forget everything you know

Through the life of this blog, we’ve tried to give readers an unvarnished glimpse behind the scenes, as it were, into our development process. As we edge ever closer to the release date for “Austen Translation” (it’s coming, we promise) we’re being called on more and more to try to see the game experience from a new player’s point of view. We’re having to force ourselves to “forget” what we know about this project we’ve lived with for the last eighteen months. A project we’ve dreamed about and have dreams for. A project we’ve lived with and which has sometimes commandeered our lives. And now we have to look at it through unbiased, blank slate eyes. A truly daunting task!

Now that all the game features are in place, we have to ask ourselves questions like “how will I know where I go to create a custom character?” and “is it obvious that this is the lobby for both single player and multi-player games?” While we’d planned for most of these features in the game, it’s a different animal to look at them with a fresh eye and try to structure them in the most intuitive and player-friendly way possible. And then there’s the issue of the tutorial (the tutorial!) a necessary evil. And another chance to put on our best innocence glasses and try to anticipate questions and issues we haven’t had to grapple with for ages. Yikes.

Of course, our play testers will flag the mistakes we make in this process, but we want to start off with the cleanest prototype we can hand them. Stay tuned as we fine tune details and knock off the roughest of the rough edges. It’s going to get exciting here in a little bit as our deadline approaches. We’re glad to have you along for the ride.

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