Playtesting Checklist

After reading The art of game design: A book of lenses, I’ve come up with the following Playtesting Checklist.

1. Have I discovered that some of my decisions for the game was wrong?
2. Have I discovered differences in how people play, based on their demographics? (Gender, age, etc.)
3. What are some of the “negative sounds” that players made? When did they make those sounds?
4. What are some of the “happy sounds” that players made? When did they make those sounds?
5. After the game, did they want to play again? If so, did they have any ideas on how they want to play the game differently?
6. Were there any unintended loophole/bugs that made the gameplay unenjoyable?
7. How long did the entire gameplay last? What did players feel about the length of the game?
8. How long did it take for the players to figure out the game? How did the players feel about the learning curve?
9. Did the game successfully invoke emotions that the game designer intended for? (Or, did the players successfully achieve the learning objectives as intended by the game designer?)

Apart from these checklist, the host of playtesting should also be mindful of the effects of the following:

• Location of the playtest
• Type of playtesters (expert gamers, friends & family, game designers, etc.)’

Also, you could get supplemental information through the following means (on top of observation)

• Surveys
• Interviews
• Making a recording of the playtesting (Allowing you to go back and make observations that you might have missed)
• (Maybe, risking interfering with the player’s action) asking the right questions at the right time during playtesting