Blog Post
Playtesting
- By Connor MacMillan
- •
- 04 Mar, 2018
- •
The most important step
I think I've lost track of how many times we've completely changed a rule in Siege! Let alone the crazy amount of small tweaks and adjustments to balance it. All of these are the result of playtesting; with ourselves, with friends, but most importantly, with complete and utter strangers. Hopefully every time we update our rules, they become a little easier to understand, a little more balanced and just a little more fun, and if we keep doing that enough times, we'll have a great game.
Playtesting is the most important step in game design, but its also one of the most intimidating. Putting your creation in front of other people, for the sole purpose of getting critiqued, is absolutely terrifying. Knowing that you're about to show off your work may make you want to perfect it, don't. One of my colleagues, and a fellow game designer, gave some insight: "if you aren't ashamed of the game you're playtesting, you started too late."
I think this concept is really important for a few reasons. If you polish your game before playtesting it, you'll be resistant to any changes. After spending countless hours on something, you're bound to get attached to it, but your game needs to be adaptable at this point. And, if you're resistant to your playtester's input, you're more likely to seem like an ungrateful dick, which is bad. An important side affect of playtesting is building your following, a crucial step to crowdfunding. You can read more about how to build your crowd here.
Playtesting is also incredibly important because it allows the people, who will hopefully buy your game, to influence its design. Having the customer help with creation is a no brainer, it'll turn it into something they actually want to buy!
Here are some helpful tips to playtesting:
1. Do it early and often
2. Be open to suggestions
3. Take pictures (but ask first)
4. Ask if they want to stay up-to-date on your project (get contact info)
5. Build those relationships
6. Bringing food doesn't hurt
I've already harped on the first two, but taking pictures didn't really seem like a big deal to me at first. If you're a first time creator like I am, its hard to start from nothing. When building this website, I had almost nothing to put on it. I had a prototype that I printed through BoardGamesMaker.com, a decent set of rules, and that's about it. I didn't have any pictures of people actually playing my game! This is some advice that I'm going to start taking myself as of right now, because I'm hoping it'll help me build a better brand.
Sure, giving good feedback through a well crafted comment, and sharing other people's content is a great way to build your crowd, but they pale in comparison to a real-life human relationship. Its generally easier to get comments on your game if you're physically there, so use this opportunity to make a good impression, and then maintain those relationships.
A great way to make a first impression is to bring food, everyone loves food. Don't expect people to do things for free, even your friends. They may do what you want, but eventually everyone will start to think you're a freeloader. If you can bring food, I say do it, otherwise you'll have to make a good first impression some other way, like with your personality (yikes).
As always,
Happy Gaming!
Playtesting is the most important step in game design, but its also one of the most intimidating. Putting your creation in front of other people, for the sole purpose of getting critiqued, is absolutely terrifying. Knowing that you're about to show off your work may make you want to perfect it, don't. One of my colleagues, and a fellow game designer, gave some insight: "if you aren't ashamed of the game you're playtesting, you started too late."
I think this concept is really important for a few reasons. If you polish your game before playtesting it, you'll be resistant to any changes. After spending countless hours on something, you're bound to get attached to it, but your game needs to be adaptable at this point. And, if you're resistant to your playtester's input, you're more likely to seem like an ungrateful dick, which is bad. An important side affect of playtesting is building your following, a crucial step to crowdfunding. You can read more about how to build your crowd here.
Playtesting is also incredibly important because it allows the people, who will hopefully buy your game, to influence its design. Having the customer help with creation is a no brainer, it'll turn it into something they actually want to buy!
Here are some helpful tips to playtesting:
1. Do it early and often
2. Be open to suggestions
3. Take pictures (but ask first)
4. Ask if they want to stay up-to-date on your project (get contact info)
5. Build those relationships
6. Bringing food doesn't hurt
I've already harped on the first two, but taking pictures didn't really seem like a big deal to me at first. If you're a first time creator like I am, its hard to start from nothing. When building this website, I had almost nothing to put on it. I had a prototype that I printed through BoardGamesMaker.com, a decent set of rules, and that's about it. I didn't have any pictures of people actually playing my game! This is some advice that I'm going to start taking myself as of right now, because I'm hoping it'll help me build a better brand.
Sure, giving good feedback through a well crafted comment, and sharing other people's content is a great way to build your crowd, but they pale in comparison to a real-life human relationship. Its generally easier to get comments on your game if you're physically there, so use this opportunity to make a good impression, and then maintain those relationships.
A great way to make a first impression is to bring food, everyone loves food. Don't expect people to do things for free, even your friends. They may do what you want, but eventually everyone will start to think you're a freeloader. If you can bring food, I say do it, otherwise you'll have to make a good first impression some other way, like with your personality (yikes).
As always,
Happy Gaming!
