Tag Archives: playtesting

Train2Game news: Valve on playtesting

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Train2Game students, especially the QA Testers, will be aware of the importance of testing games in development.

In an interview with the Train2Game blog last month, Valve’s Chet Faliszek revealed that testingto be an important part Counter-Strike: Global Offensive development. Now other leading Valve developers have given further insight into how testing works at the studio.

Gamasutra report that speaking at GDC Online in Texas, Valve writer Erik Wolpaw said they take it very seriously. They start testing internally during game’s early development before bringing in testers from outside the studio.

“We definitely do playtest. We’ll ask people after they play to recount the story to us and gauge their comprehension of their experience…” he said.

Of course, Valve fans among the Train2Game community will know the developer like to put humour in their games. However, Wolpaw added that testing this aspect of game design can be difficult.

“Comedy stuff is tougher [to evaluate] because it’s more subjective and it’s really hard to gauge peoples’ reaction,” he said.

“Pretty much no one that played Portal 2 cracked a smile, but testers still said the game was funny. It’s hard to tell if a joke is failing or not.” Walpaw added.

Nonetheless, the testing process is useful to Valve and they’re happy to make changes if something isn’t working.

“We fail all the time, we just don’t advertise it too much,” said studio writer Marc Laidlaw.

Excerpts of the GDC Online Valve Q&A session can be found on Gamasutra and it should make interesting reading for Train2Game students, especially those on the Game Design course.

Of course, Valve aren’t the only game developers who value playtesting, with the Train2Game blog recently reporting that Bioware see it as a key part of developing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Flower and Journey developers Thatgamecompany have also stated that testing is a crucial part of the game design process.

Find out more about the Train2Game QA Tester course here!

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the testing process at Valve? How important is it to get both an internal and external opinion on games in development?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game news: Playtesting ‘necessary’ part of game design process say Thatgamecompany

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Train2Game blog readers may have read our post earlier this week in which Star Wars: The Old Republic project lead James Ohlen said playtesting is a very important part of game development.

Well it seems that he isn’t the only one. Thatgamecompany, the indie studio behind Flower and the upcoming Journey, recently spoke to Gamasutra, with founder Kellee Santiago revealing playtesting is an integral part of their game development

“We are exploring different emotions in game design. If you were to have this emotion of, “I want it to feel joyous but slightly sad,” and you go to an artist, the artist can probably bang out some art in a couple days, some concept art that has those feelings.”

“You go to a composer and you say that, and they can probably do it in half a day, write out a tune that has joyous but slightly sad.” said Santiago.

And while sound and art & animation style can be tested relatively quickly, the Thatgamecompany founder believes that playtesting is the only way to get a good feel of game design concepts.

“You go to a game designer and say, “I want to feel game mechanics that are joyous and slightly sad,” there’s no real defined process for it, other than making something and having other people play it, and finding out if that’s right or not” she said.

“And it’s just a longer process, and it is because it is still so new, I think. Prototyping and playtesting is just so necessary to the craft right now.” Santiago concluded.

Of course, it isn’t only game developers and QA Testers who playtest games, with open beta becoming increasingly popular. As reported by the Train2Game blog, the Battlefield 3 beta begins today, while Valve’s Chet Faliszek also told us that testing is a hugely important part of game development.

So Train2Game, how important do you believe playtesting is to game design?  Will there every be a defined process of testing game design concepts?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game students read this! Valve on playtesting during game development

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 They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber...

Train2Game students, particularly the QA Testers, will know of the importance of testing during a games development.

Now, in an interview with GameSpot, Valve has revealed that they believe playtesting to be the most important part of game development.

“For us, playtesting is the most important part of the game development process,” experimental psychologist and Valve’s playtesting lead Mike Ambinder told GameSpot.

“It’s not something we save for the end of the development, or use as a quality assessment or balancing tool. It is the dominant factor that shapes our decisions about what to release and when to release it.”

It’s a statement that Train2Game students who haven’t already been testing games throughout their development should really take on board.

Valve uses something called ‘bio-feedback metrics’ as part of the testing process. It features standard observed play sessions and surveys, but also involves tracking eye-movement with monitor-mounted cameras; monitoring heart rates; and even skin conductivity tests.

Valve use all of these to determine the players enjoyment of the game.

“We became interested in the use of biofeedback both as a playtesting methodology and as potential user input to gameplay because the idea of quantifying emotion or player sentiment seems to have utility,” said Ambinder.

“On the playtesting side, recording more objective measurements of player sentiment is always desired. People sometimes have a hard time explaining how they felt about various things, and memories of feelings and events can become conflated.

“Conversely, if you have a more objective measurement of arousal or engagement, you can get a clearer picture for how people are emotionally consuming your game.”

Last week, the Train2Game blog reported that Valve’s Steam service is ‘essential’ for indie developers.

So Train2Game, how important do you believe playtesting is to the game development process? How would you go about it?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: GameSpot]