1. Planning phase for playtesting
Sometimes having a meticulous plan is the key to success. You need this step to set the stage for effective and efficient testing, ensuring that every aspect of the game is carefully considered. Here are the main components of the testing phases.
Setting goals
Your playtesting goals need to be specific and accurate, and tailored to the specifics and aspects of your game. Here are some ideas to get you started:
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Identifying Game Blocks – focus on identifying any critical issues that are impeding the game's progress and assess how solvable they are.
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Evaluate the emotional response – measure how players feel about different elements of the game to ensure that the game creates the desired emotional impact.
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Bug tracking and logging – find, identify, and document bugs that impact gameplay, performance, or stability.
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Study the game mechanics – evaluate the functionality and level of involvement of the main game mechanics.
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User Experience (UX) / Usability Testing – How intuitive and accessible is the game's interface and overall user experience?
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Level design and progression analysis – examine how the game's level design impacts player progression and the balance of challenges.
Definition of data collection methods and measurement techniques
We do these tests to get actionable and applicable information, which requires effective and robust data collection methods. Before you begin this step, however, you need to find methods that work for you:
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Data collection methods: You can use a mix of surveys, logs, video recordings, direct observations, structured interviews, gameplay analytics, and bug tracking software to collect data you can use.
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Data measurement techniques: There are a wide range of techniques to measure data, such as estimating progression through different areas and levels, successfully defeating enemy bosses or overcoming encounters, solving puzzles. There are also Likert scales, event frequency counts, error rates, user task success rates, and emotional response scales to measure the impact and effectiveness of different game elements. The main thing is to choose the one that fits your product perfectly.
Resource Allocation
Proper allocation of available resources essentially consists of ensuring that all necessary materials and personnel are adequately supplied for the task:
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Team building: Build a cross-functional team of project management, QA, and technical support to oversee playtesting. This way you can cover all the bases.
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Budgeting: Leave sufficient funds for testing resources, including hardware, software, and tester compensation, so that the testing process can run smoothly and without interruptions.
Planning
With testing, you need to stay on track and set limits. You can outline specific dates and durations for each test session to ensure they align with key project milestones and don’t overlap with critical development phases. You also need to plan ahead because after playtesting is over, you may still have some issues to resolve before release.
Who's involved:
Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various team members involved in the playtesting process:
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Project Managers/Game Producers: define the main goals and where additional input from playtesters is most needed
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Lead Designers/Developers: Pay attention to reported issues related to your area within the game, conduct interviews to gain valuable and structured information directly.
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Quality Assurance (QA) Managers: train playtesters to follow the internal process and know how to use the console, get the necessary builds, manage saves, solve small technical problems
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IT / Technical / DevOps Support: provide pre-configured hardware and software, address technical and network issues, automate routine tasks
This way playtesting becomes strategic and systematic because the planning is structured, which ultimately leads to more efficient results.
2. Recruiting the right playtesters
Of course, you need the right team to do this. Recruiting the right playtesters is crucial to getting relevant feedback. Select only the most suitable candidates to participate in playtesting.
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Advertising: Develop targeted ads that clearly specify the type of testers needed. Use popular gamer platforms, such as game forums, social media platforms, and community message boards, to reach a diverse pool of potential testers.
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Setting requirements: Set specific criteria for testers to meet, such as age, gaming experience, and familiarity with the game genre. This ensures that the group of testers is suited to provide insightful and relevant feedback to the target audience.
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Interviews and selection: Conduct a structured selection process that includes reviewing applications and conducting interviews. This rigorous approach helps assess each candidate's suitability against predefined requirements and ensures that only the best-fit individuals are chosen for playtesting.
Who is involved:
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Playtest Coordinator: screening candidates and conducting interviews to ensure the group is a good fit
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HR/Recruitment/Publishing Team: Manages the logistics of the recruitment process, advertising playtest opportunities.
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QA Team Members: Play a crucial role in defining desired tester profiles and actively participate in the interview process to help select the best candidates for playtesting needs.
Again, since our goal is to provide relevant and valuable feedback, getting the right players becomes an equally important factor in the success of this process.
3. Managing the playtesting process
Effective management of the playtesting process is essential to ensure that testing runs smoothly and produces valuable information. This phase involves a few important actions to take:
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Support and Onboarding: Provide a thorough orientation for all testers, explaining the testing protocol, use of tools, and overall goals of the playtest. This ensures that testers are well prepared and understand their roles and the importance of their contributions.
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Setting up the test environment: Provide the necessary pre-configured hardware, consoles, and network/server environment for playtests to run smoothly and for playtesters to have the necessary equipment
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Monitoring and support: Actively monitor playtesting progress and provide ongoing support to resolve any issues that arise:
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Conduct interviews for in-depth analysis of specific feedback points to further explore them and potentially incorporate changes into the game
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Establish a clear and efficient system for reporting bugs and keep the lines of communication open with the QA team.
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Document and troubleshoot any game crashes, finding workarounds if necessary to continue testing.
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Ensure that testers complete all necessary forms and keep logs to accurately track their feedback and any issues they encounter.
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Who is involved:
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Development teams and their managers: they observe how playtesters progress through the game and see where relevant areas of the game can be further improved and whether the progression is in line with the game's design
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Playtesters: Oversee the entire playtesting operation, ensuring it runs smoothly and on time.
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Technical support staff: Responsible for setting up and maintaining the testing environment, as well as resolving any technical issues encountered by testers.
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QA Analysts: Monitor data collection, bug reporting, and tester feedback to ensure all aspects of the game are covered and documented comprehensively.
How you manage the testing process will be reflected in the results, and how complete your data is is how you know you will get effective and relevant insights in the end. Collect all the data and address the issues.
4. Analysis and reporting phase
This step turns raw playtest data into great insights that you can use and that directly impact game development. Here’s how it’s typically handled in specific steps:
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Game data analysis: Try game-specific analytics tools to examine player behavior patterns and gameplay interactions. Focus on areas like level completion rates, player death locations, and game feature usage to see where you can make changes.
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Collecting Tester Feedback: Collect and categorize player feedback from surveys and interviews, but in a systematic way. You can also use sentiment analysis to see and reflect on player emotions and reactions to different elements of the game.
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Bug and issue tracking: Use specialized software to track and prioritize bugs and issues reported during playtesting. This allows your developers to address the highest priority issues that could impact the gameplay experience.
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Reviewing performance metrics: You can also analyze performance data, such as load times, frame rates, and system stability on different hardware configurations, to ensure that your game actually meets performance benchmarks.
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Reporting and decision making: The final step: documentation. Create detailed reports that highlight key findings from your data analysis. These reports should include visual aids like graphs and heat maps to clearly illustrate points. Use them in strategy meetings where project managers and developers decide on next steps based on playtest results.
Who is involved:
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Data analysts: They focus on quantitative data from gameplay and system performance to provide statistical reports.
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Quality control team synthesizes qualitative feedback from testers and coordinates with data analysts to ensure all data points are considered.
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Lead Developers and Designers review the compiled reports to make informed decisions about what changes or improvements are needed to the game design and mechanics.
By using this you can actually ensure that every aspect of your playtesting data is not lost and is used for the sake of refining and improving the game. It helps you make the game much more enjoyable for your players, while also creating a more stable result ready for a release.