First playable version of FeelingThePast is ready for play-testing

changed due date to May 12, 2020

added Mutual help homework project labels

Hi, I've played through your story a couple of times and I really like it. You've done a great job creating atmosphere and picking out interesting objects to present. It seems clearly taken from your own experiences and does a great job of showing a variety of issues and ways of interacting with objects. Here's a couple of things I think you could consider:

Tighten up the writing a little bit. For example, this sentence could probably be split up into several sentences and be easier to read:

That misplacing things is still such an issue on a professional level surprises you, but I guess it makes sense, if you think about what Laura said about, how working with objects becomes really normal.

I don't know if this is intended, but the emails from Alex open the mail window when they arrive. I think I'd either make them not do that, or rewrite Alex's e-mails as popup dialogue.
You've done a great job setting the scene on the first page, but the story ends a little abruptly. Maybe you could add a scene at the end where the protagonist once again talks about their feelings and future.
It's currently possible to complete the game without ever filling out anything or replying to Alex's e-mails. This is much appreciated for testing, but you could think about if you'd like to use timers or progress gates too.
Perhaps it would be possible to make use of the notebook a little more?
Perhaps there's a way to incorporate more reflection about the database itself? What is recorded and what isn't? What other options are there? You could even make your protagonist somewhat of an annoying foil to the museum workers, and have them question their methods (maybe with a dialogue option)
Last but not least, I think branching the game through the objects is great, but maybe it might be interesting if the player got to see two of the objects instead of one. Hm. Actually, I'm not sure. I'm wondering if instead, you could include more direct information about the type of object you'll be choosing? Instead of their location, you could maybe say "one of them is in the medicine department, the other in the clothes department" or something similar.

Thank you so much for your feedback! My thoughts in sequence:

Yeah, I'm not completely content with the writing yet. I'll go over that.
It's intented to have Alex' mails open as you go to the next page as they serve as a bridge between two pages. I thought by having the "look at your phone"-transition, it's clear enough that the next thing you'll see is a message. Maybe I'll try some different things to find out what works best.
I'm a little hesitant to add a big final screen, which wraps up my thoughts about the storyline and not the players. @martin.dusinberre already made a similar general comment about the writing. Maybe to ease the abrupt feeling I could add some references to time, so that the player is more aware of the day ending.
I ran into some progression issues with having a character minimum attached to textExercises, so we left them out for the test. I plan to have a character minimum of between 300 and 500 characters for the text exercises.
Could you be more specific, where you'd like to see more use of the notebook?
I think that is a good idea. Reflecting about the database from the perspective of someone new (as the player), seems interesting for the methodological side of things. Maybe the protagonist can ask some basic question about why something the way it is done and now differently.
I think this branching adds -- in industry terms -- to the replay-value of the game. Maybe more seriously, I could change the way the characters refer to the choices instead, so the player actually chooses the object not from where it is from or rather the information available.

assigned to @maryam.joseph

I have now also played the game, it's nice!

Some notes/questions:

When talking to the collection manager he uses de word "sources". Wouldn't a real life collection manager rather use the word "object"? It's just a small thing but it somehow bugged me because I don't think museum people refer to their objects as sources. Or am I wrong?
is there a possibility to make the screenshot of the data set and the pic of the mortars the same size? so that you can read the data set and look at the mortars simultaneously.
So I played it several times to check out all the options of the game and i have noticed that every mortar is the correct choice? Are you planning on adding a wrong option?
are you planning on translating the data sets into English?
for me the beginning was a bit too long (especially the texts were too long) and the looking at objects part was rather short in comparison. I'd shorten the texts in the beginning (like the part where you are outside and it's summer) and add more text to the object part (like maybe let Frederic talk more and explain his job).
sometimes you mention that "you can check the internet". I didn't quite understand how the internet could be helpful. Maybe because the task is unclear? Like...what am I supposed to do with the straight jacket or with the inhalationsapparat?
there are some typos and comma mistakes.
I agree with Leyla; it does end rather abruptly!

All in all it was fun and I loved the fact that it's based on real people from the HVMSG!

Thank you for your comments! My thoughts -- again -- in sequence:

I think you're right, I'll go over that. I guess my "objects as sources"-focus got a little mixed up.
Indeed, this is possible. That's a good idea to facilitate the exercise as people don't have to click about three-thousand times to compare both images.
The underlying thought with the mortar exercise is not having a correct choice. As so often if you have multiple, similar objects in front of you, it's more a case of what is the most probable connection between data-set and object. But this depends on the person. So maybe you and Leyla came to different conclusions, which of the mortars is the "right" one. The reason for that being that you maybe have different backgrounds academically, focused on different things when looking at the picture, etc. From a practical perspective this is somewhat realistic as someone with a historical education will look at an object differently than someone who studied restoration.
I can even that out a little bit, I also felt like Frederic could talk a little more.
Once again this stems from my practical experience. Often times when you encounter an object you haven't seen before and have no knowledge about it, the first thing you'd consult is the internet. So simply googling some basic information, maybe a time period or who produced something I already really helpful. For the player in the game this might not be that intuitive to just open another tab and look for information. As an example, with the inhalationsapparat you might google the company and find out more about them. This would then in a next step maybe lead to a research question about who produced medical equipment during the 20th century in Switzerland.
Will go over that!
See what I wrote in my response to Leyla.

I'm glad that it was fun!

assigned to @patrick.gut and unassigned @maryam.joseph

I also got the chance to play your game. It looks really nice and it was an interesting experience. As far as I can tell, you have already done a great job. Exerything ran really smoothly. And, I like the photos in particular :) The things that could be improved have been mentioned. I would also consider letting the player spend more time on objects and less on the story at the beginning. Additionally, I would recommend translating the dataset-screenshot.

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience! The point about translating the datasets is great, I haven't really thought about that.

assigned to @martin.dusinberre and unassigned @patrick.gut

I enjoyed playing your game, looks good to me! I can only agree with the previous comments. One thing I would like to see is some added functionality to the emails. The reply could be more incorporated I think. Another thing that could be an improvement is creating a bit more complicated task regarding the question of objects as historical sources. Looking forward to playing the game once it's finished!

Great that you liked it! I will think about the mail replies, this also depends on the functionality of Marugoto. Do you have something in mind for a more complicated task?

Maybe a task that posits the question on the usage of objects as historical sources more directly. Other than describing an object, you probably could ask what does this object tell me.

changed the description

@daniel.mcdonald I thought the link to the test environment wasn't supposed to be in this repository because of privacy reasons? I removed it until we have clarity.

Oh, right, sorry, that slipped my mind totally! You're right. Removing again is the the move (though I don't really think it's a big issue), Sorry!

assigned to @manuel.kissoczy and unassigned @martin.dusinberre

First playable version of FeelingThePast is ready for play-testing

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