Thread by @masonremaley

Learning how to playtest and prototype effectively results in better games, but these are sort of “soft skills” that aren’t talked about enough (thread) #gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign

https://twitter.com/masonremaley/status/1386897737279578112

Before the pandemic I coorganized the UCSC playtest night, which gave me a lot of visibility into how effective or ineffective playtesting can be depending on how it’s done

Playtesting isn’t about asking players if your game is good, it’s about learning to anticipate what players will do when presented with your game

Prototyping isn’t about building a messy version of the game really fast, though that may happen along the way and that’s fine, it’s about validating the riskiest parts of the design before committing to it

I still want to create a public game jam version of the final assignment I give a lot of my students to help them practice playtesting and prototyping, but first, I’m going to write an article on each topic

I’ve learned a lot from running the playtest night, watching students try this assignment, and from designing Way of Rhea

Way of Rhea wouldn’t be the same game if I hadn’t figured out how to playtest and prototype effectively. Developing these two skills is what’s caused it to stand out from every other game I’ve worked on

I normally only share knowledge on these topics in lectures that aren’t publicly accessible, and there’s no good reason for that

Expect more on this soon