Games+Learning+Society 10 Conference

Playtesting games: Iterating failures to success
Mark Chen, Ellen Jameson, Marshall Behringer, & Cadre 19

This workshop will provide hands-on experience with game design’s playtesting cycle (cf. Fullerton, 2014). Participant-players will playtest tabletop and digital games in progress, providing valuable feedback to participant-designers while also learning and reflecting on the playtesting process.

To fit in the one-hour format, the workshop will consist of two 30-minute playtesting cycles, each including time for playing (20-25 min) and time for structured feedback (5-10 min). If the workshop is granted more time, each additional 30 minutes allows for one more cycle. Thirty minutes is a rough estimate, however. Some games may be much shorter than 20 minutes, allowing for more players to rotate through their playtests. Likewise, some games may take longer, and we will attempt to accommodate designers who wish to hold one long playtest.