We made the mistake of not having playtesters for years, and now we run a playtester wave every 1~2 months. There is a massive amount of assumptions we make as devs, about how players interpret things, the UX that's missing, that is absolutely vital for the players first 5 minutes in the game. One very important thing I would add to this is "Get the correct playtesters". The playtesters would shape your game, having playtesters who are not your target audience are worse than useless, they are going to change your games direction. It is okay that not everyone likes your game, it's only important that your target audience likes your game.
I'm a level design hobbyist and every phase is painstakingly play tested by myself, trusted peers who have similar and differing expertise and by a range of player skills. It does take time, but it's just so valuable. Wouldn't be surprised if this is why so many big companies do "open betas" as it's just huge swarths of free playtesters.
Also, when you're in the early stages, pick one or maybe two playtesters. Pick a person who knows you, who likes your work, and can see the potential even in failed prototypes. I actually got this from a Hanya Yanagihara interview. She's a novelist, but she writes each novel with A Reader, one specific reader. I've been doing this for just a few months, but it is a HUGE game changer!
Great video! I'm currently in university for game development and at the end of every semester we have 7 weeks to create a game in a group of around 5 people. Everything you say here is 100% true. Playtesting is the most helpful tool we have for making sure our game is interesting and fun. And not only that, it is a fantastic source of ideas. We playtested our prototype after a week and the feedback we got brought us so many new ideas and basically changed the whole direction of the game since we were able to see which parts playtesters liked and then focus on those things specifically. And to leave you with some "watchtesting" feedback for the video: Great job! The pacing is maybe a little bit slow, if you haven't then try reading your script 2-3 times back-to-back. You will then quickly notice parts that feel slow or even redundant. Also maybe look into audio quality, you don't need an expensive mic, a $50 mic and some knowledge of how to record clean audio and then edit it can take you very far! But like i said, the video is already really good! So keep up the great work!
I'd wager that a lot of indie people are somewhere on the autism spectrum (just a wild guess) and keeping friends is hard for us. It took me a long time to get a group of friends that also game (via a coworker, now friend) - who are willing to help me test and even motivate me by asking about the game. Realize that the same character traits that make you climb Mount Everest (aka build a game on your own) might stand in your way in other ways - and that you have to learn and will learn over time how to work around them and improve your weaknesses. Good luck!
I liked this video. It was a little long though. There was a little too much emotional cheerleading / persuasion peppered throughout. I'd have preferred you keep most of the why to the start of the video and focus on the methods second, but that's just me. I think the crux is you've created a feature length dramatic documentary for a topic that would be better suited for a shorter and more dot-point based video. I would potentially be interested in more topics. One video yours reminded me of, which i thoroughly enjoyed was "Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail" by Eastshade studios. I justed noted it was about 10 minutes.
I watched the full video at 2x speed except when there was the commentary from the other designers where I had to slow down. I also 5s skipped some parts. I agree that it was a bit long.
Hey Boz, thank you for your video, it's great! I can see and hear so much of your effort was put into it. I do treasure this one, and I found it thanks to your article on Gamespot. However, there are some pain points: 1. Your attempts at self-deprecating humor undermine both tone and authority, I expect from you to take your message seriously and implement it in practice. I want you to see as my equal, not a clown with a computer science degree, and I know you are not one. 2. Pronunciation of foreign names is easily searchable and practicable nowadays. Please be less American about this and learn, it's very easy if you let go of point 1. Just like in your message here, fear of messing up a word keeps you from integrating new cool words into your life, and names are amazing words! Just don't stress only the first vowel, we already have enough bO-rises and Oh-drees. And yeah, the solution you used was painful to listen too, I'm afraid. Other than that, I hope every documentary YTer will do their work as you do. Nice to meet you!
