Alpha Playtest Results

Alpha Playtest Results

We recently ran several playtests for our bouncing-ball action roguelite, combining survey responses and live player observation.

A huge thank you to everyone who played, struggled, adapted, and shared honest feedback. These sessions gave us a clear picture of what already works, and what needs to improve.

The Main Takeaway

Despite rough edges:

80% of testers said they want to keep playing.

Average playtime reached nearly 2 hours.

That’s the signal we care about most => The core gameplay is working.

What Players Already Love

Combat & Ball Gameplay

This remains the strongest part of the game.

Players consistently praised:

• dynamic action

• satisfying rebounds

• powerful ball feeling

• addictive momentum

• intense short runs

Even first-time players quickly understood the unique identity of controlling a bouncing ball in combat.

Style & Theme

The baseball-inspired enemies, arena combat, and overall visual style were well received.

Character designs, animations, and recent visual improvements were especially noticed by returning testers.

What Needs Improvement

The feedback was consistent across different player types, from veterans to newbies.

1. UI / UX Needs More Clarity

This was the most common issue.

Players reported:

• overloaded HUD

• weak visual hierarchy

• confusing menus

• unclear icons

• currencies misunderstood

• poor controller navigation in hub screens

Some players did not immediately understand what the Gym / Garage were for or how upgrades worked.

2. Tutorials & Onboarding

Many mechanics were learned through trial and error instead of clear explanations.

Most common confusion:

• Fury

• Combo

• Fusion system

• Dash rules

• Stun rules

• Door rewards

Some players also felt the difficulty spike from tutorial room to first combat room was too abrupt.

3. Combat Readability

The action is exciting, but sometimes too chaotic too early.

Players mentioned:

• sometimes, too much happening at once

• hard to track character position

• hard to read enemy attacks

• unclear damage sources

• early runs feel overwhelming

We also observed that players felt that hitting the ball was sometimes too punishing, which then encouraged them to play a more static, camping playstyle.

4. Enemy Fairness

Challenge was appreciated, but certain enemies caused frustration.

Most common feedbacks :

• heavy projectile pressure

• enemies returning the ball too often

• enemies catching the ball and stopping momentum

• tight/impossible reaction windows

A key lesson:

Players dislike losing flow more than losing health. Some enemy seem to stop the player’s momentum too often.

5. Controls & Progression

Players liked the controls overall, but some systems need tuning.

Feedback included:

• dash feels too mandatory

• walking speed feels weak

• recall is fun but overused

• service can feel slow under pressure

• upgrades can feel hard to evaluate

• builds need clearer strategic identity

There is also a real discrepancy between keyboard and controller players :

> The controller players have more of a hard time aiming, but the gameplay seems smoother and more comfortable

> Whereas the mouse-keyboard players are more accurate, but the movement seems more difficult.

6. Boss Feedback - Madbull

The first boss was memorable.

Players described the fight as:

• intense

• surprising

• exhausting

• frustrating

• satisfying to beat

Some testers felt the difficulty spike may be too high for an early boss.

What Happens Next

Here are our main points of action:

• A clearer, better onboarding for the whole experience.

• Redesigning a clearer UI

• Stronger combat readability and feedback

• Ennemie tuning

• deeper progression choices, mostly by giving the player more agency through “sets” of items & modules

In addition, we are bringing more content to the table, in the form of more enemies, upgrades, equipment and challenges in future updates.

Final Words

The best compliment we received wasn’t a score.

It was players getting frustrated… and immediately starting another run.

That’s the heart of a roguelite.

If you played, Thank you for helping shape the game.

More updates soon. - Louis, Rebound Team