This week we focused mostly on working on our group project. We also got to see iterative design came to play which includes iterative playtests, continual design, and survey for the play testers. In Fullerton’s chapter 9, she writes “The common misconception is that playtesting is simple—just play the game and gather feedback. In reality, playing the game is only one part of a process that involves selection, recruiting, preparation, controls, and analysis“. She also talks about how playtesting is a concept that most game designers understand the least about. If you read further, you can see how playtesting plays a crucial role in our game design process.

It was cool to see different survey methodologies this week and to choose the best one that fits our game design the best. Last week, our team designed the prototype of the game, but the game still had elements that were unbalanced. The only thing that can check if the game is balanced is playtesting. Sometimes the actual the game does come out as good as the theoretical design that we have in mind. After playtesting our monopoly-like table top game, we realized that there were elements that were not useful or too overpowered. Playtesting also does more than just checking the balance of the game. It can check other aspects such as how long it takes for players to learn about the game, how clear the rules and instructions are, and the overall enjoyment of the game. We used the information we got from the survey questions that we sent to our playtesters on Thursday to redesign our game better.

With our current schedule and situation, I think most of us do not have much time to playtest the game as much as we want to. I think if we keep playtesting our game, I think we will find the ideal balance of the game.

Works Cited:

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