I remember when I was 14 I programmed a Game in QuickBasic. Some sort of Pokemon Tamagotchi thing... I went off off the ideas in my head of what I wanted to have in a game. Raise a Pet and let it fight. It was immensily challenging, took me 2 years to complete and then, when I was finally done I played the game, showed it a friend and we realized "the game is sh*t, it's boring and lacks motivation for the things you have to maintain". I remember the moment clearly. I felt this weird mix of loneliness of two years crashing down on me and a kind of helplessness on how to actually change it. It would take another two years since what I have coded was just too much to change from ground up. And I also realized the importance of clean code. Because the biggest reason why it took so long was finding bugs that come with bad variable scoping from the Basic "scripting language style" syntax.
Why did you expect your first game at 14 to be good? Look back at any writing or drawing you did at 14 and I bet it's dreadful too. What is with game development that makes people think you don't need to practise it like everything else? The fact you even made something at that age is super cool, be proud of it.
@@lordofthe6string "Why did you expect your first game at 14 to be good?" well it is the human tendency to think if you bang you head against the wall long enough that things MUST become good. That is not the case, researching, exchanging ideas, experience and proper process is often what enables you to do "good" things. "Look back at any writing or drawing you did at 14 and I bet it's dreadful too" haha, I'd rather not, it probably was horrific. But gives perspective... "makes people think you don't need to practise it like everything else?" well I was 14 and the only person I knew to do this stuff :D So I didn't know what to expect. "The fact you even made something at that age is super cool" Thank you. Yeah your comment made me reflect.
@@Bohnensuppe yeahhhhh, not my strongest ability - I resolved not to buy any new equipment for the video and learned a lot about audio process along the way. Next one I'll do a whole new setup for audio first. Thanks for the feedback!
I feel that this advice actually goes for all products in all industries. Product market fit is always step ONE. If you're creating products for people, people's feedback is the most valuable thing that you can get.
"Well done. Here are the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that."
Are you the one making the art for your recent games? It looks pretty good. I've been cooking a game for the last 4 months, I have to beg my brother to test it. I don't really know how to get some one to play test. I think I'll take you on your offer to test it.
Im making a game in RPG Maker Fes on the 3DS and it had took 4 years to make my game. I played tested it so many times and once I'm almost done I'll have people test it for me and play it. Its just a prototype. Im not done yet but it should be done before the end of the year. Thats the goal but we will see lol. To me even if I dont remake this game so people can play it I'll be fine. Im following my dream just making my game.
Yeah, that opening statement did make me cringe a bit. A well made video, and extremely well made for your channel size. I do have a question/feedback but first a warning, I am not a game designer(yet). I wondered for a moment why didn't you go into more detail about when to playtest.(you mentioned it in part 3) for instance, wouldn't a more narrative focused game that uses already successful game design(pick a relevant genre) be much further into the project when they playtest than say, a movement focused platformer where a few blobs moving on the screen after a week of work is enough to understand if you are headed in the right direction? Also things like vertical game slices etc.? Perhaps they are too late too late in dev. or outside of the video scope though. Not a bad idea to avoid getting caught in the details.
@@Lyoishi Yeah! So generally speaking, you're always going to be applying your unique take on a game, so there's something special that no one has done exactly before, so you need to be sure that what you expect in your head matches reality. Additionally, even if you were remaking Zelda, you'd want to get an outside tester to come see if it feels like Zelda. The main point is that the moment you create something, you are now an expert on what you're creating, and it is absolutely impossible to imagine what it's like not to know what you know. Everyone else will seem like ants compared to your mastery. It's extremely frustrating to see someone struggle with something you thought was too easy, for example. So whether it's basic mechanics, or level design, or fine details, you need feedback as soon as possible to prevent going too far in the wrong direction. Have you ever been lost in a city and just kept walking thinking you should've stopped a long time ago to ask directions?
I really I am enjoying the video. I hope to see more. Thanks be to God for this video, who He is and all His goodness. God bless you, and may His will be done. In Jesus' precious name, I pray amen.❤❤❤
@@Uhfgood if you're concerned with how players will interact with it! Any doubt, collect information. It may be the pacing, the flow of narrative, or the story in general, for example
As always, it's more nuanced than the video suggests. You can easily fall into the trap of sanding off all the interesting parts of your design. The advice only holds true if the purpose of you making a game is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, i.e. you're AAA, or you're chasing a trend.
