Playtesting
You can't see your own game
When you build a game, you know where every button is and what every icon means. Your brain fills in anything that is missing.
New players don't have that. Playtesting means watching other people play your game to find out what is confusing, too hard or boring. It is one of the most powerful tools a game studio has, and it costs nothing.
Rule 1: watch quietly
During a playtest: don't explain, don't help, and don't grab the controller, even when it is really hard not to. Players at home won't have you next to them. If you have to explain something, the game needs to explain it instead.
One extra trick: ask the tester to think aloud, saying what they are thinking as they play. "I think this button shoots... oh, it doesn't." Every sentence like that is a clue.
Bolt says: Some studios have a rule: the person running the test sits on their hands. It works.
Quick check
Your friend can't work out how to plant in Garden Defense. What should you do during the test?
- Quickly show them how
- Stay quiet and write down where they got stuck
- Stop the test, because they are playing it wrong
Show the answer
Stay quiet and write down where they got stuck
Getting stuck is exactly what you want to find. Real players won't have you there to help, so note it down and fix the game later.
What to write down
- Where they get stuckWhich level, which button, how long they were stuck.
- Where they get boredThey look away, sigh, or skip things without reading.
- Where they smileA laugh or a "whoa" tells you which parts are working.
- Bugs and surprisesAnything that breaks, or that they try and the game doesn't allow.
Write down what happened and when, not what you think it means. Short notes with a time are best.
Ask questions after
When the test is over, then you can talk. Ask open questions, ones that need more than a yes or no:
- What was the most fun part?
- Was anything confusing?
- If you could change one thing, what would it be?
People are often polite and say "it was good". That is why what they do while playing is often more useful than what they say afterwards.
Quick check
Watching what players do often tells you more than asking them what they thought.
- True
- False
Show the answer
True
Players are often too polite to complain. But you can see them get stuck, frown or skip things, and that is honest information.
Five testers, then fix
Usability researcher Jakob Nielsen found that about five testers uncover most of the big problems in a design. After that, you mostly see the same problems again. So test with around five people, fix what you found, then test with five new people.
Fix the problem that hurts the most players the most. If 3 out of 3 testers got stuck on wave 1, fix that before changing a button colour. Note which version each tester played, so you know which fixes they saw.
True story: game number 52
Rovio is the studio behind Angry Birds. In a 2012 interview on Microsoft's Windows blog, Rovio's Ville Heijari said: "We developed 51 games before Angry Birds." A lot of them, he said, were "quite hardcore", made for very experienced players, like racing games or survival horror games.
Even Angry Birds changed as it was built. "In the beginning, we didn't have the slingshot in the game," Heijari said. By then, the blog reported, it had passed one billion downloads.
Hits are rarely right the first time. Studios test, fix and test again.
Source: Windows blog: Angry Birds Roost, interview with Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka and Ville Heijari (2012), blogs.windows.com
Playtest notes
1) All 3 got stuck on wave 1: nobody knew to tap a spot to plant. 2) One wished sunflowers were brighter. 3) One laughed at the snail pop. 4) One said pause is small.
Which note should the team fix first?
- Note 1: nobody knew how to plant
- Note 2: brighter sunflowers
- Note 3: the snail pop
- Note 4: the small pause button
Show the answer
Note 1: nobody knew how to plant
Note 1 hit every tester, right at the start, and stops the game being playable. Notes 2 and 4 matter less, and note 3 is something working, so keep it.
Test with all kinds of people
- Players your ageShow you if the game is fun for the players we are making it for.
- Younger kidsShow you if it is easy to learn without reading much.
- Parents and grandparentsPeople who rarely play games show you if the instructions really make sense.
- Experienced gamersFind the tricks and shortcuts that break your balance.
Bolt says: Check with a parent before sharing a test build beyond friends and family. People online are not always who they say they are, and a parent can help you pick a safe way to share.
Stage 3 complete
Look how far the games have come. Each has a clear core loop and one art style. Juice and sound make every hit feel great. Fair controls and solid game math make players blame themselves, not the game. Tutorials teach by doing, and accessibility options let more people play. PixiJS keeps it at 60 FPS, balance.json holds the numbers, and playtests tell us which ones to change.
That is green all the way: fun that players can feel.
Bolt says: Time for the boss quiz. After that, Stage 4 connects our games to the cloud.
Fact-checked 11 October 2026
- Nielsen Norman Group: Why you only need to test with 5 users nngroup.com
- Nielsen Norman Group: Thinking aloud, the number 1 usability tool nngroup.com
- Windows blog: Angry Birds Roost, interview with Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka and Ville Heijari (2012) blogs.windows.com