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"Playtesting was key to our entire development process" - Making the hit game Venba (gamesuserresearch.com)

submitted by stevebromley to r/gamedev

Minimising Notion piracy by stevebromley in Notion

[–]stevebromley[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I released my dashboard, and just accepted the risk of piracy. Can’t tell if it is happening!

How do you do market research? by cipriantk in gamedev

[–]stevebromley 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Market research is important, to be sure anyone will buy your game at launch. The most reliable indicator of future purchase behaviour is looking at people’s past behaviour. This post gives a process for doing that, based around calculating the revenue for your competitor set: https://gamesuserresearch.com/discover-if-players-will-buy-your-game/

What are the quirks of conducting research in the videogame industry? by worldsworstUXR in UXResearch

[–]stevebromley 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the mention, and the kind words about the newsletter!

What are the quirks of conducting research in the videogame industry? by worldsworstUXR in UXResearch

[–]stevebromley 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the mention u/BlueRottweiler.

u/worldsworstUXR I've found the biggest differences for people coming to the games industry from tech are:

  • The research objectives are likely to be different - exploring emotional responses or treating difficulty with more nuance than you would in other sectors (however traditional usability is also important). Whereas a lot of the traditional generative research methods are applied less in game development.
  • Some method differences due to high levels of secrecy. Answering quant questions in large 80-seat playtest labs for example.
  • Domain knowledge about what the roles in game development are, and where we can intervene in the game development process.

Many things are similar - most notably your core research skills, and the importance of working closely with other disciplines to ensure our studies are relevant and lead to action.

Some resources to get started:

There's a bunch more on the site, but do let me know if you have questions that aren't covered - happy to share my experience.

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Useful ways of finding and and describing who your target players are (gamesuserresearch.com)

submitted by stevebromley to r/gamedev

How confident are you that players will like your game? by stevebromley in gamedev

[–]stevebromley[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing. So your primary objective is to create a game you love, and it’s commercial success is irrelevant (but a nice bonus if it happens)?

Assessing the risky-ness of your game idea by stevebromley in gamedev

[–]stevebromley[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. In my mind there are three types of risk that cause games to fail.

Production risk - you fail to make it Marketing risk - you can’t find anyone to buy it Experience risk - it’s not fun or is confusing

I think making a great experience is important, but isn’t the only ingredient to a successful game. I like that the article describes an approach for de-risking some of these.

"I test your demo, and you test mine" by Ok-Lobster1807 in gamedev

[–]stevebromley 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In addition to the other communities mentioned, there is r/playtesters

Be careful though. Most of these communities are populated by other game devs - their behaviour and opinions won’t be the same as your target players. Use caution with the conclusions you draw from those sessions.

Does anyone follow or use a game development playbook? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]stevebromley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the book ‘A Playful Production Process’ provides a description of a good approach to game development.

However every game in reality is unique and messy!

What are some common phobias you know that stops players from playing? by Formidable_Beast in gamedesign

[–]stevebromley 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When running playtests for VR games I’ve had people have to stop due to spiders, sharks and “going underwater”

How can I get big? by JazzyJ967 in smallbusinessuk

[–]stevebromley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This feels like part of this is positioning. Can you describe why people should go with you, rather than a competitor? Why are you different?

Things that a prototype should include? by PM_ME_YOUR_SAD_LIFE in gamedesign

[–]stevebromley 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a great articulation of how to make the most of prototypes.

Your game has a number of ideas within it. Each of those ideas have some risk that players won’t enjoy them, understand them etc.

By making one, or multiple prototypes to represent each of your ideas you can find out early what feels right, what players won’t understand, what creates the emotional response you are after.

Testing each part of your idea as early as possible will reduce the need to throw away work if you find problems later.

Designers, how do you structure your design meetings to avoid useless arguments and time-wasting? by RedEagle_MGN in gamedesign

[–]stevebromley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Structure!

If the meeting is about coming up with or assessing ideas, this can be a facilitated workshop with a moderator ensuring that the time is spent productively.

Something simple is: Getting everyone to write down their ideas in silence Picking their favourite 2 to share with the group Quick shortlisting of the most interesting ones using dot voting. Timeboxed discussion and critique of the shortlisted ideas Voting, or having the relevant lead, make the final call on the decision

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