Beta Playtest

This playtesting session is for beta release. Now that we have had the playtesting lecture, we want this playtesting session to be a little more formal. Hence this time, we will ask you to prepare a test plan, as described below.

Once again, we ask that you bring at least two laptops capable of running your prototype. That will help ensure that everyone who wants to playtest your prototype has a change. If this is not possible, please contact a staff member before this lab is held.

Preparation

In preparation for this playtest, you should write a 5-10 minute test plan, as discussed in the the playtesting lecture. We do not want an in-depth user study experiment. All we want is a script that outlines what the person manning your game station should be doing. This plan should include the following elements:

• Your artifacts (what are you testing?)
• A brief welcome script (what do you say to the player?)
• A task or two (what should the player do?)
• A few of questions to ask of the player

Here are some resources to help you with this format.

• Testing The Design With Users: A chapter from an online text about the basic principals of user testing
• Cognitive Walkthrough: The wikipedia entry describing a basic tenant of user testing

That is all that there is to this session. We are not expecting formal questionairres or rigorous data collection in section. While we will not collect your testing plans, we will check whether or not you have them.

Since this is the last in-class playtesting session, we want you to spend the entire time playtesting. We do not want you to spend any time on working on the two-week report in class.