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[stevesan]

I saw a recent episode of Extra Credits, and James Portnow suggests having each play tester fill out a survey after they play your game. This would include items like, "On a scale of 1-5, how much did you enjoy the game?", etc. etc. I was wondering, do any designers have experience with such surveys? What questions do you find most informative to ask?

[turgoz]

I run playtests on nearly every game I make. It's a great way to weed out some of the confusing bits and see how people really react in the game. The watching is by far the more important part of the game. As far as the questions to ask at the end, its helpful to know

did you enjoy the game/would you buy the game? What parts did you have the most difficulty with? Which was your least favorite section of the game? What was your favorite part? Was there anything that confused you?

The thing to figure out is what these answers mean to your game. If everyone says they think that the final boss fight is really hard, that doesn't mean that you should change it. Perhaps it is the difficulty they subconsciously enjoy or perhaps its breaks up an otherwise monotonous section. *But* you could double check that the tells are easy to read etc...