Demo Progress and Beta Testing
Hey everyone!
Since the last update I've been working non-stop on getting the demo ready and I'm actually very happy with the progress so far. I am including a list of changes at the end of this post for anyone that is interested.
Beta testing rounds
The way I want to approach the beta is to do testing rounds:
Test it with friends (at this phase currently) The idea is to get some "close" feedback as everyone has been very supportive of the game and I want to know their opinions on the early demo. It will probably not be the MOST honest/brutal feedback, but I know I'll get some valuable feedback from them.
Test it on itch.io This one would likely be much more brutal, which is exactly what I'm hoping for.
Arrange an IRL event to test with a rotating number of random people I'm not entirely sure where to do it at this point, but I'm thinking of hosting it at an gaming cafe or similar and generating a bit of interest to hopefully get some local gamers to come out and try the demo.
Open up the beta testing program on Steam Finally, after gathering feedback and fixing the issues that will have popped up during the testing rounds, I'll be opening up the beta testing on Steam. Because the feedback is the most important thing during this phase, I'll only allow players who joined the discord so I can follow up with them after their playthrough. Discord link
Marketing
I have started more aggressively marketing my game on YouTube by releasing shorts a few times a week, showcasing the different systems that exist within the game.
The videos aren't doing bad at all and I am slowly trying to figure out how the algorithm works by iterating on the videos that do well. I'm basically checking their engagement stats after a few days to see what people liked or did not like and then I use that to iterate.
It would mean a ton to me if you could visit my YouTube, subscribe and share the videos to your friends.
Demo patch notes
As promised, a list of updates I made to the demo:
Added stone to foliage and mineable items
Lowered pistol flash
Lowered assault rifle flash
Lowered ballistics hit effects
Adjusted survival drain/recovery rates (hunger, stamina, thirst)
Added a water tower for water crafting in the demo
Added weather variants so it does not perma-rain
Removed trees blocking certain key views
Added pickaxe/axe mining swinging animations
Added more tree variations to the mineable items
Fixed pickaxe icon not showing while equipped
Fixed crafting menus not reacting to inventory updates
Fixed max-arrow not working on the crafting menu
Fixed input not working correctly on the crafting menu
Added worker animations to their activity states (cook, engineer)
Added random variations to the workers (random body, clothing, eyes)
Fixed various bugs I came across while playing the demo