Welcome to Digital Play Zone!

I'm Winn Liu. Playtesting is one of the most important steps in game development. It is the process by which we find and clear the unnecessary parts of our games as well as refine the aspects of our game that are desirable.

Today we will talk about all the knick-knacks of playtesting, from why you should playtest, how to find your playtesters, what to playtest, and what to do with the data. So with all that said, let's continue!

I can think of a myriad of reasons why you should playtest, but let's start with the first reason. You will be able to know what your audience enjoys. Without playtesting, you can only guess what aspects your players will find fun. It is very likely, that what you think players will enjoy ends up being something they hate and vice versa. Something you think players will hate may end up as the main attraction.

Another reason would be to find out whether the mechanics or story you are trying to convey to your players are understandable or whether they still need work. Playtesting can help you to find out the aspects that need improvement and what should be cut entirely.

This final reason is probably the one most people expect when they think of playtesting. It can help to find bugs and glitches that you would have never foreseen. Bug tracking during playtest sessions is essential for delivering a polished final product.

I’ll be frank, you should start as soon as you can. The minute you have a playable prototype, playtest. It can help to tell you whether your idea is even worth pursuing. You don't want to find out that your game has a fundamental problem months or years into development. Your prototype does not have to be pretty, as long as it works as a game, it will do. It can even be drawn onto a piece of napkin!

Goal-oriented playtesting is when you go into the test with a goal or issue in mind. These goals can be “I want to see if the user interface is overcrowded.” or “Are the puzzles and mechanics in this section too complex and frustrating?” This approach helps in refining specific gameplay mechanics and improving user experience.

Blind playtesting is when you give the game to a tester with no introductions or instructions. It is very helpful in telling you what aspects are conveyed well and what needs to be further refined. In general, blind playtesting is usually done near the end of the game development process, when most of the kinks are ironed out and you have a pretty solid game. But it is not an iron rule, you can definitely blind playtest with a prototype.

I would recommend you to playtest in segments and test the specific goals at the beginning of the development process as you will be able to fine-tune those specific mechanics.

When choosing playtesters it is important to consider who you are selling your game to, as well as the skill level of your players. You want to have a diverse selection of testers aligning with and against your target audience so that you will be able to better understand what your target audience enjoys.

While it is easy to search for testers on Fiverr, Facebook, and other online websites, it can often be pricey and over the budget of an indie developer. This is when you can ask your friends and family to help you playtest your game. Remind them to be brutally honest as you want to know what issues are in your game before finalizing everything.

You can be the tester as well, often the data you get back from your sessions end up being way more detailed and in-depth as you already know what you want from the playtest as well as knowing the controls of the game. Only playtesting yourself is not a good option as the benefits of playtesting yourself are also a setback. You may know the controls in and out, but others may not. What you consider to be common knowledge can end up being something that no player can figure out.

This goes without saying, but you will need to have ways for your testers to give feedback about your game. You can use surveys and questionnaires to allow your playtesters to focus on the specific goals you have. Conducting interviews after the session can also give you valuable data on your game. One thing you must remember is don’t take it personally. If you start to get defensive the playtesters may not want to talk about the issues and you may lose your chance to find out bugs early.

Now that you have your testers and have started your playtest session, is it time to sit back and relax until the surveys come in? No! Now is the time to take notes and observe your playtesters. Often what we say is just one small portion of a larger picture. Make sure to look at the behaviour of your playtesters and take note of the non-verbal cues they may show. Body language can tell a whole different story or further enhance what they’re saying. You should always record the playthroughs as it will be useful whenever you need to check or understand what your playtesters said or commented.

With all this data you have gathered, you may be wondering what next. Well, now is finally time to start compiling all that data into one spot. With that data, it should tell you the issues that you have to fix. Look at the patterns, what seems to frustrate players, and what made players enjoy the experience. Remember, DO NOT take the comments personally. It can feel like others are insulting your child, but if people are commenting about an issue, there probably is an issue. Think of it as teaching and cleaning up your child so that they can stand proud in the sea of other games.

Now that you have analyzed all the data and found the problem spots, it's time to use that information and make changes. The first thing to start changing is the big things that all your playtesters report about. Then afterwards is the stuff that you notice through the playtester's body language. This could be a ledge that caused them to rage as they kept falling off.

With all the changes and fixes done, it is time to schedule your next playtest session. Depending on the goals of this research session, you may want to let your playtesters know what you have fixed to bring their attention to it and see how they feel about the changes.

You may be thinking one question right now, “How many playtest sessions must I do?”. This is a very case-to-case topic as in an ideal world we would playtest until all the kinks are gone, but in practice, many things can hinder this process. Budget and time can cut short your playtest process. I would say that if your players can grasp and enjoy the game in the first ten minutes and they are still yearning for more when the session ends, then you are probably close to being done with playtesting.

With game development, playtesting is one of, if not the most important aspects of game design. It can help you to further understand your audience and enhance your game to fit their needs accordingly. Playtesting can seem like a scary obstacle, but as long as you follow these steps we covered today, I feel confident that you will be able to make a great game!

Thank you for reading this blog post! If you have any questions about game design, feel free to contact me.