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GameProject / PlaytestsMechanicsHow Playtests Will WorkReread the basic summary of playtests GameProject.Playtests In order to get all the playtests done in a reasonable amount of time, things have to be pretty organized. Note: some demos will happen after the end of the class period. If you have a hard constraint and cannot stay after 3:45, please let the TA and instructor know ahead of time. SetupYoh will log into all of the computers (so we don't waste time logging in/out). That means you need to have things set up so the program runs as him. He will make sure that all games are "installed" on all computers. Prior to the playtest session - by noon on Friday May 2nd - you need to deliver to Yoh everything he needs to install your program. My suggestion is that you place a big ZIP file somewhere in AFS and give him access to it. Note: this enforces the code freeze that you're supposed to be doing anyway. At 2pm on Friday, Yoh will go to 1358, log into all computers, and install all the games (in c:\temp, so they'll be wiped out when he logs out at 4:30pm). 1 or 2 members of each group should show up in 1358 to make sure that the installations work correctly. If you want to provide printed instructions to the players, bring 8 copies to class (2:30pm). The TestsA playtest session is 20 minutes. We'll have 5 minutes in between to move between and get set up. We will not be able to do all of the playtests in 75 minutes, so a few people may need to stay a little longer. If you cannot do this, tell the TA right away. There will be a schedule that assigns a pair of people to a computer at a particular time. Make sure you're in the right place at the right time. At the starting time, the tester should help the player start the game. Ideally, everything after that should be self-explanatory. Remember this is a playtest, not a demo. You will learn a lot by watching someone try to play your game - fight the urge to grab the mouse from them. But that said, since the game isn't done, you might need to explain things that aren't documented, give them hints in things that are too hard, ... There will be an opportunity for your group to give a demo of the game to the entire class during the final "festival of games." You'll need to stop pretty promptly at the 20 minutes so you can move on to the next demo. You can play more afterwards if you want. Being successfulYou will probably want to have a bit of a plan of what you want your player to experience. Make sure you have sufficient instructions (either in-game or printed), and maybe even some way to help them get through enough of your game in 20 mins to get a taste of it. A little planning (like "at the 5 minutes left mark, tell them how to get to X, if they haven't figure it out yet) AfterwardsRemember that you will need to write up a playtest report for all of the games you play. Instructions are here. Those are due by Monday at noon so they can be delivered back to the team so they learn from them and (hopefully) improve their games. Also, as part of the final handin, you will need to report on what you learned from the playtests and what you did about it. More on that when we get to the final handins. |