Yeah I'm still conflicted on the video's message. I think a lot of players can easily tell when the game they're playing doesn't have a design that feels personal. I feel like only testing game mechanics might be the best idea, especially if you can strip away the art.
First 2 sentence, I agree. The last one? Not so much. Plus, you said it in a way as if it's a sin to appeal to the masses. Not everything has to be a niche.
No, not a better game, but a more appealing game. If your goal is to hustle people then yes, you should try every possible way there is to make your product appealing. For something to be art it must present either a psychological, physical, intellectual or emotional challenge; a masterpiece must present all of them at a high level of difficulty. Entertainment presents none, and that's ok. Thought this video was about a different topic because of the thumbnail.
We made the mistake of not having playtesters for years, and now we run a playtester wave every 1~2 months. There is a massive amount of assumptions we make as devs, about how players interpret things, the UX that's missing, that is absolutely vital for the players first 5 minutes in the game. One very important thing I would add to this is "Get the correct playtesters". The playtesters would shape your game, having playtesters who are not your target audience are worse than useless, they are going to change your games direction. It is okay that not everyone likes your game, it's only important that your target audience likes your game.
I'm a level design hobbyist and every phase is painstakingly play tested by myself, trusted peers who have similar and differing expertise and by a range of player skills.
It does take time, but it's just so valuable.
Wouldn't be surprised if this is why so many big companies do "open betas" as it's just huge swarths of free playtesters.
Also, when you're in the early stages, pick one or maybe two playtesters. Pick a person who knows you, who likes your work, and can see the potential even in failed prototypes. I actually got this from a Hanya Yanagihara interview. She's a novelist, but she writes each novel with A Reader, one specific reader. I've been doing this for just a few months, but it is a HUGE game changer!
Great video! I'm currently in university for game development and at the end of every semester we have 7 weeks to create a game in a group of around 5 people.
Everything you say here is 100% true. Playtesting is the most helpful tool we have for making sure our game is interesting and fun. And not only that, it is a fantastic source of ideas.
We playtested our prototype after a week and the feedback we got brought us so many new ideas and basically changed the whole direction of the game since we were able to see which parts playtesters liked and then focus on those things specifically.
And to leave you with some "watchtesting" feedback for the video: Great job! The pacing is maybe a little bit slow, if you haven't then try reading your script 2-3 times back-to-back. You will then quickly notice parts that feel slow or even redundant. Also maybe look into audio quality, you don't need an expensive mic, a $50 mic and some knowledge of how to record clean audio and then edit it can take you very far! But like i said, the video is already really good! So keep up the great work!
I'd wager that a lot of indie people are somewhere on the autism spectrum (just a wild guess) and keeping friends is hard for us. It took me a long time to get a group of friends that also game (via a coworker, now friend) - who are willing to help me test and even motivate me by asking about the game. Realize that the same character traits that make you climb Mount Everest (aka build a game on your own) might stand in your way in other ways - and that you have to learn and will learn over time how to work around them and improve your weaknesses. Good luck!
Fantastic content. This is why good teachers who deep dive with you are invaluable.
One of the most valuable videos I've watched this year! Thanks so much
I liked this video. It was a little long though. There was a little too much emotional cheerleading / persuasion peppered throughout. I'd have preferred you keep most of the why to the start of the video and focus on the methods second, but that's just me. I think the crux is you've created a feature length dramatic documentary for a topic that would be better suited for a shorter and more dot-point based video.
I would potentially be interested in more topics. One video yours reminded me of, which i thoroughly enjoyed was "Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail" by Eastshade studios. I justed noted it was about 10 minutes.
@@FutureJacket rad, I'll check it out
I watched the full video at 2x speed except when there was the commentary from the other designers where I had to slow down. I also 5s skipped some parts.
I agree that it was a bit long.
