Journal - Day 1 - Playtester Launch

Wheel Runner - Journal - Day 1 - Playtester Launch [08/12/23]

Just launched the game on playtesting. It’s the beginning of something new! 

For now, I got two likes, one person who was confused by the pay-to-playtest system, and no purchases. I have to say emotionally, as humans, we really tend to build up emotion and set high expectations for some sort of grand reveal like this. I’m currently afraid to step away from my computer and go to sleep, as if my discord was going to explode with messages and I would be totally unaware of it all.

But beside the emotion, I understand very clearly that this game will be about hard work and persistence. The plan is to work on the game for a minimum of 8 weeks, each featuring an update and a respective devlog. This should not only improve the playing experience and expand the scope of the game, but should also reel people in as they see progress and other feature requests being integrated into the game.
I hope to see people having discussions, making requests, and voting between themselves, resulting in a clear direction (or set of directions) that we can take the game. I'm curious to know what they know of my personal list – like unlockable skins for the wheel, a level editor, endless mode – and this process is built for those ideas to get criticized and evaluated by a broader audience, rather than focusing on what I think is best... as well as making a circle of collaborators and a broader network for both me and everyone in the community.All that to produce a more fun and exciting game!

I also am excited to play other people’s games. As I've looked deeper into the community, I see there are some very loved games I haven't tried yet. But it still feels wrong if I can’t post about them, talk about them on a youtube video, or something. I will have to figure out how I can integrate other people's games into a regular routine to improve my game design skills and to contribute to the more general Playdate community.

The good news is that even if I have no collaborators or playtesters in the coming weeks, my to-do list is basically already full. WizzFX have sent me new sounds for basically everything, which I’m super excited about, but will take some work as I have to re-calibrate animators, make some adjustments to the game elements, etc. On top of that, I have some pretty heavy optimizations to make to the game, if I want people to be playing on their device anytime soon. The settings page is also still missing, which is a big failure for accessibility and alternate controls, so those need to get done soon.

I look forward to checking those off and making some space for my upcoming playtesters/collaborators! I’m crossing my fingers for things to come as this is an exciting step in the journey. I also know by working hard, I will show people that they are in for a wheel of a ride!!!

🛞