our critical game design decisions. Friendly fire in PvP combat is a notable example that required finding creative solutions to avoid accidental collateral damage when fighting in close proximity with teammates.
***
Keep your eyes on your emails for when we send out further invites to our future rounds of playtesting! Also, if you have made it this far, you should go check out the pets channel in our Discord server. It is the best place to be.
Once again, a massive thank you to all of our playtesters who have taken part in the Pre-Alpha tests so far. We are looking forward to our future playtests together!
Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing
...
Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/
Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers
Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New
Over the last three months, we have invited members of our community to experience parts of the game for the very first time! If you have not yet been invited to any of our playtests then do not worry. We are continuing to roll out small-scale playtests over the coming weeks and months. If you have not signed up for our playtests yet, be sure to do so over here and join our Discord server for updates.
During development, it is incredibly important for us here at Wolfpack Games to be active, attentive and engaged with our community (that’s you all!). Whether that is through keeping our question-and-answer opportunities open; being active on our social channels and, of course, through our playtests. We have always had at least one member of the Wolfpack Games team in every playtest to join in with everyone, answer questions and have fun with you all.
We still have plenty of work to do when it comes to implementing all of the feedback that our Pre-Alpa testers have given us so far but we are excited to share some of this feedback, and what we are doing to address them. We hope that you enjoy this bit of insight into Starkeepers, though do bear in mind that everything is still a work in progress.
Our earliest playtests were conducted with members of some incredibly passionate and experienced MMO communities. We are incredibly thankful to have worked with these knowledgeable communities and for their members lending their time to help us with our early tests. We hope to continue working alongside everyone and, if you are a member of a community who you think might be interested, do reach out to us and we shall see what we can do!
[h2]Fluidity of Combat[/h2]
Being an action combat game, combat is an integral part of Starkeepers so we are focussed heavily on testing this aspect of the game during our current phase of Pre-Alpha. We learned from playtesters that movement speed and how fluid our animations feel are areas that we should continue to polish. The detailed and specific feedback we have gathered has allowed our team to tweak areas of our combat to make gameplay feel more punchy and exciting.
[h2]Playability & Accessibility[/h2]
Building playability and accessibility into the game early on matters. Rebindable controls, clearer visual cues for telling players apart as well as creating more intuitive UI features were some of the key feedback points from playtesters. There is still plenty for us to do on this front and it will be a key focus in the following months. It is also a field where we will continue to seek input from our playtesters as we do not want accessibility to feel like an afterthought.
[h2]The Balance Between Vision & Gameplay[/h2]
Our playtesters helped us to reinforce our understanding of being able to find the balance between our creative vision for Starkeepers and what makes for good gameplay. We found this to be especially true when it came to some of our critical game design decisions. Friendly fire in PvP combat is a notable example that required finding creative solutions to avoid accidental collateral damage when fighting in close proximity with teammates.
***
Keep your eyes on your emails for when we send out further invites to our future rounds of playtesting! Also, if you have made it this far, you should go check out the pets channel in our Discord server. It is the best place to be.
Once again, a massive thank you to all of our playtesters who have taken part in the Pre-Alpha tests so far. We are looking forward to our future playtests together!
Drew & Angela
Community & Marketing
...
Wishlist Starkeepers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2015760/Starkeepers/
Discord: https://discord.gg/starkeepers
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStarkeepers
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@playstarkeepers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playstarkeepers
Website (sign up for future playtests!): https://starkeepers.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmRqaLdiusy5FKg4dk2New