So today we had a playtest where we were able to test a playable version of our minigame. Our game was the first played and then the testers came back to the game throughout the day as they found codes that unlocked further features.
The first playthrough was interesting, I was there to explain how to play the game and what the aims were although tomorrow I'll be a guide and Illy will be explaining the game. I led them through step by step how to set up buildings, farms and boats and then explained how all of these effect the system behind and fulfills the island's needs like food and energy. They were able to fulfill their need for food fairly quickly but weren't able to get enough power or production. Getting one measurement in the green was a good place to end though and they moved on to the refugee game where they got a code to unlock a wave of immigration which increased their need for food. They did this and a few other testers also got a chance to play, these testers understood the concepts much faster.
Later on they got yet another code which gave them better crop yield meaning they could reach their food goal with all the new inhabitants. This however was because of an anomaly in the testing, they were given the code a little early and hadn't played the parts of the other games that explained harvest and the quality of earth. But they used the code and saw that their food production went well past the limit.
Lather they found the treasure and got the solar panel code to replace the coal power plants that were keeping their CO2 meter so high, they immediately replaced all the coal plants they could and a few factories with solar panels. They understood the concept of this very quickly and they had gotten a very good grip of the game mechanics by this point.
Lastly they found a code to unlock the trade feature from the merchant character, they came back to the game and opened up trading with the other islands, they were able to trade their excess food with their neighbors to make the difference in their remaining requirements. They managed to finish the game with a fully sustainable island which was great!
