PreMortem.Games

APRIL 19, 2024

One of my close friends, Ches Denison, joined me working 5-10 hours a week as a playtester, game designer, and just a general jack-of-all-trades-guy. Once playtesting began in early 2023, player feedback further refined my vision. As the game grew, the bigger picture became clearer, making it easier to decide what to include or cut.

Playtesting 129

Playtesting Games Mobile Mobile 129

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

We were so excited to base our content around ancient China. The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. Reinhard Wu explains: “The second test showed many players wanting to experience a city sim with more playable content, something they prioritized over historical accuracy.

Studios 104

Studios Content Balance Mechanics 104

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2024

It’s important to stick to the plan to avoid spending years making prototypes, that you will need to adapt in most cases after the first playtests. If it’s necessary to maintain a high level of quality, offer regular content, and respect the players who are loyal to the game, I would do it.

Dev 239

Dev Games Co-op Game Design 239

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2023

We were so excited to base our content around ancient China. The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. Reinhard Wu explains: “The second test showed many players wanting to experience a city sim with more playable content, something they prioritized over historical accuracy.

Studios 104

Studios Balance Content Playtesting 104

PreMortem.Games

MAY 19, 2023

There would be an almost infinite amount of awesome content. This approach not only offers an almost infinite amount of content but also allows players to climb famous rock faces, buildings, and even landmarks in their own cities. It creates awesome content that is often better than handcrafted.

Indy 104

Indy Dev Studios Playtesting 104

AWS Games

MARCH 27, 2025

AWS presented playable ads for Ludeo and powering Xsollas game streaming service, to game streaming smart TVs for JackBox Games and a time-saving proof of concept playtesting workflow for Epic Games. Image 2: GDC 2025 attendees demo Amazon GameLift Streams. Learn more about the AWS for Games GDC 2025 demos.

AI 52

AI Demo Game Developer Game Development 52

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 24, 2024

We’ll soon be conducting first playtests with the horse-loving target audience to make sure riding controls and animations hold up to scrutiny.” “At the moment, we’re focusing on getting the feeling and controls of the horse riding itself right, which can be quite complex.

Simulation 156

Simulation Open World Games Playtesting 156

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

Every iteration of each game has to be created somehow and there are A LOT of iterations – usually a new one after each playtest, especially in the beginning. Whenever I demo or playtest, I make sure to get the email address of the person, so I can inform them when the Kickstarter starts. Carla: I also do a lot of interviews!

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

Brand Game Development

MAY 18, 2020

Chai was the first game on the workshop to have a custom environment akin to the Tabletop Simulator DLC’s (downloadable content). Tabletop Simulator doesn’t just let people play before pledging, it’s also a great place to design and playtest games. This made the Tabletop Simulator creation stand out and it showed.

Simulation 130

Simulation Games Demo Playtesting 130

PreMortem.Games

JULY 22, 2024

For feedback, opt for playtests or betas instead. ” Oh, and regularly update your tags to ensure they accurately reflect your game’s content and avoid irrelevant or incorrect tags added by fans. ” Focus on content about your game rather than unrelated events. Ensure your Steam page is up well in advance.

Games 104

Games Communications Studios Indy 104

Sirlin

MARCH 16, 2015

All three of us were involved in this development and playtesting. We also cover all the new (optional) content and what it adds to the game. All three of us were involved in this development and playtesting. We also cover all the new (optional) content and what it adds to the game.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Playtesting Editing 40

Ask a Game Dev

MAY 5, 2023

As we introduce new content, it helps if it is a little stronger or does something different than its predecessors to get the players excited about it. This is where playtesting comes in. We typically run playtests as often as possible in order to ferret out these issues so that we can adjust them if they are too egregious.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Dev Content Texture 52

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Try to focus on the five W’s, ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘When’, and ‘Why’ For example: “We [Who] are unconvinced that the recently suggested [When/Where] reduction in content scope [What] would meaningfully reduce the budget, as content is a minor part of our expenses [Why].”

Writing 104

Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Whereas if 90% of the people in a bar were women, the idea is that the environment is more appealing than the actual content. During the playtest, six people played at the same time, and I noticed they laughed at certain texts, which was great. Yes, the quality of the drink matters but the first inviting thing was the environment.”

Game Developer 145

Game Developer Game Development Development Games 145

Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Playtesting is crucial at this point. Not only does it help your team manage the workload, but it means you can roll out more content to keep your players engaged later. When we asked Schell Games what they’re using, they recommended User Testing for their playtesting, and GameAnalytics for collecting quantitative data.

Dev 91

Dev Playtesting Fantasy Render 91

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 22, 2023

In previous years I’ve opened the review with a collage of dev images of varying themes and content, but approaching the end of this year we have one major theme that stands out, and that I’ll be writing more about below, so let’s hear it for the interface mockups! More on that later. Its time has come.

Beta 105

Beta Alpha Mechanics Build 105

Nvidia

MARCH 24, 2022

This extended infrastructure provides a developer platform for studios and publishers to perform their game development virtually, starting with playtesting. With GeForce NOW Cloud Playtest, players and observers can be anywhere in the world. All this is possible with Cloud Playtest on the GeForce NOW Developer Platform.

Ray Tracing 52

Ray Tracing AI Game Developer Game Development 52

Ask a Game Dev

JANUARY 23, 2024

Small-team dev also tends to build more system-driven games because it's more dev-time-efficient than creating single-use narrative-driven content. The tradeoff is that system-driven content also requires significantly more UI to convey all of that information to the player.

