Image Source: David Mullich

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No one wants to build a game that people don't like. Working on a game project is hard work and to find that it missed the mark is deflating and disappointing (remember - the goal is to have fun and enjoy creating an educational game!).

One possible way to deal with this issue is to work through all the tasks, build the game, and share it with your target audience. However, this may lead to frustration and disappointment. Whether you are creating a new video game, a new TV show, movie or a car, it is virtually impossible to have a perfect idea, build it perfectly, and then have everyone love it.

A better approach is to take small steps, make some progress, and then get feedback. Taking an iterative approach is the best approach to creating a game (Kortmann & Harteveld, 2009). It helps you validate that the progress you have made is going in the right direction. For example, when you come up with an idea for the underlying story for your game, talk to your target game players about the story. Do they understand the concept? Do they find it appealing? Let them ask questions and listen carefully to what they say.

When you start to figure out the goals and mechanics of your game, practice playing the game... and keep your play testing as simple as possible. There's no need to program the game at this point. Use your prototype, whether it is made of paper, your imagination, toy soldiers, dice, etc (Fullerton, 2014). The goal is to be as close as possible to the final version of the game without investing a lot of time.

Visit Playtesting: Get that Feedback! and complete its associated activity. Then, come back to this page and complete the activity below to complete the "Playtest" section of this guide.

Improve Your Playtest Sessions!

Write down in your Game Development Journal what you learned from organizing and running a playtesting session. What improvements could you make for the next playtesting session?

Next Steps

You've completed Playtest! Proceed to Evaluate!

References

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

Kortmann, R., & Harteveld, C. (2009, June). Agile game development: lessons learned from software engineering. In Learn to Game, Game to Learn; the 40th Conference ISAGA.

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