Thank you so much for getting me back on track!
Great video mate 👍
Nice tips, good imagery, good sound.
Nice video, best to watch at x1.5 speed :D
awesome vid, very informative
Excellent!
Great video!!!!!!
thank you for all information
Great video!
You`re briliant. Are you single? Probably not. Love you man!
Hey Boz, thank you for your video, it's great! I can see and hear so much of your effort was put into it.
I do treasure this one, and I found it thanks to your article on Gamespot.
However, there are some pain points:
1. Your attempts at self-deprecating humor undermine both tone and authority, I expect from you to take your message seriously and implement it in practice. I want you to see as my equal, not a clown with a computer science degree, and I know you are not one.
2. Pronunciation of foreign names is easily searchable and practicable nowadays. Please be less American about this and learn, it's very easy if you let go of point 1. Just like in your message here, fear of messing up a word keeps you from integrating new cool words into your life, and names are amazing words! Just don't stress only the first vowel, we already have enough bO-rises and Oh-drees. And yeah, the solution you used was painful to listen too, I'm afraid.
Other than that, I hope every documentary YTer will do their work as you do.
Nice to meet you!
Will you playtest my game? :3
Yes! Check the video description for instructions 😎
I remember when I was 14 I programmed a Game in QuickBasic. Some sort of Pokemon Tamagotchi thing... I went off off the ideas in my head of what I wanted to have in a game. Raise a Pet and let it fight. It was immensily challenging, took me 2 years to complete and then, when I was finally done I played the game, showed it a friend and we realized "the game is sh*t, it's boring and lacks motivation for the things you have to maintain". I remember the moment clearly. I felt this weird mix of loneliness of two years crashing down on me and a kind of helplessness on how to actually change it. It would take another two years since what I have coded was just too much to change from ground up. And I also realized the importance of clean code. Because the biggest reason why it took so long was finding bugs that come with bad variable scoping from the Basic "scripting language style" syntax.
Why did you expect your first game at 14 to be good? Look back at any writing or drawing you did at 14 and I bet it's dreadful too. What is with game development that makes people think you don't need to practise it like everything else? The fact you even made something at that age is super cool, be proud of it.
@@lordofthe6string "Why did you expect your first game at 14 to be good?" well it is the human tendency to think if you bang you head against the wall long enough that things MUST become good. That is not the case, researching, exchanging ideas, experience and proper process is often what enables you to do "good" things. "Look back at any writing or drawing you did at 14 and I bet it's dreadful too" haha, I'd rather not, it probably was horrific. But gives perspective... "makes people think you don't need to practise it like everything else?" well I was 14 and the only person I knew to do this stuff :D So I didn't know what to expect. "The fact you even made something at that age is super cool" Thank you. Yeah your comment made me reflect.
@@lordofthe6string😂this comment is so mean. Leave this guys childhood alone.
@@to90zeroblue1 🤣
@lordofthe6string Based, W comment.
why shouldn't you test your game? If you don't play your own game, why should anyone else play it? That's why playtesting is the most important part.
Quality Content 🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊 (maybe improve audio quality)
@@Bohnensuppe yeahhhhh, not my strongest ability - I resolved not to buy any new equipment for the video and learned a lot about audio process along the way. Next one I'll do a whole new setup for audio first. Thanks for the feedback!
@@aesthgame5481 now is the time to collect data and find out what made your video stand out from the others. Best of luck 🙏😀
this video is SUCH A high quality content its awesome, a little bit long with repetition but overall awesome!
I feel that this advice actually goes for all products in all industries. Product market fit is always step ONE. If you're creating products for people, people's feedback is the most valuable thing that you can get.
Amazing video! Thanks :) Very informed and clear , i will now get people to playtest my game
subscribed
What an awesome and informative video! I’m looking forward to more! Subscriber #73!
Are you perhaps employed by Aperture laboratories?
"Well done. Here are the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that."
great video but your face is too close to the screen
@@jailsonmendes6120 thanks for the feedback! Do you know or have resources on why it's a bad idea to be that close?
