Week 13 - Updates from testing session

Week 13 – Testing & Final Adjustments

Introduction

This week focused on testing Commander Cockerel and the Undead through the Assignment 3B playtesting session. Getting the game in front of other players really helped highlight what was working and what still needed improving — especially areas I had overlooked from being too close to the project. Based on both verbal feedback and observations, I made several key changes to improve pacing, communication, polish, and reliability.

Testing Feedback & Changes

Wave Timing & Progression

Feedback: Testers weren’t sure when waves ended or when the next wave started. The wait time between rounds also felt too long, which slowed things down and blocked them from seeing later features.

What Changed:

• Cut the wave delay from 10 seconds to 5 seconds
• Added a “3..2..1” countdown UI with beeping audio
• Played a cinematic boom sound at the end of each wave
• Adjusted wave scaling to make enemies get tougher faster
• Full map now unlocks at wave 3 instead of wave 5
• New zombie types are introduced when the map expands

Gif 1:

Pitchfork Power-Up System

Feedback: Some players didn’t know how the pitchfork worked or never found it — the randomness made it confusing.

What Changed:

• Rebuilt the system to spawn one pitchfork every round, not just between waves
• After wave 1, the pitchfork spawns in a fixed, visible spot so players are guaranteed to find it early
• A new in-game tutorial panel now appears the first time the player finds a pitchfork, explaining how the power-up system works

Gif 2:

Audio Balancing & Bugs

Feedback: Audio was too loud in some parts, the rooster crow was glitchy, and machine gun fire sometimes didn’t trigger unless held down.

What Changed:

• Moved the rooster crow into the AudioManager and balanced the volume
• Adjusted volume sliders for background music and SFX in the inspector
• Edited the gun audio clip to play cleanly even on short click

Image 1:

Enemy Hit Detection

Feedback: Zombies sometimes damaged the player even when they weren’t visibly in contact, which felt unfair.

What Changed:

• Reduced zombie attack range via inspector
• Tightened the colliders on both zombies and the player to make detection feel fairer and more accurate

Gif 3:

WebGL Restart Bug

Feedback: In the WebGL build, restarting the game or returning to the main menu and starting again caused a freeze — the player couldn’t move or shoot, and zombies wouldn’t spawn.

What I Found: The issue came from transitioning to a separate “New High Score” scene after game over, which was interfering with reinitializing systems when reloading the game.

What Changed:

• Removed the “New High Score” scene entirely
• Replaced it with an input panel on the Game Over screen that only shows up if the player earns a new high score
• This fixed the restart issue, even if the new setup is visually simpler for now

Gif 4(Bug):

Gif 5(fix):

Reflection

This testing session made me realise how easy it is to build features that feel intuitive to me as the developer — but confuse or frustrate new players. Things like hidden power-ups or delayed content made sense in my head, but testers needed clearer communication and faster feedback to stay engaged. The testing process helped me simplify, fix core issues, and ultimately make the game more fun and replayable.