This was the first meeting we had with industry about the progress we had made so far, and was also the indicator that alpha had ended and beta had started. The main purpose of the meeting was to pitch what we had done so far in a brief 5-10 minute meeting, get feedback, and then action on this feedback throughout the next stage of production. Most of our communicable progress pertained to programming and asset development.
Our two biggest points of feedback are:
Focus on balancing puzzle and combat.
Optimise models
Prevent tearing using edge loops
Both Robin and Sam seemed on-board with the general premise and the progress we had made throughout alpha, including mentioning their support of the current roster of conductor attacks. The largest benefit of these meetings is that we get feedback from a pair of experienced game developers who have no reason to hold any personal biases towards our projects. They also have a much deeper understanding of game design and can signpost us towards resources if aspects of our game could benefit from new knowledge.
The main piece of feedback that relates to my field is their request for balancing the game's focus on the introductory puzzle and combat. The easiest way to action upon this is to extend the puzzle segment further, as the game (in its current state) is almost entirely focused around the combat segment. To extend the puzzle segment, I could add more puzzles to do or perhaps make the current planned puzzle longer. Otherwise, it seemed as if they were quite on board with the Conductor's current attacks, indicating that we don't need to change them much design wise. As for making combat seem fairer and more enjoyable, we will have to wait until we do our alpha playtest to see if the game is correctly balanced or not. Overall, I am happy with the feedback we got for alpha. There weren't many issues that Robin and Sam had with the work I personally contributed towards the project, which I personally interpret as working in the right direction for the project if experienced industry members don't have much to say.