I tested the game both on 3.5. and 5.5. Here are the results from those playtests.
Playtester was first confused about how to interact with a game, “do I just tap or…?” but eventually got the hang of it.
They went to the strong statue on the first riddle. This is when I learnt that weather affects the way you play the game a lot: When it’s sunny, it’s much harder to see the riddle images from the screen. However, once they got to the right statue and saw the text, there was an “aa!” moment of realisation.
The story from the beginning did what it was supposed to, raised a question of potential romance between the characters.
I had some technical suggestions, as the playtester was a programmer.
In Slessor, the playtester struggled to find the place. It took a lot of concentrating and the playtester seemed confused. Eventually, they found the place.
The story section of Slessor did what it intended, got the player hooked with the interpersonal character drama.
V&A confused the playtester as they went to the wrong entrance first, because the entrances look really similar. Once inside the V&A, the puzzle solution was easily found.
Rest of the playtest went relatively smoothly. Here’s some feedback I got (and notes I wrote down as result of seeing the game being tested): There should be consequences of magical powers, the tone should be less surreal, the main character is not too concerned about crows talking and getting magical powers. There should be small sound effects and the clue pictures from the environment should be updated.
Playtester found the statue for first riddle relatively soon.
When the first memory was viewed and the ghost smiled and gave thumbs up to the player, the playtester smiled and gave thumbs up to the ghost.
Slessor continued to be confusing. The playtester regocnised the bushes in the environment to be same as in the picture, but there are them everywhere, and the buildings are not the same as in the image so it was confusing. The colour of the road turned out to be a clue that led the tester to the right place, although after some confusion and frustration.
The limitations/downsides of locative gaming came clear, as it smellt of weed in the riddle place, there was a bee, and me and the tester accidentally were on the way of some people who wanted to get to the garden section.
The crows continue to be a highlight in the story.
All the XVI in the RRS Discovery riddle seemed to overwhelm the tester, and the last roman number on the ship is hard to see.
There were some logical mistakes in the story around RRS section.
The riverside riddle was tested for the first time. I had doubts about it, but actually the crack in the clue picture made finding it easy, as long as you first find the text on the ground.
The riverside scene was confusing, as the player had thought that a character would never leave a ship. Also, the scarf I put as a clue was not realised, at least out loud.