The playtesting moment in the iterative cycle is where you find out the truth about your game’s design. It’s when the questions posed in the prototype are answered, often in ways that are unexpected. Just like there are many types of prototypes, there are many types of playtests, each based on getting your game closer to what you are hoping it will express. If prototypes ask questions, then playtests provide the answers. Sometimes the team members ask and answer the question themselves. Sometimes playtesters from outside the team provide the answers. Sometimes playtests are super short, but other times they unfold over days, weeks, even months. It all depends on what questions are being asked through the prototype and what kinds of answers the team is seeking.

Macklin, Colleen; Sharp, John. Games, Design and Play (Game Design) (pp. 201-202). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.

Internal Playtests

These are playtests performed by folks internal to the group of people creating the game. This could be you, your team-members, or coworkers who work for the same company or on the game you are making. These tests are typically cheap and easy to perform and are a great way to get through some initial hurdles of gameplay issues, but by no means should you ONLY do these types of tests, especially just you. YOU already know how the game needs to be played and YOU have all of the scar tissue built up to create it. Because of this you will make far less mistakes which will leave very clear deficiencies in your game, and you are far more likely to be lenient on the things you do find because you know the work that has gone into making the game. However, even if you and your know that you will be biased it is none-the-less still important to do these tests because if YOU cannot play your game, then it isn't likely that anyone will. Just don't trust your own playtests as enough.

Game Developer Playtests

Similar to internal playtests it can be very helpful to connect with your peers who also make games to review your game. There are some very useful things that other game developers will provide you that other players won't and that is communication to you using game developer language and context. Game developers will provide you with more insight into why and how your game may or may not be working and will often provide you with advise on how to fix or modify it that is actually clear and useful. However, similar to your own review, other game developers have their own built up scar tissue and experience that makes them not the best audience to trust as a final word on whether something is really good or not.

Friend/Family Playtests

Okay. This can be the most fun kind of playtest, but can also provide its deceptions on actual game quality because of the obvious relational biases present. Yes, we all have those family members that will tell it to you straight that your game sucks if they believe it does. Similar we all have those family members that have celebrated everything we have ever made including that crayon art that's still on the fridge or in a box somewhere to be presented to you on your wedding day or when mom and dad finally downsize and clean out that closet. These reviews can be frustratingly positive or negative. The hard part is getting to the 'why' behind the comments. Family and friends are accessible people that have diverse interests and backgrounds and can represent certain demographics that may not be found internally or among other game developers in your circle, but again, they have biases that they have to overcome like a little thing called a relationship with you where they may or may not want to hurt your feelings or negate the difficulties you have overcome to get where you are. If you can look at the playtests with an honest eye to:

• what aspects they get right without needing your guidance
• what things they struggle with without your guidance
• what things they genuinely enjoy and are frustrated by

then you can still glean important information and insight as your evaluate your game for readiness.

Target Audience Playtests

This is by far one of the best types of playtests to focus on, but it isn't perfect. If you are creating a new FPS adventure game that targets the masses who consume games in the realm of Call of Duty then you absolutely want to make sure you test your game with people who fit that audience. Maybe your audience isn't that specific and is more catered toward a casual gamer who plays click and slider types of games to mentally checkout and pass the time on their train ride home after work. Test your game with these kinds of people and ideally in the environment and time when they will be playing these games. However, you must remember that there is still a spectrum of people within that group called 'target audience' that includes folks who are newer gamers, more experienced players, more casual, or more serious and then just the simple reality of other social, physical and economical diversities. As braod of feedback as you can get the better.

New Player Playtests

Gaming is a massive industry, but it is also growing and will continue to grow. THat means there will be new players to your game or even the genre all the time. If you assume that everyone of your gamers is someone who grew up playing fps games and don't provide a mechanism to ease those players into your game then you very well may lose the growth opportunities by your game. It costs time and money to make games. Every player you gain is money in your pocket to pay for more time to build more games to continue the cycle. Unless you create a viral game like angry birds and decide to be a one-and-done and retire to fiji at 23. In that case, congratulations and enjoy the umbrella drinks and ocean spray. However, you can absolutely bet that angry birds went through tons of playtesting to get it just right before release. The fact that it catered so well to casual gamers of all sorts of skill levels is part of what made it so dang successful. That, and green exploding pigs and whimsical bird sounds being flung by a slingshot. The point is to make sure in your testing that you consider new players of all sorts as you test your game. New gamers and new players matter.

Experienced Player Playtests

On the other end of the spectrum from new players are experienced players. These are going to be some of your biggest critics, but also could be your biggest advocates if you pay attention to their feedback and take care to address concerns and ideas they present. The big thing about experienced players is they have already committed to being an integral part of the industry you are creating products for. They are already signed members of the team of investors in both time and money to consume the thing you are creating. They don't often need a lot of hand-holding and may criticize you if you force them to play that way longer than necessary. Don't treat them like someone who is new to the world of gaming, but don't assume that they should just 'get it' because theyve been a gamer for years. You can probably treat experienced gamers in a similar vain to that of game developers. These people will provide you with much more meaningful feedback than "I just couldn't figure it out" or "THis game is awesome." Again, they are going to be cynical because they essentially are connoisseurs. Some are Anton Ego and some are Gusteau (Ratatouille anyone?).

