How can you use playtesting to identify and fix technical issues?

2 Choose your playtesters wisely

The quality and quantity of your playtesters can have a significant impact on the outcome of your playtesting sessions. You want to choose playtesters who match your target audience, have relevant experience and skills, and are willing to provide honest and constructive feedback. You also want to have enough playtesters to cover the different scenarios and situations that may occur in your game, but not too many that you get overwhelmed by the data and feedback. A good rule of thumb is to have at least five playtesters per feature, level, or system that you want to test.

3 Monitor and record the playtesting sessions

During the playtesting sessions, you need to monitor and record the players' actions, reactions, and comments. This will help you identify any technical issues that may arise, such as bugs, glitches, crashes, and performance problems. You can use various tools and methods to monitor and record the playtesting sessions, such as screen capture software, cameras, microphones, analytics, debug tools, etc. You should also communicate with the players and ask them questions or prompts that can reveal any technical issues that they encounter or notice.

4 Analyze and prioritize the results

After the playtesting sessions, you need to analyze and prioritize the results. This means reviewing the feedback and data that you collected from the players, and identifying the technical issues that need to be fixed. You should also categorize and rank the technical issues according to their severity, frequency, and impact on the game experience. For example, you may use a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is a minor issue that does not affect the game functionality or quality, and 5 is a critical issue that breaks the game or makes it unplayable. You should then focus on fixing the most urgent and important technical issues first.

5 Implement and test the fixes

The final step of using playtesting to identify and fix technical issues is to implement and test the fixes. This means applying the solutions that you have devised or found for the technical issues that you have detected and prioritized. You should also test the fixes to make sure that they work as intended, and that they do not introduce new or worsen existing technical issues. You can use the same or similar tools and methods that you used for the initial playtesting sessions, such as screen capture software, cameras, microphones, analytics, debug tools, etc. You should also involve the same or similar playtesters that you used for the initial playtesting sessions, and ask them to confirm that the technical issues are resolved.

6 Learn and improve from the process

Using playtesting to identify and fix technical issues is not a one-time event, but a continuous process. You should always learn and improve from the process, and use the feedback and data that you collect from the players to enhance your game design and development. You should also document and share the results and insights that you gain from the process, and use them to inform your future decisions and actions. Playtesting is a valuable and powerful tool for creating games that are fun, engaging, and functional.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?