Playtest Reports Suck

Posted on Nov 30, 2009 | 0 comments

When I first conceived of this blog, one of its primary missions was to report on the playtesting of Free Spacer.  This has been an utter failure!

We have finished four Playtest sessions and they have been very successful. Chargen is locked and we’re on to tasks.

Still, every time I sit down to write about a playtest, I just cannot finish one to my satisfaction. This has led me to one inescapable conclusion, Playtest Reports Suck and let me tell you why:

1. Playtest require Interpretation; One cannot merely convey the data from a playtest; it must be boiled down, looked at from all directions, and slept on. Often the fact that something garners a reaction is more important than the reaction itself. Most important is when someone has an issue with something I am worried about.
2. Playtests are digested; Once a Playtest is done, I leap into action fixing, changing, and editing the game; little of the Playtest notes survive the effort.
3. Playtest results are specific; Anyone outside this project would find the notes incomprehensible, even once interpreted, unless I explained huge chunks of the game.
4. Playtest Reports take too long; It would take me almost as long to write a fleshed out understandable Playtest report as it does to integrate the results into the game. I’d rather be refining the game.
5. Playtest Reports are boring; Playtest Reports aren’t that interesting really. They’re all: “this person didn’t like this and suggested that…” Not exactly narrative excitement and if you’ve ever read the Silmarillion you’ll know what I mean.

So you won’t hear much directly from me about individual Playtests, instead I’ll keep you up to date in this blog in a variety of subject driven articles, rants, and musings.