Five Tips for Better Playtesting

Having gone through the process of getting 20 people to playtest my first prototype, I have gained a bit of experience in this area. Since I received sceptical feedback from one of the lecturers which stated that I might be a little too subjective with playtesting and iterating, I decided to make some research in these areas. Let's start with playtesting.

Having gone on the Gamasutra article called Best Practices - 5 Tips for Better Playtesting I found some valuable points that I'll share here.

Point #1 - Recruit Your Target Player
I need to find playtesters that match my target audience, or I will get feedback that may throw me off track. If my game is made for young adults who play mobile games, I shouldn't expect good advice from elderly people who've never used a smartphone before, because at the end of the day it isn't them who will play my game.

Some of the crucial questions to ask before playtesting are:

• How old is my intended audience?
• Is the intended audience predominantly male, female, or split?
• What device or platform is my game targeting? (Don't recruit players if they've never played a game on that platform before).
• Does my game assume any prior knowledge from the player?

Asking my playtesters whether they have any experience in playing twitch based games is very important, because that way I can take their high scores seriously, knowing they are familiar with this type of games, helping me identify better whether the game is difficult to master, or whether the player is just not experienced.

Another important thing is to not stick to the same playtesters all the time, but trying out those, who've never seen the game before. That way I'm increasing my chances of receiving some fresh ideas and views as of whether the game is fun to play or if it's lacking something.

Another good reason to recruit a new playtester is because as Gamasutra states:

'If you only collect feedback from your biggest fans, you're much less likely to hear about the problems that new players face on Level 1, and much more likely to hear about how great Level 10 is'

Point #2 - Test Your Test Before You Test!
Before letting people play my game, I need to make sure that it doesn't contain any bugs that could affect gameplay. I also need to prepare comfortable seats for my playtesters so that they can fully enjoy the experience.

Point #3 Take the Pressure Off
I need to let my playtesters know that I'm testing the game, and not them, so that if they get confused during gameplay, the blame goes on the game only. The playtester should also be left uninterupted, and should be encouraged to think out loud during their experience, to help understand their point of view.

It is also crucial to ask playtesters for honest opinions, because they'll do more harm saying they like the game for the sake of not sounding personal, as opposed to giving constructive criticism, and helping me push the game forward later on when iterating.

Point #4 Rock the Survey
Questions that identify certain information about gameplay (in my case it would be whether it's easy to learn and difficult to master) should be more detailed than a vague 'Was the game hard?'. Instead asking particular things such as 'From 1 to 5 how much did you struggle squeezing the square in between the obstacles' and 'Were the obstacles spawning too frequently' will provide more detailed information, making it easier to draw conclusions later on.

Point #5 Analyze
Compiling data from many people will objectively show me whether my prototype is easy to learn and difficult to master, as opposed to having one or two players telling me something, that the other 18 would have said otherwise, which at a later stage when iterating, would push the game in the wrong direction.

The issues contained in the feedback that the playtesters brought to light need to be considered and fixed, whether it's a button that doesn't always respond to a click, or a mechanic that only annoys the player. That way I will have evidence that the game is being iterated in the right area and not because 'I felt like it'.

References:
Best Practices: Five Tips for Better Playtesting [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185258/best_practices_five_tips_for_.php?print=1 [Accessed 18th February 2015]