thread: 2011-02-17 : Ben Lehman: Playtesting: Stop
On 2011-02-18, Marshall B wrote:
from kleenestar:
Wait a second ... I have to take a step back here. Do people play-test without being physically present to observe, or (worst-case scenario) video-taping the session? Seriously?
I do it, and have found it useful. The trick is knowing what feedback to ignore from it.
Ben,
I think I agree with you. At least, while I was reading, I was thinking, "Well, yeah, what else would you do" in my head. However, all the things you say NOT to playtest for—I've gotten those out of playtesting. I don't look for them, but you can get them.
But it's quite possible I'm misunderstanding. Here's what I do:
1. Design in my head a model of a game: what the game is supposed to do, and how I want it to do that, in a holistic manner including all subsystems and their interactions. This step takes days, weeks, or months, depending.
2. Once I can visualize the game all at once as a functioning unit, write an alpha draft (I call them "scratch rules"). This usually takes a day or two.
3. Read the scratch rules over and over. Think about them. Don't think about them at all for a while, get plenty of sleep, go to work. Think about them again, and make changes. Repeat until changes stop happening. This takes weeks to months to years.
4. Playtest, mostly to make sure that when actual people sit down at an actual table to actually play the game, it runs the way I imagine it—things flow like they should, subsystems interact properly (e.g. from The Rustbelt: does Psyche raise questions re: Pushing, does the Price raise questions re: giving, does char-and-sitch-gen result in fit characters and fit adversity).
5. Think about playtests. Don't think about playtests for a while, get sleep, go to work. Make changes to text. Playtest again. Repeat a couple-a few times.
6. Get people to playtest from outside, knowing that I will ignore 90% of what they tell me as irrelevant or due to goofs on my part (esp. re: documentation), but being very excited when that 10% happens.
7. Write a new draft. Think/don't-think/rewrite for a while.
8. When changes stop happening (or at least ones that I consider at all significant), publish.
I've only published one major game, but that's only because I haven't got off my ass to do #7 for about three games.
Does that sound about right to you?
