Part 3. Codyfight secret mission: The experience with testers
After the on-boarding process, MVP players had the chance to log inside the game and start interacting with the Widget and competing for the first time. Meanwhile, in Codyfight’s Discord, Andrius and his team were following the early steps of testers and seeing real-time his suggestions and their first impressions with their metaverse.
“When I first knew about Codyfight, I loved the idea. It seemed like something I would play as a kid and that memory instantly made me want to try it. I always have fun with strategy games and my inner child was pushing me to participate”.
Dalius is one of the MVP players that were first involved in the project. He was not only very involved in Discord but also took initiative to develop a game client with Unity. As a game programmer with 6 years of experience and currently working for an RPG game, he felt interested in the project and decided to give it a try, especially to fulfill his inner child.
Unlike Dalius, who had only heard about Codyfight briefly in some programmer chats, Mantas was an active follower of the game and was keeping an eye on Codyfight’s social media and observing the developments of the project.
“I first discovered Codyfight on January and I was very fascinated with the enterprise, as I had never seen a game like that. I am also working on game development and it felt interesting to know more about the approach they were taking while developing the game. It serves as a great inspiration for my own projects, so when they offered me a spot, I took the chance”.
As time went by, MVP testers started to adapt to the Widget and deploy their bots, giving more feedback to the development team. Danas and his team worked hard trying to solve issues, implementing changes and overall keeping a close contact with the testers.
“Setting up the game was relatively easy for me, however I did find it challenging to adapt to their API and on board the game. Hopefully, there were examples on the website that I could take some references from. It was fun as I took it as a personal challenge and once I completed that learning curve, I realized how much I enjoyed it”.
Dalius refers to the API of Codyfight, as it is slightly different from other games when it comes to its development.
The API on this game is essentially a web endpoint that accepts player HTTP requests, so users can interact with the game directly with their code, without the need to use a browser. In addition, Codyfight allows players to use their preferred programming language and opens the opportunity for any player to code a bot that sends the instructions to the Codyfight server directly without the need for a human to control a playable character.
Such a process gives a lot of freedom to users, as they can work on their own Widget and even spectate their game there. Of course, this freedom comes with some extra steps and a learning curve that early gamers will have to navigate. However, Codyfight provides help with examples and close communication with players, so they can log into the game and enjoy all the freedom that API provides.
While Dalius expressed how rewarding that challenge was from him as a programmer, Mantas also agreed and provided some more obstacles he encountered when embarking on the Widget,
“It took me a while to understand the early steps of the program. I quickly conquered the problems because as a game developer myself, I understand the challenges and I was eager to learn more and comprehend. I also found some obstacles in understanding the dynamics of the game at first and had to consult some resources to play for those few first rounds”.
Dalius also manifested some troubles when understanding the dynamics but he expressed them through Discord and his feedback was quickly implemented in the game. His suggestions were also carefully considered by Andrius and his team and the new game Widget has eventually featured some of his concerns as well as those from other testers. Mantas also expressed great conformity with the communication process in this regard,
“I played first in June and expressed some of my criticism to the team. Recently, I came back to play and realized that some of my expectations were met. The graphics were better, there were more UI elements and overall everything was improved. It is a process and MVP is the very early stage of a game, it is supposed to be minimalistic. However there is great progress and they are heading in the right direction”.
The chats with both MVP testers ended on a positive note as they both manifested an overall enjoyment of the game and were optimistic about what the future would bring for Codyfight,
“I had a lot of fun thinking about the strategies in the game, what would work and what wouldn’t. As I mentioned, I feel like my childhood self would have enjoyed it a lot. Even though there is still room for improvement I want to follow the game closely and see what’s next in the project. I really hope when I come back I can enjoy the competitive side and earn some CTOK along the way”.
Mantas also agrees with Dalius in this regard, and wishes to be part of the Codyfight movement and stay close to the team,
“I will keep following the process and staying active on Discord. There is a lot of potential and I will stay around to see how everything develops. I am also learning a lot about marketing from Codyfight, so it also serves as big motivation for my own game projects. Once I have more free time, I will dig on the API and create my bot farm, we’ll see how it goes.”
A learning experience from the team
After the process and the feedback from the MVP testers, I connected back with the team to check what the experience was like from them. At the end of the day, each department got involved assuring that the testing was a success and it would bring them closer to Alpha,
“I overall expected the feedback we got from MVP testers. I think it is very valuable to bring outsiders that are not so connected to the project and that can bring their honest opinion and identify what is not working”.
Vainius was certainly prepared to hear the suggestions and comments from testers and he himself pointed out some struggles in the communication between departments due to the fast and spontaneous idea of MVP,
“It’s our first project and we have been struggling with different things. MVP came as a great idea and a blessing in disguise in the current state of the market. However, due to this quick implementation we did not have time to set deadlines and priorities and that definitely impacted communication in the marketing aspect. However, this also brought an opportunity to learn about these issues and change them inside of the team”.
MVP was not only a project that helped to test out the game but also helped other departments to learn more about communication and how to navigate in the same direction. As Vainius describes it was a “blessing in disguise” for the team because it benefited them in different areas,
“We know that things are very slow now in the market but that is also helping us develop the game and advance on various aspects to produce a high quality product. MVP does not only stand for Minimal Value product but could be seen as Most valuable player. The game is in its early stage and still needs a lot of work, currently happening behind the scenes. But MVP testers are a great asset for us and very valuable to pursue a great game”.
In this regard, Andrius also agrees with Vainius in the value of MVP testers, as key aspects of developing Codyfight,
“We know that people see the future and like the idea of Codyfight. We just need time to make it great. The product will be so much better because we will build something that users want, not something that players would want. And that’s only achieved with a constant stream of feedback from the outside community”.
Andrius, as the captain of the project, has shaped the idea from the beginning and participated throughout all the stages, leading the process. Communication was not always easy but personally and professionally he learned a lot from the experience,
“Danas and I started Codyfight with the skills we had at the time. Making that First Widget cost many sleepless nights but that’s part of our history. We wanted our Widget to see the light even though now we have a great product in the making with great professionals involved. The idea of launching was quite spontaneous so we had to adapt and learn along the way. We struggled with communication sometimes and had to prioritize tasks as well as set clear deadlines. We have come a long way and I am very proud of our team and our brand new Widget that will see the light in the upcoming weeks’’.
The New Widget will feature many upgrades and enhancements, all thanks to the outstanding work of the team and the collaboration wof MVP testers such as Dalius and Mantas that brought many issues that needed to be resolved.
According to Andrius, the team is working towards Alpha and that includes a great focus on the metagame to make the game more enjoyable and compelling. Some of the new implementations have already made their way into the new Widget. Now, Codyfighters can have unique skills as well as learnable, so player’s can expand on their abilities in the battle as they level up their strategy. Also, the creative team is working on new Special Agents, as well as expanding the characteristics that are already part of the lore; implementing and expanding their abilities against or in favor of players. Also, there is a lot of work towards making unique maps with different tiles and assets for players to immerse further on the Codyfight universe,
“Now players can only make decisions based on the circumstances in the Arena. But we are focusing on making a complex and rich metagame where the interactions will be between the environment, NPCs, tiles, etc. The idea is to shift into a narrative where players can enjoy and earn in different ways and customize their own in-game experience”.
And in this note, Andrius promises to keep working and bringing those magic touches to Codyfight. We hope you enjoyed this complex and interesting journey into the depths of the mission and we’ll see each other on the next one.
Until then, you can follow us on our social media and not lose any content and updates on the game.
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