Playtesting is an essential part of game development process.
However many teams get stuck at the first hurdle - you don't have anyone to playtest your game.
This leads you to get stuck using poor quality playtesters, such as friends, family or other game developers. The feedback you get is unrepresentative of what your real players think.
You are also locked out of better quality playtest methods, because your playtesters are not engaged enough to give up much time.
Good playtesting requires real players
It doesn't have to be this way.
Imagine a panel of willing playtesters, ready to take part in your studies whenever required.
Knowing exactly who your game is targetting, and being confident that your playtests are gathering real representative data.
Having engaged players who will fill out surveys, record gameplay footage or join you in your studio for a live playtest.
Get my new course for free
My new course will help you find the right playtesters.
We go through a structured process to:
Define your players - work out exactly who your players are, and how to recognise them
Find where your players live - Work out where to find your playtesters, and an easy repeatable method for discovering them.
Create your panel - Create a method of calling on your playtesters whenever required
Convince people to take part - Create a compelling offer that will draw people to take part in your playtests.
At the end of this course you will have a group of playtesters ready to play your game, and a confirmed approach for attracting new players to take part in your playtests whenever needed.
From Games User Research expert - Steve Bromley
I work with studios of all sizes to run playtests, and integrate user research into the game development process. I have tens of thousands of hours of playtest experience.
Prior to this I was a senior user researcher for PlayStation and worked on many of their top European titles, including Horizon Zero Dawn, SingStar, the LittleBigPlanet series and the PlayStation VR lineup.
I started the IGDA's Games User Research mentoring scheme, which has linked hundreds of students with industry professionals from top games companies such as Sony, EA, Valve, Ubisoft and Microsoft. I wrote the bestselling book How To Be A Games User Researcher to share the expertise needed to work in the games industry.
I want to help the industry run better playtests!