I released the SCK alpha test to the world wibe interneb last night. If you were signed up for the mailing list you should have received an invite.
Feedback so far is very positive. A few bugs being reported, but that's to be expected at this early stage.
Mostly it just re-energizes me to hear from real people that they're enjoying the game. I've been constantly afflicted with fears that it won't be good or fresh enough for the masses and that all this work will have been a waste of time. Seriously, it keeps me up at night.
Question for you: What do you think of quests and linear gameplay? I designed SCK to be really flexible (there's a reason for this later on in the game). But a lot of players seem to be confused saying that they don't KNOW what to do or where to go. The game doesn't force you to do anything first, it just lets you explore and find adventures as they come organically... this seems to go counter to what most people expect or want. A lot of players just sit there for a long time next to their home on the world map and grind against the weakest enemies (then complain that too much grinding is required ha ha!).
Is this a case of bad design on my part, or just poor expectations from people that have been trained to have their hand held through an entire game with NPCs and Quests and stuff there telling you exactly what order to play in?
I'm honestly curious about this one.
In other news, I'm really happy about the latest Steam Greenlight news . It sounds like they're going to try to greenlight a lot more games going forward.
Here's the latest Super Chibi Knight Draw Time Episode:
MSGhero
A bit of guidance for the player is nice, not necessarily holding their hands. I think quests that get the player moving around the map are good, like "deliver this package to the other kingdom" to let people know it exists. Or a world map. The latter is better if your game progression is open, especially if you emphasize how little the player has seen compared to what actually exists.
People would still approach new locations linearly, probably choosing the next closest one. Assassin's creed 3 gives you the main quest line like "hey, go to New York now" but there's a lot of free roaming as well if you want to get 100% sync. It also does a decent job of showing you how small the places you've visited are compared to what else is out there.
BoMToons
There is a world map that shows where you've been in the game currently. It's dark and lightens up where you've been.
Maybe I should indicate landmarks on the world map where missions exist?