How to start play testing?
David Berg:
Quote from: SadSatyr on November 10, 2011, 02:50:36 PM
I'm really just trying to make a game that makes my group happy they will be my play testers. They are willing to do whatever I ask them too, and my wife is very excited about the project so it is easy to do some one-on-one testing with her.
That is awesome. Not only have you identified a target audience, you already know them well! Plus, when you're ready, you'll be able to test your game in exactly the context it's intended for! I am jealous.
Some thoughts in light of this info:
I find it much easier to measure my efforts and progress against a well-articulated goal. "What is my game trying to do? What exactly do I aim to deliver to my audience?"
I didn't really get a sense of an overriding intent in your doc. If you try to write one out, it might be helpful! Short and simple is generally good, but if your concept is complicated, there's no shame in spending a few sentences on it.
Example: I want my game to deliver intense action of the variety found in tough-guy action movies, while driving home the paranoia and gadget fetishization that are the hallmarks of cyberpunk. I want the players to mostly experience this in-character, but also to have the ability to author certain character-relevant details and situations into the setting. The players' primary job is to make the group's vision of cyberpunk come to life.
The key here is that this applies to all the players, and to what unifies them.
In contrast, what I'd try to avoid is a disunified pastiche of various player tastes and highlights of previous games. "Rob likes action, James likes acting, Beth likes espionage, so my game will do all three" doesn't give you a useful orientation to check your design's overall progress against. The risk is that you make awesome combat and spying systems without knowing how they fit into the whole, and then maybe they don't, or the whole gets short-changed.
Not that there's anything wrong with simply designing some subsystems to plop into an extant game! But I get the impression that that isn't your goal here.
A final note: I think there's a lot of excellent resentment material in your doc, mainly class inequalities and unscrupulous corporations wielding immense power. I'm already imagining the PCs as pissed off at an unjust world, whether they express it through punk-rock rage or world-weary cynicism. The first thing I'd want to know is, is this the kind of game where I will: (a) have a real shot to take down the Man, (b) explore what it's like to get stomped on by the Man, or (c) something in between, where I can, like, make a dent in the inequalities of my neighborhood, all while the greater machine keeps grinding dreams to dust a few blocks over. Or, if that's a stupid question, and I'm looking at it all wrong, and none of that's really as important as having a good combat, then that'd be good to know too!
Hope some of this was helpful,
-David
Eric Pruitt:
Haha, you guys are so awesome! Honestly, I don't think I'm nearly as far along in my progress as I originally thought when I made my first post. The information provided by everyone has given me a lot to chew on.
Dave, I think the podcast was great, and it was very interesting listening to that while reading the article by Ben Lehman that Christoph posted. To try to answer some of the questions from your most recent post I think the idea for creating this game came from a frustration in our group with the futuristic systems we had been playing (Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Cthulu Tech, Eclipse Phase...) There was always something about each game that turned someone in the group off.
I decided to create a game basically by doing exactly what you said not to do. I like overwhelming odds, dark horror, that sort of stuff. One player is all about realism (and sci fi is ok if he can understand how it "might" be possible) My wife just likes constant action, any downtime and she falls asleep or gets annoyed. Another player just wants to make a super hero/jedi in every system (lol) and the last player wants to RP his char out of every situation. I wanted to make a game that would make everyone happy.
I think I need to try to write a few sentences like your example (although that is really close to what I'm going for, lol)
To answer your question about what the players get to do...
You are right, there is a lot of resentment. If you aren't among the elite of society then life kinda sucks. I'm designing it around the idea that the characters will be able to make small dents, but bringing about any real change will be really hard. My game is actually called "The Game" and it stems from the idea that the corps understand that people will oppose them, and that they might fight little shadow wars, but at the end of the day it is all about the bottom line and no one is willing to make any moves big enough to really shake things up. As a result they refer to the people like PCs as just pawns in a game being played across the globe.
