Dark Poison Devlog #1 - Feedback is a gift

Hello, fellow alchemists and shadow-lurkers 🧪

Aegis 🛡 here from Shadowbolt Studios with an exciting update on Dark Poison.

Cutting it close

Firstly, we should talk about how close we came to NOT submitting Dark Poison on time 👇

😅 close one!

We're planning on entering the GTMK Game Jam in a couple of weeks. Rest assured, we'll be submitting with PLENTY of time!

Feedback is a gift

We're really happy with the feedback we have received so far. A huge thank you to the players who took the time to write us a message.

Your comments gave us some great ideas and we're using them to make Dark Poison better.

We received 3 main pieces of feedback:

1. The UI needs improvement
2. The controls were not intuitive
3. It's too difficult

What we're doing about it

Based on this feedback, here's what we're working on:

Enemy Vision

We have added a visible cone of light to show the enemy's field of view. Now you can actually see where they're looking. No more superhuman perception or confusing detection.

Torch Placement

Our playtesters told us they didn't know whether light or dark made a difference to being spotted or not. Our solution was to move the torches higher up on the wall for now. This has removed the spots of light they were casting on the floor. 

Brightening up the place

Now that the torches are higher, it means the scene is much, much darker. Although we liked the moody lighting, we have brightened up the entire game environment. This might sound counter intuitive for a stealth game but bear with us. We'll be testing more things we can do in future updates.

Camera Controls

We have changed the camera controls to be attached to the mouse. In testing, this feels much more intuitive and means we can reserve "Left Click" for potion throwing.

We will be adding a short tutorial level to familiarise the player with the controls and potion throwing mechanics before the game begins proper.

UI Improvements

We didn't have much time to test the UI. We got some feedback that it's hard to read.

We need to make sure the text is in the same position relative to the window its in. 

Although we prefer playing in full screen, we can't always guarantee our players will play like that.

Our plan is to release a completely new UI with the tutorial level that will guide the player through each of the mechanics.

Keep your eyes peeled for a devlog on UI design in the next few weeks.

What's next?

We're pleased to announce version 1.1 is now live on Github at https://shadowbolt-studios.github.io/darkpoison-preview/ for testing.

If you try it out, leave your feedback in the comments below 👇

A big thank you

Thanks again to everyone who left feedback. You are helping to make us better game developers and having a direct impact on the development of Dark Poison.

We couldn't do it without you <3

Aegis 🛡