Testing, testing 1 2 3

One of the most important aspects of the game development process is playtesting. Not only is it super important to actually have someone from the outside world play your game (because how else would you get a different perspective, we'll get to that later), but it is also essential to make sure you're making the game you think you're making.

Depending on the game you're making, you'll need to know how accessible your game is. Does the message come across to the player? Do the players know what's happening? Why? What's the point? Are your mechanics supporting or hindering your message? These aren't questions that can wait for release to be answered. Most people don't care about the process of development, so they wont care about what went wrong. They only care about the final product. In a way, that's a good thing. It means that you know exactly what needs to be perfected before release. However, it means that playtesting is invaluable and essential....and complicated.

The reason it can get so complicated is because there is no hard and fast way to do it. There are guidelines, but no rules. Every testing session is going to be different, you're going to be testing different things, with potentially different people testing each time. As the game gets more and more complete, more and more things need to be tested. Mechanics, story, balance, aesthetic, mood, game feel, sound, animation... the list goes on. Now, granted, a lot of these things don't require their own testing session, but depending on the game, they might.

To figure out how you're going to test your game, you're going to need to ask yourself a few questions. As a designer, this should be an integral part of your process anyway, so you should be really good at asking yourself questions. Firstly, who is your target audience? You should base your testers on your target audience. If you're making a game for primary school kids, then getting your mum to test your game wont give you the most effective feedback. Make sure that each time you test your game, you get relevant information. Identifying your target demographic will give you much more relevant feedback than just choosing anyone.

Secondly, make sure the build your testing has been tested!!! It's no good pulling people out of their lives to test your game if the game is too broken to test. Now, this is not always possible, especially with early builds, but if you keep this point in mind, you'll get better testing results more often than those who haven't thought about this. Test internally with the development team before you get your testers involved. If the build doesn't crash and the aspect you are testing is in the build, then you can begin external testing. If it's not at the point, then testing will be useless.

Know what you are testing for. Have a purpose, a goal for the test. If you just plonk a build on the table and yell at people until they've played it, then you aren't going to get the feedback you need (unless the feedback you need is whether or not yelling at people is effective). If you're testing lights, make sure that lights are in the game and that the questions you ask your playtesters are relevant to lights. Which reminds me...

Ask your testers questions. This is a tricky one. Humans are really easy to influence, especially when you aren't trying. The power of suggestion is a dark and mysterious power, and it's very easy to invalidate your results by asking the wrong questions. Or even the right questions in the wrong way. You need to be aware that your words have power. Keep your questions general and do your best to avoid directing the answers. If the testing session is going exactly how you want it to, and the feedback is exactly what you wanted, you may have done it wrong.

I can go on and on about how to test your games, but instead of ruining your day by making you read twenty pages on how to test things, I'm just going to link you to some articles of people smarter than me who have already wrote these things. In short, don't pressure your testers, make sure you know what your testing, keep your questions general and for goodness sake, don't try to test something externally without testing internally. Your test builds need to work in order for testing to be valuable.

Because testing is not only valuable, but absolutely essential.

LINK DUMP

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185258/best_practices_five_tips_for_.php

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-science-of-playtesting/1100-6323661/

http://www.northeastern.edu/gurmethods/?page_id=19

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014551/The-Science-of-Play-Testing

http://gamedesigntools.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/play-testing.html