Boosting Your Playtest Accuracy in 2024: Avoid False Positives
Boosting Your Playtest Accuracy in 2024: Avoid False Positives
So, you finished your first playtest. Players said they loved your game. High fives all around, right? Not so fast. Enthusiasm in written feedback can be dangerously misleading, and often leads to false positives, especially when you haven’t observed players directly. Think of this as me looking over your shoulder during your capstone project, offering some (hopefully) helpful advice.
The Problem: Unseen Enthusiasm and the Illusion of Success
The biggest mistake I see indie devs make is relying solely on written surveys after a playtest. You send out a build, players fill out a form, and you get back glowing reviews. "Fun gameplay!", "Addictive!", "Would play again!". Sounds amazing, but what were they really doing?
Did they struggle to understand the UI for five minutes before finally clicking the right button? Did they accidentally stumble upon a winning strategy that broke the game? Did they actually finish the tutorial, or just skip through it as fast as possible? Written feedback rarely captures these crucial details. Players often provide what they think you want to hear, or focus on the superficial aspects of their experience. This leaves you with an inflated sense of success and a pile of usability issues you never even knew existed.
The Solution: Observation, Targeted Questions, and Actionable Insights
You need to shift your focus from passive feedback collection to active observation and targeted questioning. Here’s a structured approach to designing more effective playtests that will uncover genuine player experience:
Define Clear Objectives: What specific aspects of your game are you testing? Is it the core gameplay loop, the tutorial, or a new feature? Narrow your focus to get more meaningful results.
Direct Observation is Key: Whenever possible, watch players as they play. Use screen recording software, or even better, conduct in-person playtests. Pay attention to their body language, facial expressions, and the way they interact with the game. Are they hesitating? Are they getting frustrated? These non-verbal cues are invaluable.
Think Aloud Protocol: Ask players to verbalize their thoughts as they play. This provides real-time insight into their decision-making process and helps you understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. “I’m not sure where to go next,” or “I don’t understand what this item does” are goldmines for identifying areas for improvement.
Targeted Questioning: Supplement observation with specific questions designed to probe deeper into player experience. Instead of asking "Did you enjoy the game?", try asking “What was the most frustrating part of the game?” or "What was the most confusing aspect of the tutorial?".
Focus on Usability: Don’t just ask about fun. Actively look for usability issues. Are players getting stuck? Are they misunderstanding the controls? Are they struggling to navigate the UI? These are the types of problems that can kill a game, no matter how fun it is in theory.
Embrace Failure: Remember that playtesting is about finding problems, not validating your ego. Don’t be afraid to hear criticism. The more problems you uncover, the better your game will be in the long run.
Documenting and Analyzing Your Playtest Data
Now that you’ve gathered all this valuable information, it’s time to make sense of it. This is where documentation and analysis come in.
Consistent Note-Taking: During playtests, meticulously record your observations, player comments, and any usability issues you identify. Don’t rely on your memory. Write everything down.
Categorize and Prioritize: After each playtest, organize your notes into categories (e.g., UI, gameplay, tutorial) and prioritize the issues based on their impact and frequency.
Identify Patterns: Look for patterns across multiple playtests. If several players are struggling with the same aspect of the game, it’s a clear indication that something needs to be changed.
Actionable Insights: Translate your findings into actionable insights. Instead of just saying “The tutorial is confusing,” try “The tutorial doesn’t clearly explain how to use the crafting system. We need to add a visual demonstration.”
Journaling Player Feedback for Long-Term Improvement
Consistently journaling your playtest results is crucial for tracking progress, identifying recurring issues, and making informed design decisions. A dedicated game dev journal helps you maintain a comprehensive record of your playtesting process, ensuring that you don’t repeat the same mistakes and that you’re constantly learning from your players.
Instead of scattering your notes across different documents and spreadsheets, consider using a dedicated tool to manage your playtest data. With a tool to quickly add observations, categorize feedback, and track progress over time, you can easily identify trends and make data-driven decisions to improve your game. Try our game development journal to Document Your Playtest Insights efficiently and get your game on the right track: Document Your Playtest Insights