Playtest V1 Notes: What We Learned ✈️

Our first Flight Date playtest is now behind us, and we wanted to share a small update about what we learned from it.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who played, shared feedback, reported bugs, or just took the time to write down their thoughts. This was our first public playtest, so seeing people actually solve levels, get confused, enjoy the planning, and suggest new ideas was incredibly helpful for us.

What players liked

One of the biggest things we were happy to see was that the core loop seems to work.

Players enjoyed arranging tickets, planning routes, and figuring out how to reunite characters. We also got several comments about the bullet journal / travel planner aesthetic, the cozy feeling, and the satisfaction of completing a level.

The timeline mechanic also stood out a lot. Some players even said it felt like it could become a whole separate game mechanic on its own, which was very encouraging to hear.

What was confusing

The playtest also showed us where the game needs to be clearer.

Some players were not sure where characters were supposed to meet, or what exactly the goal of a level was. The dialogue progression was not always obvious either, especially when players had to click to continue.

We also noticed that the timeline needs a better visual language. The colors and icons were not clear enough, and in some cases the time-of-day system caused confusion instead of helping with planning.

Another important note was the ticket dragging. Dropping a ticket directly onto a character felt too precise, so we want to make that interaction more forgiving and comfortable.

Things we are improving

Based on the playtest feedback, our current focus is on clarity, readability, and comfort.

Some of the improvements we’re working on:

• Making dialogue progression clearer

• Improving speech bubble placement and readability

• Reworking the timeline visuals

• Making warning symbols easier to understand

• Making ticket dragging and dropping feel smoother

• Adjusting the difficulty curve between levels

• Making flight animations faster

• Improving menu button feedback

• Adding a return-to-main-menu button after the playtest ending

We also received useful feedback about expanding the story, adding more romantic and personal moments, and making the world feel more alive. These are things we’re very excited to explore as the game grows.

Bugs we found

The playtest helped us catch several bugs and visual issues too.

Some examples include audio sliders not working properly, level complete sounds looping, tickets appearing behind the map, plane animations flipping upside down in some routes, timeline display issues with more than two characters, and some screen ratio problems.

Nothing too scary, but definitely a good list for us to fix before the next version.

Future ideas

We also received some really fun suggestions, such as:

• Ticket reset buttons

• Weather conditions

• Seat preferences

• Achievements for solving levels more efficiently

• More character customization

• More detailed travel planning mechanics

We can’t promise every idea will make it into the game, but they gave us a lot to think about.

What’s next?

For the next version of Flight Date, we’ll focus on making the game easier to understand, smoother to play, and more satisfying to solve.

The playtest showed us that the main idea has potential, and now our job is to make the experience clearer, cozier, and more polished.

Thank you again for playing and helping us shape Flight Date.

See you in the next update! 💙