This weekend I will be meeting with the group to go over the rules I have written so far. After getting some feedback from them I'll probably post the rules that I have and a character sheet or whatever so everyone can get a better feel for what I'm doing. It is getting close to the end of the semester though so school might get in the way.
Anyway, thanks for all the great advice!
-Eric
David Berg:
Whoa. That is quite the batch of player attributes there.
If I were designing for this group, I'd try to look for common ground. What do they all like? Are there any particular sorts of moments that pop up in play where everyone is keenly tuned in?
Also, if I were GMing, I'd want to make sure to get on the same page with the jedi player about what sorts of small dents are superheroic enough. Carving out a tiny niche from corporate oppression against long odds can feel badass, but only if you knew from the outset that grander things (e.g. taking out the corporation) weren't options. I find it also helps if the small dent accomplishes something of great personal significance -- saving the character's church or lover or pet from certain death or corruption or whatever.
Looking forward to seeing where you go with this!
-David
dindenver:
Eric,
When it comes to game design, j like to focus on procedure. So, I'll walk you through my process and you can ask questions about anything you like, ok?
1) First, I like to come up with a setting idea. For instance the game I am working on now is Harry Potter-verse as seen through the eyes of adults.
2) I try and figure out what the LCs will be doing in this universe, in this case solving mysteries and facing dark wizards
3) Then I try and figure out what mechanics from games I have played accomplish this. For instance, I like the token system used by InSpectres for their mysteries.
4) Then I do a detailed goal.setting. At this point, my game is just a bunch of ideas. So this is where is stop.deskgning and figure out how I will know if my game is headed kn the right direction and if it ks done.
5) Then, I pick the most important mechanic and flesh it out. I figure out all the factors that feed into it. For my hp-esque game, it was thdfinal battle with the dark wizard.
6) Once that J's done, then I do some math. For me breaking down the stats and figuring out if any of them dominate play is a form of playtesting. During this phase things change quickly as I rweak numbers and rule and ranges of values. I wouldn't want to subject another person to this unless they loved discusssing stats, etc.
7) Play this mechanic in my head or with dice with me playing both sides. Again, tweaking the rules as I go.
8) Re-evaluate everything against my goals, then write it out in such a way that it can be consumed by other people.
9) Playtest one on one. This part is hard, because anyone who is willing to play part of the rules in a one on one mini-scenario with you is going to be someone who will tend to be nice to you. Fortunately, you should know them pretty well, so watch for social queues and evaluate their experience against your goals.
10) Make careful notes of what you have to explain and how you explain it. Much of the rules will need to be explained in order to be tested. The prrskn you are testing with may share some ashmptoons that you do as well. But, many things will have to be explained or clarified. This is gold, what you say to reach a mutual understanding should be in the final version of the rules (after it is edited, of course).
11) Flesh out the rest of the rules in a similar manor.
12) Finish character creation. At this point you should know what attributes you need for yiur rules and what ranges they can support. So chargen rules are a slam dunk.
13) Check everything against your goals and make.sure that everything you need to play is written down and start llaytesting.
14) Similarly, playtesters are typically enthusiastic about the project, so pay attention to when their are lulls in the game, when people get distracted and when people are doing that thing to hide their boredom/confusion/annoyance.
15) Also, anything you have to explain/clarify, make a note of what you said to scheive understanding and get that into the rules as well.
16) Repeat until you are finished. Remember, we set a goal, so we know.when we are done.
Good luck mam!
Aisha Bennett:
Hey Dave
Thanks for such good information. It is really crisp and clear picture of game designing. I'm going through an associate of Arts (Game Designing) course. At first I chose this career because of my craze for video games. But then the most important thing was which course I should opt, that can provide me an easy and quick entry in this field. Then after a thorough search on web and discussions on forums, a site http://www.computergamedesign.org/ gave me the idea to opt for an associate degree. It's a 2-year program, and I'm actually enjoying it. But because I'm new here, finding it a bit confusing. Which thing to do first, how can it be better and how to work in a group? And really your post helped me to brief out everything. Hoping to get more information like this.
Thanks
Aisha
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