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[jbarrios]

Hello all,

For a few months now I have been trying to help my fellow developers playtest their games.  I have been closely monitoring this forum for a while.  I see some posts get a ton of feedback and other posts get 0 interaction.  So I wanted to write a post giving developers some suggestions for how to get more community interaction here.

#1.  You have to actually have something to playtest
Please don't just post screenshot or video and ask for feedback.  We all have seen deceptive game trailers.  You need to actually have a playable game.

#2.  This forum is for playtesting, not selling
I have seen a few posts asking for "playtests" for their game that's already out on Steam.  If a game is that late in development: it's too late to playtest.  I won't bother with these posts because if your game requires major changes, I know it will be almost impossible.

#3.  Your game needs to be playable in browser or downloadable for PCs
I see several developers asking for feedback for their mobile games.  That's fine, but please don't make us play your game on our phones.  There are several problems with this:
   - We may not have the right device.
   - I like to record my playtests.  That's very difficult on mobile.
   - It adds lots of un-necessary steps to the playtest.
I understand that your control scheme may be specific to a touch screen.  We will forgive that.  Let us playtest on our computers.
   
#4.  Your post title needs to describe the game
Your game title needs to give a short summary of the core aspects of your game (sometimes called an elevator pitch).  These sorts of titles grab our attention and make us want to open the post.
Here are some good examples:
- Lightmatter - atmospheric puzzle game where shadows kill you
- Othercell, a RPG with monsters to collect
- LOCORailroad - Model Railway Simulator [Windows]
Here are some bad examples:
- MyMonster
- HyperParasite Pre-Alpha Build
- Need Feedback

#5.  Describe your game in detail in the post
This is the time to flesh out your game.  Tell us about the mechanics, the lore, the art style.  Give us a reason to play your game.  This is also a good time to tell us about any quirks in your game.
Does the game abruptly end after 5 rooms?  Let us know
Is the game made for mobile and the control scheme is strange?  Let us know
Does your game have NSFW content?  Let us know
Is English your second language and you are looking for help with grammar?  Let us know

#6.  You need to include screens, gifs, and/or video
That old adage is very true.  Media is a very easy way to draw people into your game.  I don't care if your game is entirely made of cube placeholders, please include screens, gifs, and/or video.

#7.  Don't post "sign-ups" for playtests.  Just let us playtest
This just adds more steps to letting us playtest your game.  We are all busy.  Most of us are trying to make our own game.  Don't make us jump through extra hoops.
The one exception to this rule: if you are very late in development and you are afraid people are basically going to download your game for free.  This would be acceptable.

#8.  Don't argue with your playtesters
It's not uncommon for a playtester to point out something he or she had trouble with, only for the dev to respond: "You can get around that problem by doing ____."  That's great, you need to ask yourself "why didn't the playtester know that while playing?"  That kind of feedback is invaluable, don't argue with it.

I hope this helps someone.  I enjoy playing the games here.  I hope to see more.

[levlups]

can you playtest my game on galactica.store its a free to play in browser game no need to signup thanks

[SweepingAvalanche]

Good points, probably going to help some people.

[ROSSCOGames]

Thank you! I was recently inspired to record reviews of other people's games because of you, jbarrios! I just wanted any mobile developers to know that I can potentially review and record your mobile apps, so long as they are ported to Android.

[Alain]

Thanks jbarrios for the tips, this helps a lot! But I'd like to discuss one point:

I have seen a few posts asking for "playtests" for their game that's already out on Steam.  If a game is that late in development: it's too late to playtest.  I won't bother with these posts because if your game requires major changes, I know it will be almost impossible.   

This is not necessarily true in my eyes. The new Steam playtest feature allows devs to test their games early on and get feedback from the community long before Early Acces. I use it as a chance to get feedback which definitely helps shape the game, because it is far from done.

[geo]

Thanks for the update on steam with their new demo releases, interesting stuff

I think the point jbarrios is making is that one should not post finished games because then it's too late to receive actionable feedback. Therefore he will not give feedback on such games. That's still a valid point, no matter which store is used. But maybe Steam is no longer a good example for this.

[Alain]

I think the point jbarrios is making is that one should not post finished games because then it's too late to receive actionable feedback. Therefore he will not give feedback on such games. That's still a valid point, no matter which store is used. But maybe Steam is no longer a good example for this.

I agree and it also needs to be mentioned that this is how jbarros decides what games are interesting for themselves and it is perfectly fine to decide that games on Steam most of the time do not (or did not) fall into that category.

[DarkGran]

Sure, it's rather subjective, but I would argue that the majority of people, especially the regular "testers", when seeing the word "steam", will prefer to comment on something else instead (Because of the "if it's on steam already, it does not need my feedback as much as something else might" impression.), so the advice seems fully valid to me. One almost wants to ask a question - if you are advertising yourself on a fucking Steam, then why the hell are you even here?

(To get even more publicity? Sure, that is alright, do that, but don't expect to get priority testing when there are games that noone has played yet, still waiting for their very first feedback... even when the assumption "steam = some players there already" is wrong)

[bentylor]

How can i add video?!

[SkaterMagazine]

I think the point jbarrios is making is that one should not post finished games because then it's too late to receive actionable feedback. Therefore he will not give feedback on such games. That's still a valid point, no matter which store is used. But maybe Steam is no longer a good example for this.

I agree and it also needs to be mentioned that this is how jbarros decides what games are interesting for themselves and it is perfectly fine to decide that games on Steam most of the time do not (or did not) fall into that category.

Yeah, it's hard enough to promote something on steem