Week 3 of #WYFE , also known as ‘Spring 2022 Write your First D&D Encounter Workshop’, is all about playtesting my encounter.
As noted on the #Stoco workshop website, playtesting is an optional step in the game design process in which you test your design for flaws before releasing it to the market (Arman, n.d.). As Arman (n.d.) also notes, the playtesting can be of great benefit and can help you to:
- receive valuable feedback from real gamers
- glean insights about your audience and how to anticipate their needs
- mitigate negative criticism arising from unforeseen issues in your creations prior to release.
Arman suggested to really focus your playtest, making sure to identify the areas and specify what you’d like to find out and make it easy for playtesters to offer feedback e.g., provide an overview, goals and link to survey or similar to gather responses.
Arman also suggested casting a wide net when inviting others to playtest, which I did by sharing my encounter with the RPG Writer Workshop Discord, the Game Writing Twitter community, and the Discussion section of the workshop website – I’ll also ask my D&D inspired work colleagues to take a squiz!