Dev 52

Dev Build Content Feature 52

Sirlin

APRIL 12, 2020

They’re having a great time playtesting that (both print-and-play and online virtual tabletop versions) and you can too if you join. I’ve just started rolling out content for the Yomi-inspired game to my patrons as well. As I said, I will continue to roll out the tabletop content to my patrons no matter what.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Editing Playtesting Games 52

Ask a Game Dev

JUNE 4, 2024

One good strategy in puzzle design, in my experience, is to provide a secondary optional bonus puzzle that uses the same rules as the puzzle on the critical path, but provides some additional content or reward to the player for completing it. Remember the fundamentals of puzzle design when constructing them.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Playtesting Advertising Dev 52

iXie gaming

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

It is an easy-to-use game-testing tool that supports graphics-based content, including video games. PlaytestCloud PlaytestCloud enables you to playtest any video game on any platform, including iOS and Android. This tool focuses on gathering user feedback and playtesting. This ensures faster and more efficient game testing.

Quality Assurance 52

Quality Assurance Bug Cross platform Games 52

AWS Games

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Firstly, you need a minimum internet bandwidth to stream animation content effectively. Secondly, you need an encrypted and performing streaming protocol to protect your content from piracy. To build your animation production pipeline on the cloud, there are several frictions you need to overcome. Why is it cool?

Animation 59

Animation Animation Render Studios 59

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 20, 2022

One good strategy in puzzle design, in my experience, is to provide a secondary optional bonus puzzle that uses the same rules as the puzzle on the critical path, but provides some additional content or reward to the player for completing it. Remember the fundamentals of puzzle design when constructing them.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Playtesting Advertising Dev 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 17, 2022

The first question around non-PVP content (single player campaign, Zombies) was resourcing: non-PVP content required the most development heads and was the least retentive in the long term, since players tended to not return after completing it.

Content 52

Content FPS Mobile Mobile 52

Mnenad

JULY 8, 2018

Procedural generation of game content by computer software is therefore becoming more and more important as a design technique. The Shape Based TFFT-Method built basically a ruleset for designing 90% of the visual content in GenoTerra.   What was the Thesis about? This means that aesthetics can never be fully checked.

Prototyping 52

Prototyping Terrain Open World Rigging 52

Game Dev Unchained

JULY 5, 2023

It forced them to reassess their development approach and switch to a steam playtesting model, allowing more players to access the game. One pivotal player in this growth was the content creator, ‘ Blue Drake ‘, whose enthusiastic promotion of the game helped kickstart its rise in popularity.

Indy 105

Indy Game Developer Game Development Development 105

PreMortem.Games

JULY 29, 2024

Feedback from playtest sessions with friends or players is really important. Another really important one for me is avoiding clickbait game dev content and news. Once I feel that a solution is clear enough, I tend to get a sudden impulse to start making it, so I just follow that urge.” Especially early-on.

Dev 138

Dev Development Sandbox Indy 138

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

The amount of content variety offered by the original Garrison design was more suited to a lower visitation rate, not the “I’m going to play almost my entire run inside these things” which it had become for some people. Sample Garrison content list from Beta 11. It’d sure be nice to resolve that!

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

iXie gaming

MAY 3, 2024

User Feedback Collect and analyze feedback from real users through playtesting and beta testing sessions. Testers should adhere to non-disclosure agreements, respect intellectual property rights, and maintain confidentiality regarding game content and development processes.

Communications 52

Communications Games Bug Localization 52

iXie gaming

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Instead, it’s about adapting graphics, content, and cultural references that resonate with various regions. So, playtesting sessions with actual can help gather insights and make improvements based on player feedback. Remember, it’s not just about translating the game. This improves player immersion and engagement with the game.

Console 52

Console Localization Games Mechanics 52

iXie gaming

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Gameplay testing , also called playtesting, is the process of having testers play a game to identify issues, collect feedback, and enhance its quality before official release. This ongoing process involves the release of post-launch updates, downloadable content, and patches. But what is gameplay testing? And how does it work?

Bug 52

Bug Mechanics Beta Playtesting 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Well, after Beta 11 that’s where we find ourselves now, switching focus more and more to brand new elements that don’t need to adhere to any sort of core content accessibility requirements. There’s already a ton of core content--many hundreds of hours worth. It’s about 800 lines long :P Here “post-1.0”

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Alpha 52

Big Games

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Regular software updates, including game-balancing patches and new downloadable content (DLC), keep the game fresh and engaging. Playtesters are vital in finding bugs, glitches, and potential issues. However, there’s still work to be done. Post-launch involves identifying and fixing minor bugs reported by players.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Bug 52

Grid Sage Games

JUNE 30, 2023

Content Now that we have the ability for the game to post messages, what do we post? And where does this content go? As is it really was a nice little side project that didn’t suck up a ton of time and could comparatively provide the community with a cool new feature. What’s relevant for a roguelike?

Feature 52

Feature Content Build Dev 52

iXie gaming

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Game test automation allows for scalable testing by quickly modifying existing and adding new test scripts to address changes in the game’s content or functionality. Different game types benefit from varying levels of automated playtesting. This ensures the game is stable across different devices and platforms.

Simulation 52

Simulation Games Scripting Development 52

Game Global

JULY 12, 2021

How should I space out my content to create the pacing I want? Playtesting, bug fixing, incorporating or giving feedback, and keeping an ever-watchful eye out for ludo-narrative dissonance. How can I get this NPC to convey a specific emotion if I don’t have that specific animation in my toolbox? Creative writing.

Cutscenes 52

Cutscenes Writing Scripting Localization 52

Grid Sage Games

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

The content was, after all, mostly designed to fit within the map area, which had presumed minimum dimensions of 50×50. Game Menu A good half of the work involved in creating a 45-row version of the interface involved adjustments to the game menu and its various subwindows. It was a lot.

Demo 52

Demo Feature Code Beta 52