The basics of a playtest setup from a tech perspective is for the team to be able to see and hear what the player is doing while located at another part of the studio.

Essentially, you’re aiming to transmit the game visuals and audio from one location to another. This guide won’t cover how to stream audio and video from one computer to another, other online resources will cover that better than I can. What we will discuss however, is what needs to be transmitted.

There are two distinct phases of the playtest that your tech solution needs to consider:

1. Observation phase - when observing each player, your tech solution should enable the team to assess:

   • Gameplay - see what the player is seeing on their screen

   • Audio - hear in-game audio, useful for confirming events/interactions

   • Input - what is the player pressing on the controller or mouse/keyboard

   • Facial expressions - it can be useful to see the player’s face, this can help highlight any obvious moments of frustration or delight.
     
     

2. Interviewing phase - while the player is being interviewed, the rest of the team will need to see and hear what is being discussed.

You can always enhance this setup, but this covers the basics. Some enhancements for the future might include recording the gameplay/interviews and live streaming if your team is working remote.

Playing the Build

Once the tech setup is complete, check it with the exact build of the game that will be used for the playtest. You are looking to ensure that the part of the game where each hypothesis is located plays as you’d expect.

Key Takeaway

Your tech setup can start simple and evolve from there. The main purpose is to allow your team to observe gameplay and hear the player interviews from a separate location.

Next: 36. Paperwork