COMP 7970 Playtesting Cheryl Seals

COMP 7970 Assignment Read Chapter 8 Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games By Tracy Fullerton, Chris Swain, Steve Hoffman 7.html

COMP 7970 Playtest & Final report Select playtesters: friends/classmates, not on team 5+ required; plan the playtest (see rest of slides) Observe playing your game –What is harder/easier than expected Interview them after –What was fun about the game –What could be improved: short & long term Improve the game based on comments! Read and follow directions on: up_Project_Specs.doc up_Project_Specs.doc

COMP 7970 What is Playtesting? The “most important” activity in game design It is NOT: –Casual weekend gaming Just “play the game and gather feedback” might not reveal real issues with the game –Internal Design Review with team Designer & team play the game and talk about the features Need real players –Bug Testing by QA team for debugging QA team goes through and rigorously test each element of software for flaws –Focus Group Testing Marketing exec sit behind two way mirror watching sample group play and discuss the game with a moderator asking them how much $$$ they would pay for game –Usability Testing Systematically analyze how user interacts with your software by recording their mouse movements, eye movements, navigation patterns, etc.

COMP 7970 What is Playtesting? It is –Something the designer performs through the entire design process –Getting insight into how players experience game –Informal/qualitative  structured/quantitative Somewhere along this continuum –Answers questions Is the game functioning the way you want? Internally complete? Balanced? Fun?

COMP 7970 When do we Playtest? Iterative Less fundamental changes as process progresses “Let’s wait till we have a beta product…Players will get the best experience” –NO!

COMP 7970 Model for iterative game design: Playtest, evaluate, and revise

COMP 7970 Steps in Playtesting Selection Recruiting Preparation Controls Analysis

COMP 7970 Recruiting and Selection Self testing –Reveal glaring problems Then testing with friends –Not objective Then test with strangers –Selection is important –Target demographics –…but widest selection possible (AOE II case study)

COMP 7970 Age of Empires II Case Study Graph of player Errors over time

COMP 7970 Running a playtest session Don’t talk too much –Use a script Let the user make mistakes/figure things out “It’s the game that’s broken, not you” Think Aloud –This practice has players talking constantly while playing –Can be distracting, but can give some good insight Interview/survey –Beware of leading questions

COMP 7970 Running a playtest session Don’t be defensive –Beware…testers will want to please you] –Really! Groups generate ideas Individuals evaluate Can use groups, individuals, or combination

COMP 7970 The Play Matrix Core aspects of all interactive experiences Stimulates discussion Have tester analyze gameplay using matrix Should your game be moved in the matrix?

COMP 7970 Play Matrix

COMP 7970 Running a playtest session Note taking critical –Video or audio recording Interview –Game specific questions needed –Don’t wear out your participant

COMP 7970 Playtest data Objective or subjective Quantitative or qualitative? What can you measure? –Develop clearly defined questions to answer with data Test control situations –New feature, special event, common technique, the end of the game