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Sidhe: User Testing Is Crucial To Know Your Game
by Staff [PC, Console/PC, Exclusive]
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December 1, 2009
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As independent developer Sidhe recently learned firsthand, ongoing playtesting during development is necessary not only to realize what else a game needs, but to understand how users will perceive the game's existing features.
In a new Gamasutra feature article about the development of the brick-breaking game Shatter, Sidhe user experience designer Gareth Griffiths discussed the process of holding playtest sessions as the game was being developed, and shared the history of the title's evolution.
Early on, users feedback wasn't encouraging -- users didn't even seem to understand why they were playing the game. "After every user-testing session I would get comments such as 'So, what's the point in this game then?' or 'I don't feel connected to my bat,'" Griffiths recalled. "Inside I was screaming 'Hey, buddy, this isn't a three hour war-epic, you know! Just go ahead and break the bricks!'"
But repeated feedback along similar lines forced Griffiths to acknowledge that greater motivation was necessary, and the team made some seemingly simple changes: "There was initial skepticism but a small story was worked into the game and, on top of that, we tried to give the bat some kind of personality. For example, when the bat got hit by a brick or the ball ended up in the pit, the bat would make an unhappy sound."
Those minor additions paid off in spades, exceeding expectations considerably.
"Testing this on users was shocking to say the least," Griffiths admitted. "The first one immediately stated 'Ah, I'm escaping from something am I? Cool.' On top of this, when the bat got hit one user actually said, 'Awwww, poor thing.' I had to hide my surprise at such completely unexpected comments. But it showed that users were now interested in the character, knew why they had to progress and, as a result, became more engaged with the actual gameplay itself."
Sidhe went through a similar process with another central game mechanic dealing with controlling gusts of wind, which ended up paying dividends to other aspects of the game: "Fixing this one problem had a knock-on effect which addressed a whole lot of others and it goes to show just how important controls are within a game," Griffiths said. "Let me tell you that when I presented my findings to the team on that day, it felt good."
Of course, that kind of benefit is only possible when developers are willing to accept bad news early on in development; without that shared mentality at the beginning, playtesting can't pay off at the end.
"If the team is open to feedback and can take on board the findings as a learning experience, then everything is fine and the game itself will benefit," said Griffiths.
The full feature, including more in-depth descriptions of how Sidhe conducted and learned from its playtesting sessions when developing Shatter, is now available to read on Gamasutra.
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