It should actually be closer. And in a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Actually, full close-ups is optimal. Zoom until the pores are clearly visible and there's no more background visible.
Are you the one making the art for your recent games? It looks pretty good.
I've been cooking a game for the last 4 months, I have to beg my brother to test it. I don't really know how to get some one to play test.
I think I'll take you on your offer to test it.
"there's no time" is not the problem
"i only know 2 people and one of them is my mom" is the problem bro
Multiple personality disorder comin' in clutch.
Nice video, best to watch at 1x speed :D
Nice video
Good content
Im making a game in RPG Maker Fes on the 3DS and it had took 4 years to make my game. I played tested it so many times and once I'm almost done I'll have people test it for me and play it. Its just a prototype. Im not done yet but it should be done before the end of the year. Thats the goal but we will see lol. To me even if I dont remake this game so people can play it I'll be fine. Im following my dream just making my game.
Yeah, that opening statement did make me cringe a bit. A well made video, and extremely well made for your channel size.
I do have a question/feedback but first a warning, I am not a game designer(yet).
I wondered for a moment why didn't you go into more detail about when to playtest.(you mentioned it in part 3) for instance, wouldn't a more narrative focused game that uses already successful game design(pick a relevant genre) be much further into the project when they playtest than say, a movement focused platformer where a few blobs moving on the screen after a week of work is enough to understand if you are headed in the right direction?
Also things like vertical game slices etc.? Perhaps they are too late too late in dev. or outside of the video scope though. Not a bad idea to avoid getting caught in the details.
@@Lyoishi Yeah! So generally speaking, you're always going to be applying your unique take on a game, so there's something special that no one has done exactly before, so you need to be sure that what you expect in your head matches reality. Additionally, even if you were remaking Zelda, you'd want to get an outside tester to come see if it feels like Zelda. The main point is that the moment you create something, you are now an expert on what you're creating, and it is absolutely impossible to imagine what it's like not to know what you know. Everyone else will seem like ants compared to your mastery. It's extremely frustrating to see someone struggle with something you thought was too easy, for example. So whether it's basic mechanics, or level design, or fine details, you need feedback as soon as possible to prevent going too far in the wrong direction. Have you ever been lost in a city and just kept walking thinking you should've stopped a long time ago to ask directions?
I really I am enjoying the video. I hope to see more. Thanks be to God for this video, who He is and all His goodness. God bless you, and may His will be done. In Jesus' precious name, I pray amen.❤❤❤
Correcting "functionailty" to "functionality" while saying "fixing typos" is such a subtle yet nice touch.
Even with a digital choose-your-own-adventure?
@@Uhfgood if you're concerned with how players will interact with it! Any doubt, collect information. It may be the pacing, the flow of narrative, or the story in general, for example
Hi! Are clicker satire games your cup of tea? If so, I'd love your feedback!
@@AlgediStudio let's do it! Email me at gdr@aesth.games
As always, it's more nuanced than the video suggests. You can easily fall into the trap of sanding off all the interesting parts of your design. The advice only holds true if the purpose of you making a game is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, i.e. you're AAA, or you're chasing a trend.
Yeah I'm still conflicted on the video's message. I think a lot of players can easily tell when the game they're playing doesn't have a design that feels personal. I feel like only testing game mechanics might be the best idea, especially if you can strip away the art.
@@lordofthe6string yeah, y'all are talking about style - the smaller the team, the more personal style you'll be able to imbue
First 2 sentence, I agree. The last one? Not so much. Plus, you said it in a way as if it's a sin to appeal to the masses. Not everything has to be a niche.
No, not a better game, but a more appealing game. If your goal is to hustle people then yes, you should try every possible way there is to make your product appealing.
For something to be art it must present either a psychological, physical, intellectual or emotional challenge; a masterpiece must present all of them at a high level of difficulty.
Entertainment presents none, and that's ok.
Thought this video was about a different topic because of the thumbnail.
solid content, subscribed