ABSTRACT
As a designer, you cannot judge how effective your game is without putting it in the hands of players, and game development as a process always requires iteration. This will lead you to test iterations of your game on a constant crop of new players, always preferring fresh eyes to those who may have become accustomed to odd quirks that might stump a new player. This chapter discusses opportunities and methods for getting playtest feedback at public events. Many developers find that their pool of new testers dries up fast: they quickly exhaust the pool of friends and family readily available to test their game before it is ready to ship. Likewise, your friends and family are personally vested in your success; they are not going to get up and stop playing your game when it becomes 296too frustrating, making them data points of questionable use. So the problem essentially is, where can you find a steady supply of largely objective people willing to test your game? Gaming continues to take a larger place in public culture, and with this shift, many public events have arisen that provide excellent test grounds for games. These events range from gatherings of fellow developers to public showcases conducted as part of art festivals, concerts, or educational events. This chapter will focus on when and how to use public events to iterate on the levels in your game. This includes the following:
Determining when your game is ready for events
Finding events that are a good fit for your game
Presenting your game at an event
Interpreting feedback from an event to improve your game
Putting this into practice through the testing process of Lost Cave