Matching Prototypes to Playtests

There are many different kinds of playtests—and playtesters—to use at every loop through the iterative cycle. Each one will provide different answers to the question that the prototype asks, based on their experiences, their relationship to you and the design team, and the kind of prototype they are testing. In fact, certain prototypes work best with certain playtesters. Different prototypes lend themselves to different kinds of playtests. This is because different kinds of playtests are better at evaluating different things:

• Paper prototypes are best suited for internal and game developer playtests.
• The same goes for physical and code prototypes.
• Art and playable prototypes might open up to also include friends and family.
• Core game prototypes can open up a bit more to include target audience playtesters.
• Complete game prototypes are the most open, involving all types of playtesters.
• Finally, experienced playtesters can be matched with almost any kind of prototype and might be playtesters from the beginning. How else will they become experienced?

Macklin, Colleen; Sharp, John. Games, Design and Play (Game Design) (pp. 209-210). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.

Preparing for Playtests

There is a lot more to running a playtest than simply gathering up family, friends, coworkers, or random people on the street or in a forum to go play your game. Remember that the prototype of your game is designed to bring questions out that you need to answer. The playtest is the answer to those questions. You must craft your playtests to ensure you get the kind of answers you need or else it's a waste of time. To do that you must be organized in your process. There are small ways to approach this and their are massive double blind testing type processes you can consider depending on your time, budget and the risks involved in your venture. Here are some things to consider as you prepare for your playtests

• Pick a time and place to perform the tests. Ensure that you can control the environment enough to ensure you have clear ways to get the answers you seek. The quicker the session the more people you can test in a specified amount of time.
• Have a plan. You must know what you are testing, who you are testing, why you are testing them, and what feedback you need. Have other people help you with this planning and into the execution of the test. Other people will care about and notice different things than you.
• Capture Feedback What good is a detailed playtest with a diverse group of testers if you don't have a comprehensive way to capture the feedback they provide? Its not enough to just measure overall sentiment of a game adn come out of the test with a general feeling of "even though there were a few hiccups, overall people were really happy with it!" What are those hiccups and what will you do about them? Know what you are measuring and make sure you have clear ways to capture the data presented so you can prioritize and act on that feedback.

Running Playtests

Once a prototype is ready to go, it’s time to playtest. This is often a pretty surprising, and sometimes a pretty traumatic, experience. But it’s also one that game designers become used to after a while. One of the most difficult things to do in a playtest is to sit back and pay attention to the playtest itself—and not try to intervene too much. It’s so hard to watch players fail to understand something in the game that seems obvious. In essence, it’s painful to watch them fail. This is exactly what we’re looking for—points in the game where things are unclear, too difficult, or just downright broken.

Here is a process that is pretty solid to follow during a playtest:

• Introduce. Players must be able to understand what they are going to experience. What the state the prototype is in. What is its purpose and what is the focus of the test. If they are expecting a final art piece and get boxes, capsules, and spheres, the feedback you are going to get will not be helpful. Let them know.
• Observe. When we observe the playtest, we’re looking for all kinds of things—body language, what players are actually doing onscreen, what they say when they are playing, how much they want to play, and in the case of our game, what players say to each other. And here’s where we need to emphasize something. Observing doesn’t mean talking, helping, or coaching. Keep interactions with playtesters to a minimum. In fact, try not to interact at all when they are playing—even when they are struggling. This is easier said than done. It’s hard seeing playtesters fail because something in the game is unclear or play the game in a way that is totally unintended.
• Listen. The third thing to do is listen. This is different from observing. When we listen, we might be listening to our players talk aloud as they play. A good thing to do to understand what is going on in the player’s head is to ask them to actually say out loud what they are doing. A player can tell us why they are making certain choices, how the game is making them feel, or if there’s anything they are unsure about.
• Discuss. The final thing to do during a playtest is to discuss. Make sure when scheduling the playtest to leave time to discuss the game with your playtesters. In the discussion, the kinds of questions to ask are not “yes/no,” or leading questions like “did the game feel fun?” Ask open questions like, “How did playing the game make you feel?” or use open prompts like, “Tell me how you figured out the game’s goal.” The goal here is looking for the playtester’s reactions to the game, not feeding them yours. For certain playtests, in particular with target audience playtesters, have a discussion before or after the playtest about the playtesters’ own game preferences, who they are, and any other questions you might have to help you understand their point of view as they play your game.

What about after the playtest?

Great question! We will talk about that next module. :-)

For this weeks assignment you will be (surprising I am sure!) performing playtests for your game with the prototype(s) you generated last module.

1 Select 3 out of the 6 different kinds of playtests you want to execute and hold a playtest with at least 2 people from each group. Ideally you should have A LOT more people in each category to test for your games, but to keep things bounded for this assignment we will limit it.

As a result of these tests you will have data from 6 different tests to use in evaluation next module. The more comprehensive your tests the more data you will have, but remember to be specific and bounded by the questions you want answers to.

2 For your submission please record a short 2-3 minute video or audio clip where you talk about your experience performing the playtests. Please ensure you answer the following questions. Who did you playtest? why did you choose these? what was the most interesting thing you observed?

3 Make sure your movie file is MPEG4preferably with h264 codec. Or an audio file in .mp3 or .aac format. Most mobile phones encode this way by default so those files are fine the way they are. If you use a dedicated video camera please google how to export those formats form your chosen video editing software.

4 Name your video file with Lastname-Firstname_Playtest_FinalProject-Playtest.mp4. Could be .mov if you format as quicktime with h264. So .mov and .mp4 are good extensions as long as you compress. Your file sizes shouldn't be massive. For audio again (.mp3 or .aac).

7 Click on Final Project - Playtests in the UNM Learn Assignments listing.

8 Scroll down to Assignment Files and Browse Local file to select the file you created and attach it to your submission for this assignment.

As always, please make sure you also complete the other requirements in your todo list like discussion post and quiz. Don't forget those.