24. Playtest Structure
Step 2. Preparation
To design the playtest structure, we’ll need to consider playtime, interviewing time, and breaks between each player. Together, this provides an overall structure for the playtest sessions.
Players in Sequence
As we saw in the vivid description (#16), it is typical in usability testing to focus your attention on only one player at a time. This means that each player is expected to arrive at your studio at a different time throughout the day.
Playtime
By considering the location of where each hypothesis to be evaluated is in the game, you will be able to estimate how long a new player might take to cover all points of interest - the total playtime. Note, this total time will likely be longer than your team might think, new players are not as familiar with the game as they are. Bear this in mind when estimating the time taken.
Interviewing Time
In addition to estimating the playtime, you’ll also need to estimate the amount of interview time required for the questions being explored. As a rough rule of thumb, if your playtime lasts for ~40 minutes, you might need ~15 minutes for interviewing.
Player Breaks
If you are planning on long playtest sessions, perhaps lasting several hours, or a complete playthrough spanning several days, you will also need to factor in breaks for the players.
Team Breaks
Don’t forget to leave sufficient time between each player. This time can be useful for a range of activities, such as:
Allowing the team to discuss findings from the last playtest.
Giving a comfort break for the team.
Resetting the game build back to the default state (if required).
Total Time
Therefore, the total time needed for playtesting can be estimated by:
Time needed = (playtime per player + interview time per player + break between each player) * no. of players.
Key Takeaway
To define the structure for each playtest, and indeed the full set of playtests, you need to work out how much playtime each player needs, the time for interviewing, and the break between one player finishing and a new player starting.