“Your game is #$^%. Not for me, not for me. Your game is #$^%, but this part. This tiny part. This is good. First real game I see here tonight”
Above is our favorite piece of feedback we ever received (summarized from memory). It was for Aimbots and came from a game developer who spoke English as a second language. We hope to meet this man again some day so he can eviscerate more of our games.
This may come as a shock to our regular readers (I know you are out there) but we aren’t gaming savants. Ideas don’t materialize in our heads full formed and ready to go to market. If they did, I would be rolling in the Washingtons and going to the Olive Garden every night of the week. So, how do we work though all our ideas so quickly? The short answer is we get other people to point out our failures. But there is more than one way to get someone to tell you your game is busted.
In this post we’ll review different types of prototype feedback. This list a little tounge-in-check as each level can be extremely valuable in it’s own way. Bonus, we’re going to rate each one!
Family– They have to keep loving you.
This type of feedback is often the easiest to secure, mostly by virtue of proximity. If you are a sharing a home with a partner and children they are a captive audience to your pursuits. (Durdle Games does not endorse holding anyone captive in your home, even family) In some cases they will actively want to try your new games, mostly the children. In the more adult cases they are probably tolerating your new games. And while it’s great to give a new design a work out, your family probably loves you. They aren’t going to be too biting in their responses. And if they aren’t actually a fan of games you might get nothing more than “It’s fun” or “It was OK”. There’s a not a lot you can do with that.
Family Score: 2/5 – Great for warm bodies to work through stuff quickly. Can help you evaluate and idea and it it’s worth pursuing.
Friends– They might roll their eyeballs.
Everyone needs some good friends in their life. However, if you keep pushing your latest design on most of your friends, they may start reevaluating the relationship. Like with the previous category, friends testing your game can be a very mixed bag. If your friends are gamers they might be interested in helping you out. If they aren’t gamers you’ll run the very real risk of abusing their good will. In general, try to keep friends testing to more developed ideas. Try to match the game to the friends preferences too. If their favorite game is “Codenames” it’s not the best idea to test your spiritual successor to Twillight Impreium with them. If you have a single friend that loves to playtest though, you’re in luck! Buy them dinner and spend an evening testing your garbage.
Friends Score: 2.5/5 – Know your audience and be respectful of their time. Good for testing ideas that have already survived first contact with family.
Gaming Group– Pretty good, but not perfect.
This has to be the ultimate answer right? Wouldn’t a bunch of people in a board game group want nothing more than to try a new game? The answer is “ehhhhhh….maybe?” Here’s the thing. Time is a precious commodity and for some people the 3 hours a month they get to attend a gaming group is an extremely precious block of time. It’s possible they want to play the “new hotness” or to get their favorite game to the table. It is a really big ask to take an hour from that special time. That said if you have a group that meets up on a weekly or bi-monthly basis, they might be more willing to get your game on the table. If you can get your game to the table, the group could provide some very valuable feedback. The collective group will have a deep well of experience to pull from. They’re a great group to ask “Does this remind you of any other game” or “You like X, this is similar, do you like this change”. They’ll also be better suited to put into words their likes/dislikes of your latest build.
Gaming Group Score: 3/5 – Don’t wreck a fun game night, but a gaming group can offer some real and actionable feedback.
Core Testers– Now you’re making hay.
Core testers come in a few varieties. They could be a local game design group, a dedicated online community, or a group of designers that commit to testing and working through each others games. However the group is formed, this group is the most valuable asset you have as a game designer. These people have an interest in what you are making and they are willing to try iteration after iteration of the product. They are your sounding board. They are invested in making a better game. They shoot you ideas at 1 am because they just thought of a solution to a design problem that had you stumped. They are your biggest fans and your best support. Cherish them. Durdle Games has multiple groups of core testers. Three groups that meet physically and one that meets online. We could not do any of this without their support, and any amount of compensation is not enough.
Core Testers Score: 4/5 – Core testers are the best. We love you.
The Industry Pro– They’ll crush your dreams and you’ll like it.
Gaming is a big industry but a small town. It is possible to get face time with a publisher/developer. If you do though, buckle up. That flavorful quote at the start of this post was from an industry professional. And while it was very blunt, it was also very true and teaches a very valuable lesson. Your game may be good, very good even but being good isn’t necessarily enough for a publisher to offer you a contract. They will be evaluating your game as a marketable product. And we’ll let you in on a secret…the open market can be brutal. Pro’s be able to identify the flaws not just in your design but also production issues that your design creates. Since they are reviewing in a professional capacity, they won’t necessarily feel the need to soft pedal the feedback either. Get ready for a lot of “this is bad, cut it” or “no way this is fun” or “this won’t sell”. These aren’t harmful comments, they’re the truths that are hard to hear. If you’re feeling brave though you can make more progress after a single conversation with a pro, than from months of testing with your friends and family.
Core Testers Score: 5/5 – Hurts so good.
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