Playtesting and Pitching Insights
Upon finishing all three prototypes and Assignment 3, I think it safe to say I understand the significance of playtesting (specifically early playtesting) and the skill and usefulness of pitching. In the reading âGame Design Workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative gamesâ by Tracy Fullerton, she discusses both playtesting and pitching. Pitching is a skill requiring cohesiveness and conciseness, make the game easy to understand, to the point people with even no experience can follow, like recipe but with the engagement capacity of their favourite show. The pitching we used in this unit was an elevator pitch, one page and one sheet, these are useful and simple ways to convey the details, premise, and concepts of your game without thorough development or planning as they are generally created at the start of the development process. Tracy lists 8 types of pitching materials that are sought after and significant to pitching your game, these are:
Sell Sheet (This is a âshort attention spanâ document that explains your idea as well as the target market. The sell sheet should include: game title, genre, number of players, platform, ship date, two-paragraph description, bullet point list of features, and some game art
Pitch deck (This is the heart of your presentation. It will include a top-level description of your game, key art, trailer or gameplay demo, unique features and selling points and player experience, target audience, comparable games, budget, milestones, and team information.)
Game Demo (Demos can be built in differing degrees of completeness. The important thing is that the publisher can get to evaluate the final gameplay)
Gameplay video or trailer (If you cannot produce a standalone playable demo, then a gameplay video is the next best thing. It is a video file that shows the characters and gameplay. The most credible video will be one created using your game code)
Concept document (This is a brief game design document written without excessive details. Ideal contents include: game story, game mechanics, level design outline, controls, interfaces, art style, music style, feature list, preliminary milestone schedule, and a list of team members with short bios)
Gameplay storyboards (This is concept art that tries to capture the essence of your game. These can be in sketch form or final art or both. Ideal key art includes: character concepts, gameplay in action, and key locations)
Technical design overview (This is a technical design document without excessive details. Ideal contents are: general overview, engine description, tools description, hardware used (development and target), history of code base, and middleware used, if any)
Competitive analysis (This identifies titles you are competing against. It shows that you understand the market and your relative position within it. Ideal contents are: summary of your conceptâs market position and reason for success and pro and con descriptions of competitive titles with sales figures, if you can get them)
Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop : A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, CRC Press LLC, 2024 (Chapter 16)
These are all materials she states are vital to setting yourself up for the most successful outcome but are not direct keys to being your pitch being chosen for publishing.
Another aspect that Tracy emphasises on is that prototyping and playtesting should be done as early as possible, and to constantly playtest, evaluate and then iterate on the game until its launch. I have learnt firsthand throughout this unit that it is vital to have this kind of system as it will undoubtedly fix initial miscommunication and gameplay faults. The process we used in this unit follows what Tracy outlines very well: Introduction (Script), Warm-up (Questionnaire), Play session, Discussion of gameplay experience (Survey), Wrap-up. This was the outline for all playtesting in Assignment 3. On a similar note the level or feedback also follows an outline: self-testing (done by yourself and those working on the game), confidants (people you know), strangers, target audience. This outline will really help to determine if the game is turning out as you want or if youâve completely missed the mark, we had this problem in A3 because we did research into other racing games as opposed games with similar gameplay or core mechanics and having this road of playtesting would help us determine this as early as possible.
It is also very important to take notes during the playtesting and even record the experience (if possible) to rewatch later in case you missed anything during the initial test. Having multiple people taking notes on different aspects also helps you not miss vital points in the test when recording their comments or an event that occurred. Tracy outlined an incredibly useful sheet on pages 379-381 for things the playtest conductor should fill out during and after the test takes place to get the most out of the experience as possible. On another note, it is important for the playtest conductor to remember not to lead the tester to specific answers or solutions and to encourage them to think out loud in order to get the most naĂŻve and pure perspective about your game.
Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop : A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, CRC Press LLC, 2024 (Chapter 9)
Overall, playtesting is vital to all game development and design, while pitching is important when trying to secure publishing, advertising, marketing or investment and is even useful when briefing team members. Thatâs all for the insights I have learned from the reading and throughout this unit.
Thatâs all for this post, I am unsure what the next post will be but Iâll see you there :D












