How you (yes, you) can benefit from 1-on-1 synchronous playtesting

What the report says

Danielle Riendeau,Editor-in-Chief,GameDeveloper.comAugust 27, 20264 Min ReadVia Chugga Chugga LLCIn a talk titled Playtesting Process for Ultra Small Teams from just this past March, designer Brian Cronin makes a strong case for teams of all sizes to make use of the format he swears by: one-on-one playtesting, conducted synchronously on a live call. Sure, the talk is aimed at tiny teams, and his experience speaks to a very small team dynamic—with a methodology that only requires on team member (and one playtester)—but there are learnings for just about any scope or scale here.It's an inexpensive (potentially even free) method that sees the designer directly conducting a video call with a playtester, using a live demo of the build.

You'll get everything set up, prime your playtester to give useful feedback, and take notes on any items of note that come up during the session—things like pain points or areas of confusion, or aspects that got a good laugh or other emotional response from the person playing the game.Cronin swears by the method to get strong, actionable feedback from every single playtesting session, leaning on the "playcentric" model of game design that says, essentially, test early, test often, and iterate constantly. He references a slide that shows the loop for good measure, looping through playtesting and iteration right from the initial "idea" stage.Good playtest feedback is so essential, he argues, because "Devs are bad at knowing if their game is fun, often," Cronin says, referencing a slide of reasons to go down this road.

"They're bad at knowing if their game is understandable—I learned that I have this weakness!" he laughed. "Things that I think are super obvious are not!""One-on-one playtesting is the best way to get feedback on emotional impact," he said. "Whether you want to or not, your game is having some emotional impact on the player, and just watching that person play the game, and hearing all the little subtle things that they're doing, and body language—that's the best way to pull out 'is your game having the impact that you want?'"He insists that extensive playtesting leads to a better game, and offers this very attractive side benefit: "Players will feel like you're reading their mind!""This is one of my favorite things, when I'm running a playtest with someone, and they are confused, and verbalize a question—then they click the next thing, and question answered!

Key details

I've had a couple people say 'its like you read my mind.'""Of course I didn't, but I read dozens and dozens of other people's minds leading up to that playest. It's amazing how often patterns repeat. Everyone says 'it's probably just me, it's a me problem' but its never a them problem, it's always a me problem," he said, pointing to himself, the designer.Paytesting for fun and community"For small developers, this is also the seed of your early community," he continued, noting the incredible benefits of treating playtesters with care and keeping them in the loop.

Cronin noted that around 70 percent of the people in the discord server for his current game are playtesters. "Some of them come back, and play it more and more," he noted happily.That community aspect comes back again towards the end of the talk, where Cronin also has good advice for finding playtesters.Cronin is keen on a systematic approach to collecting and processing feedback, a crucial point here. You can't just conduct a few good playtests and hope you internalize the lessons therein. He argues that you have to take the information, process it, and create action items from that synthesis.

He showed a spreadsheet for tracking feedback, and argues that it really pays to prioritize and make good on your highest level shifts.Cronin also incorporates basic communication lessons for devs who may be new to this process. He offers ways to avoid defensive language, and even gives some simple "script" ideas for priming playtesters to give the best, most open feedback. It's a very positive and respectful approach to ensure that playtesters feel welcome to give honest answers."Time and attention are the most valuable resource on earth right now," Cronin says, referencing his notes on how he thanks playtesters as he "primes" them to conduct the session.

More from the announcement

"So they are giving you the gift of feedback, and you want to acknowledge that from the start."Game Developer and GDC Vault are sibling organizations under Informa.GDC Vault PlaylistsFeaturesAbout the AuthorDanielle RiendeauEditor-in-Chief, GameDeveloper.comDanielle is the editor-in-chief of Game Developer, with previous editorial posts at Fanbyte, VICE, and Polygon.