The Room
Aura Studios returned to the DC indie scene at Play at the Library, IGDA DC’s showcase series bringing locally-made games to DC Public Library branches across the city. This time the venue was the Dorothy I. Height/Benning Neighborhood Library, and the room delivered.
One of Aura Studios’ original co-founders Chris Hines of HD Studios came out to support. Friends from college and high school showed up. The people who believed in this from the beginning were in that room. And then the players showed up. One kid couldn’t beat Aurora Sol. So he kept coming back. All afternoon. That is not a frustration problem, that is a game design signal. Aurora Sol did what it was supposed to do.
Several players stopped to tell us they would buy it. One player said it was exactly the kind of relaxing puzzle experience she had been looking for. And this time, the music was heard. At the previous event, there were issues with the sound, but this time the score by Konstellation G was stopping people mid-walk. That is what the game is supposed to feel like.
Aura Studios had the pleasure of showing off Aurora Sol at the Play at the Library event at Benning / Dorothy I. Height Library. The Play at the Library is a series of events in the DC area to show off the local indie dev games and work. Here we were able to connect with the people and get good feedback about how to improve the game and make it more appealing for the masses. Also, we were able to show the DC area that the indie scene is here to stay.
Lessons Learned
Just like at Cherry Blossom Arcade earlier this year, the excitement from show-goers was palpable. Gamers embraced Aurora Sol as it was, bugs and all. And through conversations across the afternoon, we came away with clear priorities.
Aurora Sol is a unique puzzle game in how players can approach the gameboard. Unlike Tetris and many other puzzle games, the player has options on how they enter the board. That control schema is part of what makes the game distinctive, but it also makes the learning curve steeper than most. We identified through direct feedback how to make those controls more intuitive without losing what makes them special.
Difficulty is the other major callout. We want Aurora Sol to be our version of a “Sol-like”, genuinely challenging for players who seek that out. But that difficulty does not translate well when someone is learning the game for the first time at a public showcase. We are adjusting the onboarding experience to make the game more approachable without lowering the ceiling.
Two things came up repeatedly that were not ready for this showing: multiplayer and a proper tutorial. Multiplayer demand was clear and consistent. And explaining the game manually to every show-goer meant we could not step back and watch how people naturally took to it. A proper tutorial is now the highest priority heading into the next public showing.
Back in the lab
With the lessons learned and the excitement from show-goers young and old, Aura Studios knows we have something gamers will get behind. We are back in the lab with a clear list and real momentum behind it.
Aurora Sol is being built in public. The best way to follow the journey is at aurastudios.online.