Devlog #4: the second playtest came back, and it's a whole different story
Right after my rough first playtest, the second session came in. Another stranger, Windows, 18 minutes in the browser, talking out loud the whole time:
Fun 4.5, would play again 5, would recommend 5. And my favourite line from the video: "I've never seen Bomberman look this cool before."
What he enjoyed: the pickup sound ("really satisfying"), the music, the boss ("is this a boss?", then "pretty fun" once he won), and homing bombs ("takes care of everything"). He ended with "This was a lot of fun."
He hit the same lag as the first player. Both were on an old build my itch page was still serving by mistake. That's fixed: the page runs the current build, and I'm doing another performance pass on top.
What I'm adding from his feedback:
- Gamepad support. He wanted to play with a controller, and only the D-pad did anything. Proper controller support is next.
- Upgrade descriptions that tell you what each one does. That's already in the next build, together with a guided first layer, kick that works, and bigger hearts.
- A label on the XP counter: he didn't know what "21/92" meant.
- Seals that read as the goal at a glance.
Two playtests, same build, opposite verdicts. One player got stuck in the first few minutes; the other got past them and found the game. That tells me the game is there, and the first five minutes are my job now.
Do you play this kind of game with a controller or keyboard and mouse? I'd love to know.