Evaluate - leemet16/game-design-toolkit GitHub Wiki

Playcentric Design Process Image Source: David Mullich

An important phase in the game design process is evaluating and prioritizing the feedback and actions from the playtest phase (remember to continue working in an iterative manner).

All of the steps in the Play-Centric approach connect as follows:

  1. Playtest and Evaluate (including revisions) work together. Your success in the Evaluate phase is going to depend on how well you set up your Playtest. You need to ensure that you not only get feedback but also satisfy your Playtest goals.
  2. Your Game Design Canvas can help you Evaluate as it can help you identify the area (or areas) to target or improve. In addition, making a change in one area of the game may require you to make changes elsewhere; and the Game Design Canvas can help you identify the implications of such changes.

Delve into the feedback and results of the playtesting phase to verify if the criteria for your game have been met:

  • Are the results and feedback quite negative? Are there major flaws with the game? If so, return to the initial considerations in your game design. Try not to take any negative feedback personally. This is valuable input and will help you to create a better game. Embrace all feedback - good and negative!
  • Do the results and feedback show that only slight tweaks and improvements are required? If so, perform the modifications and then retest.
  • If all the results and feedback are positive and the game appears to be successful on all fronts, then congratulations - you have completed the iterative process of evaluating your game!

ActivityEvaluate and Iterate!

Describe your evaluation efforts in your Game Development Journal. Summarize the 2 or 3 results that provided the most compelling feedback that will be used to drive updates and revisions to your game.

Revisit and update (or create a new, clean version) of your Game Design Canvas. You'll go through many iterations of your design for your game and will likely end up with many copies. The last copy that you create should be an accurate reflection of the game that is built.

References

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games. CRC press.

Mullich, D. (2014, June 18). LAFS Game Design 6 - Conceptualization. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.slideshare.net/dmullich/lafs-game-design-6-conceptualization