How Do I Test a Game?

How Do I Test a Game?

After there's already an idea, I "play" with it in my head for a while. I try to understand whether this idea can work, what exactly I like about it, and what issues are still unclear to me.

Then I search for similar games -because if there's something exactly like this, there's no reason to release another game.

And then comes the long and most enjoyable stage of this entire creation - testing and refining the game.

I sketch something on the computer and print a minimal version at home that allows basic gameplay. First, we play with our very close family. At this stage, you can already see if the idea can work, even if the game was a failure - we check if there's something in the basic experience that could work.
After several such tests, I return to the computer and prepare something a bit prettier that contains the updates. And again we repeat the process. After each series of games, I release a new version and expand the circle of testers - extended family, friends, friends' children, and completely unfamiliar children (I reach them through after-school programs, schools, classes, etc., depending on the target audience's age). At some point, the printing obviously moves to a print shop because it needs higher quality and larger quantities.

When the mechanics and game instructions are finalized, I approach a manufacturer for a price quote, and the development process begins.

To ensure you will not be left hanging, I'll give an example from one of the games I invented - Didayo.

I was looking for a game idea suitable for playing in a family with children of all ages. For that, it was clear to me that the game also needs to interest teenagers. I thought about types of games, and the idea of a very confusing game popped into my head.

I thought of several possible ideas (which might also turn into games later) and decided to move forward with the idea of color names written in a different color. It was immediately clear to me that something in the game would change quickly and dictate to players whether to relate to the color or to what's written.

My youngest son came home, and I did something I don't usually do -I asked him to test a game with me before I'd had a chance to test it myself, see what exists on the market, prepare a basic version, and more.

I quickly took papers and markers, wrote color names on them in different colors, took another paper to mark the game mode - text or color, and we set off. It was disappointing. We didn't get confused at all.
I tried to understand how to increase the pace and make it fast. We even tried to set a rhythm with our hands - yes, a kind of constant clapping, so the game would be at a uniform pace (by the way, from this, the idea was born to add the Didayo card, which requires a clap and a slap on the pile of cards).

Disappointed, I left the game and went back to dealing with current matters.

Still, I liked the idea. I didn't understand why it didn't work. After several days of thought and deliberation, I decided to start the process from the beginning, improve the mechanics, prepare clear, high-quality cards, add options, write basic game instructions, check competitors, etc.

I found several games that use the Stroop effect, which, until then, I didn't even know what this idea of a color name written in a different color was called. Each game used a different game mechanism, and none of the games I found, even those with similar mechanics, used the idea of a mode card that changes frequently during the game and affects what players say—the color or the text. I think it's a wonderful idea.

I printed a much-improved version at home and we went to play.
Suddenly, it worked wonderfully!
It turns out the main reason for the terrible failure at the beginning was the stupid fact that the "cards" were simple printer paper cutouts I'd written on with a marker. Taking time to separate such a card from the pile to flip it slowed down the entire pace. Another thing was that the paper was a bit transparent, and actually, before we flipped, we could already see the color and sometimes even what was written. Home printing on thick paper (as I always do at this testing stage) solved the problem.

The testing process began, during which the game underwent changes and refinements to reach its current version.

An example of such refinement—I traveled to a friend's to play with his daughter and her friends. I sat there with six lovely fourth-grade girls and we played. They wanted to play again and again, and I saw it was taking me a long time to distribute the cards among everyone. I asked their permission to test something else—I put the entire pile in the center, no need to shuffle or distribute among participants. I simply placed it and told the girls - start playing. Each one in turn flips from the central pile; whoever is eliminated takes the entire discard pile to themselves. And it worked beautifully, saving all the shuffling and distribution. And that's how it remained in the final version, too.

Keep playing,
Ayelet