Feedback

roberto on 2007/09/23 14:11 of Galvinball!

So, the winners of PyWeek were announced! I would like to comment on all the feedback I received on my entry, Galvinball!.

The good

"Innovation" was my highest grade, with a 4.1, together with a 2.9 for fun. Most of the people who tried the game said that it was clever, innovative and fun, and some people even liked the graphics! There were also plenty of comments requesting that the game be improved, specially with multi-player support, which is something I've been considering for some time to play it with my girlfriend (and valuable beta-tester!).

The bad

3 or 4 comments complained that my game didn't fit the theme, "twisted". Perhaps the theme in this game is a little subtle, since there aren't any twisters or twisted pipes or whatever, but it is a game where you can twist the rules at any time. The idea for this game was the first that came to my mind when I saw the theme.

The interface is rough, I know. I had to balance my time between work, learning pygame and improving the rule system, which is pretty hackish (it works by injection closures in two queues that each thing has, one processed at the beginning of the turn and the other at its end). My next entry will definitely be better, with menus and improved input.

The number of rules was somewhat limited (715), though this is something that can be easily extended. Some people suggest that the rules should've been written out, but personally I believe much of the fun comes from discovering new rules by experimenting of learning from the AI (Suzanne). Some people complained that the game was too hard, but other complained that it was too easy, so at least there's some kind of balance.

The ugly

The game crashed on 18% of the people who tried it, as far as I can see on Python 2.5 + Windows XP. Sorry for that, guys, I developed the game on a Mac and tested it briefly on Linux. In my defense, I did test a version on Python 2.4 + XP and it worked, but I didn't perform much testing on this platform.

Overall

All I can say is that I would do it again! Next PyWeek I'll be more familiarized with pygame, and also with what needs to be done during the week, so I hope to produce a more polished game. I'd like to thank everybody who played the game and gave me their feedback, and hope that you had at least as much fun as I had while developing this game. Thanks!