As Fullerton mentioned in her chapter on playtesting, it is the most important part of game design. Playtesting shows how the players engage in the game and what parts are balanced or not balanced. I really enjoyed Fullerton’s model for iterative game design on page 278 that shows the different phases of design. There’s the concept phase, where designers generate and formalize ideas. Then as it continues to the preproduction phase, the production phase and the QA phase, the developers constantly test their ideas, evaluate results, and revise their product for launch. This is similar to the GDC talk about iterative design, particularly the image of the design process of the car. It first starts out as a skateboard, then a scooter, then a bike, then a motorcycle, then a car. Each of these designs are iterative and work separately, but build off of each other. I have been involved in a few playtesting experiences. I was a pre-alpha tester for Spellbreak, a fantasy battle royale developed by Proletariat, Inc. I playtested the abilities and mechanics of the game, and also tried to find any glitches or faults in the map. After testing, I had to complete a survey about what I thought about the game and it’s mechanics. I also playtested a game called Karlson, an indie first person parkour shooter from a developer and youtuber named Dani. This playtest was a lot less formal, since it was conducted by one developer instead of a team of developers, but I was still able to provide feedback and eventually have it greenlit on Steam.

Sources:

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.