Lumintrail - Playtest Results

Our team conducted a playtest of our game, inviting a few people we knew to play and provide feedback about their experience. The key insights from this playtest are outlined above.

One trend we observed was that playtesters’ favorite moments often involved successfully completing levels. This feedback indicated that creating additional levels would be a strong direction for future updates. Currently, each level increases in difficulty as the path narrows and becomes harder to navigate, so future levels should follow this pattern to align with players' improving skills and maintain their flow state.

However, a few key issues emerged during the playtest. We were already aware that the game wasn’t fully optimized and felt somewhat repetitive, which the testers quickly picked up on. Due to the short timeline, these details weren’t fully resolved.

One major concern was the loading time between levels. Testers often experienced delays long enough to make them think the game had frozen or crashed. Addressing this issue is crucial for maintaining a smooth user experience and keeping players engaged.

While players enjoyed the core gameplay loop, it became stale after repeated deaths. They noted that the primary action—moving left and right—felt limited and lacked excitement. To improve this, our team could either introduce new mechanics or enhance the existing movement with more engaging "juice" (e.g., visual effects, feedback, or smoother controls). These changes would refresh the gameplay and encourage players to keep coming back.

The playtest also highlighted smaller but important areas for improvement, including animations and the camera. One player found it frustrating to watch the starting animation every time they died, particularly on difficult levels with frequent deaths. A simple fix would be to play the animation only once when the level is first loaded. Another player suggested that the camera movement felt static and would benefit from dynamic adjustments based on the player’s movement, similar to racing games. We agreed this was a great idea, as a responsive camera could enhance the sense of speed and make gameplay feel more immersive.

Overall, the feedback from this playtest was invaluable. It provided clear insights into what worked well, what needed improvement, and what was broken. Armed with this information, we’re confident we can make meaningful updates to create a more engaging and polished game experience.