Real people

This week was QA week. Our group was preparing to challenge for Stage One of our senior capstone. We planned to have two builds, each one demonstrating a different mechanic.Myself and my programmer went to QA testing which our school runs multiple times a week. Although the QA was very low on testers and high on people who needed testers, we were able to get all the feedback we needed.

We allowed the testers to play each game for about 15 minutes; after which they would give us feedback on a questionnaire we created. For anybody interested in this process it is best to give somewhat specific questions as to what you are asking in order to get more information about the experience. These answers are very important but what is most important is watching the testers. When they play your prototypes you need to be watching for what they find fun or aggravating; what their tendencies are in the prototype. Most importantly you need to listen to your testers. For the most part they want to see this awesome mechanic become something even better and there is nothing more useful than a fresh brain to pick.

In the end we found that our Blackhole game (more information to be revealed later) was most popular. we found that because our other prototype had such a poorly designed level, nobody could find the other players to interact with. It is these moments that show you what is strongest but not necessarily the best. It allows us to see what we need to work on and what we can make even better; even if a mechanic is enjoyable to play and interact with, it doesn't mean it can't be improved.

These testers helped us so much and I hope these Dev blogs help any readers out there.

Aaron