I encourage all designers to be cognizant of what they are looking for out of a playtest, and being upfront with expectations from your playtesters
— Ian Zang
If you are at the point in the design where you know what questions you have about how the game will work, time to stop brainstorming! While many people can reason out how something “might” work the only true way to get the answers is to build & test a rapid prototype.
— C.M. Perry
Who are you designing your game for? You? Go wild with weird mechanics. Friends? Listen & tune the game to suit them. A publisher? Learn to pitch a product to a business - you’re B2B. The world? It’s a product in the market that you will need to sell.
— Emma Larkins
You don’t have to agree with your playtesters’ feedback—it is to your benefit to try to understand it—but either way, make a note and thank them, but never argue with players whose feedback you solicited.
— Jay Treat
Talk about game design with other game designers, and also let people tell you what they love about games.
— JR Honeycutt
Sometimes, after feeling super frustrated with a certain game not coming together, you toss all the loose puzzle pieces in a box and run away. Then, later, you open the box to find the puzzle magically solved. Time is sometimes the best playtester.
— Scott Almes
Negative feedback is a designer’s life blood. Positive feedback feels nice, but doesn’t improve your game. Though it stings initially, you learn to love negative feedback, because your game’s flaws will come out and you want to hear them Before your game goes to press.
— Jay Treat