Playtesting

CS 4730: Computer Game Design

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Credit: Some slide material courtesy Walker White (Cornell)

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Why does playtesting matter?

• Have you ever had someone else read a paper you wrote?
• Why?

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Why does playtesting matter?

• What are you actually trying to find out when you have other people play your game?
• What “matters” in a game?
• How do you measure it?

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Some Thoughts

• Time to learn to use a game verb / action
• Time (ability) to complete a specific task/quest
• Usage (or lack of usage) of gameplay features
• Errors (how many, where)
• Player satisfaction (Likert scale)
• Where did they have the most/least fun?
• What was the user’s first reaction?
• How would the user describe the game to others?
• Would they play it again?

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HCI + Game Design

• Have you had a class in Human-Computer Interaction?
• User studies are a THING!
• There are right ways and wrong ways to do them!

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Questions to Consider

• Who should play test your game? Why?
• Remember that people’s time is valuable!
• They are doing YOU a favor!
• What is your role when they are playing the game?
• You are not their personal game coach!
• How can you ensure that the test is the same for everyone?
• Scripts are not a bad thing at all!

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Step 1: Find your playtesters

• Consider a few different categories of players:
• The “expert” / “confidant” (in game design class or SGD)
• The “advanced consumer” (computing student)
• The “general consumer” (non-computing student)
• Ask around! Ask friends of friends!
• (surely you have friends not in the E-school… right?)
• Schedule the test for a time that’s NOT RUSHED!

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Step 2: Prepare the location

• The location should be:
• Convenient
• Away from distractions
• Comfortable
• You should have:
• Your computer READY TO GO!
• Your script of what you’ll tell them
• Your data collection instruments

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Step 3: Prepare the Script

• You are no longer a game designer for this exercise. You are an objective observer.
• DO NOT TALK ABOUT:
• How awesome your game is!
• What you want to do with the game in the future!
• What is currently broken!
• DO TALK ABOUT:
• The bare minimum of how to play! WRITE THIS OUT!

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Step 4: Prepare the Data Collection

• What are you going to record?
• Audio?
• Screen capture?
• Just use pen and paper?
• Have SOMETHING ready to take notes during the session!
• If there are particular things you want to look for, have that written out!

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Step 5: Prepare the Survey

• Post test surveys are good as well
• Ask questions that have answers that are relatively easy to process
• Likert scales (1-7, for instance)
• True / False
• Multiple choice
• Have some open ended questions

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Step 6: The Session Schedule

• Introduction of the game
• Get background info on the tester
• Play the game
• Give specific task / goal (even if that’s just “go explore”)
• DO ask them to “think out loud” as they are playing!
• Wrap up discussion and survey
• Some GREAT questions on page 263

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Do Not Get Frustrated!

• Remember:

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Now that you have your data...

• What do you do with it?
• How do you act on the data you’ve gathered?
• Tips:
• Don’t wait too long! You’ll forget the context of some of your notes.
• Talk (like out loud) with the entire team discussing how the session went – and then take notes on that too!
• Compare notes with other teams!

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Advanced Playtesting

• In modern games, we often put in hooks and let beta testers do a lot of the work without actually “doing the work!”
• Here are some fascinating examples courtesy of Prof. White at Cornell

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Heatmaps

Game: God of War II

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User Chat Mining

Game: Star Wars - The Old Republic

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User Chat Mining

Game: Star Wars - The Old Republic

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Death Heat Map

Game: Star Wars - The Old Republic

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Encounters

Game: Star Wars - �The Old Republic

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