Play testing
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This week I am going to talk about play testing. What it is, why we need play testing and how our team managed to do it. To start, play testing is to test a game during middle of the project. For us the school has given us specific days for play testing. On that day every group would bring their games (which could be said as demo version or vertical slice of total game) and let other people play. Until now we had two play testings and the second one was held on February 27th. Before play testing day our group gathered up as usual. Since our meeting is normally group work, there was nothing more specific to do on the game for preparation of the test rather than polishing it. We checked if there were any bugs on the game and kept on updating small aspects of those we thought it needed to be changed. While my team was doing it, I as a project manager made survey for the play test. It is very important to get the feedbacks from testers because they let you know what your game is missing or lacking. Moreover, by seeing how they play the game you can predict how players would play your game when you launch it. For instance, we located help button in the main menu expecting that players would read the instructions before playing the game. However, what actually happened is that 7 out of 10 testers ignored it and just went straight into the game. Later they had no idea what they have to do. With all those reactions and feedbacks our team could learn what was wrong or that need some change. Also, we could have mind refreshing ideas of the game which would eventually make it better if implemented in the right way. After the play test, the agenda of the meeting becomes discussing about the feedback. I gather all the comments on our game and the team go through it one by one. During the meeting I mark the comments into 3 different colors. If the members all agree on the comment, I mark it in red. If members add more on to the comment, blue. If there is an idea that we could not agree upon than it is marked yellow. Then I upgrade our product backlog according to the decision and my team starts working on the new assets. I wonder who would read this but I wonder how you are managing the feedbacks from the play test? I would like to know some tips that I had never thought of. Cheers and have a good day
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