Reflection 2: “Be the Walrus”

“Walrus” was a digital game and I was unable to find play testers before it was due but shortly after had my brother test it out. He responded to my game with some confusion I’d say, mostly because the prompt I generated for it was “See the walrus, feel the walrus, be the walrus.” It’s worth noting that he is mostly interested in games like Smash, Halo, and Call of Duty where there is a lot more action and fast-paced game play. Contrastingly, my game was a twist on a jump puzzle/ platformer where you basically have to find out how to become the walrus. This is in a way that the player wouldn’t expect, as they must let a walrus eat them to change into a walrus.

He was able to understand the rules and procedures of the game without very much explanation at all, as movement was pretty universal to a lot of PC games. I didn’t notice he did anything out of the ordinary, he did explore all of the different areas though which I appreciated. Overall, I think he enjoyed playing Walrus mainly because of his response to the end of the game where he thought it ended cleverly. It stood out to me that he tried to explore every part of the map, making me think that I did a good job at creating the map’s design.

I think the map itself is what worked best for the game, I personally feel that it could’ve been more interesting maybe with enemies or some other element added to increase the length of the game. I learned that the art I created for the game was appealing to people and that it drew them in to want to play a little more. Finally, if I were to make this game again, I would add other elements to it to make game play both longer and more difficult perhaps.