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[SIDE CONVERSATION]

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PROFESSOR: Before we go into the
test, there's a couple of tips

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that I want to give you.

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Some stuff for you
to take notes on.

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But you don't really
have to do this today.

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At some point of time
in your prototyping

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you might end up getting stuck.

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And you're not quite
sure what to change.

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So [? if I ?] would have
been asking you to do things

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like amend rules, right?

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Replace rules with
other kinds of rules,

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kill rules that aren't working.

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Some other ideas that you
might want to play with,

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if there is a resource
that's currently limited you

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might want to make it unlimited.

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And vice versa.

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And I'll say the number of
steps that you can move,

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the number of currency that
you have, make it unlimited

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or you make it limited.

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It could change the way
how your game feels a lot.

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[INAUDIBLE] with other players.

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And maybe even sort of messing
up the types of decisions

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they get to make, or
maybe even the order

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that they get to make it.

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Could be something as
simple as reversing

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the order of who goes next.

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But it could be
more significant,

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like forcing another
player to make

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a move that they don't want
or taking away their options.

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You can mess with
the play order.

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Like I said, you could reverse
who goes next, but then also

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the order in which certain
rules get played out.

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Could be something that
you should be always trying

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to do with your own rules.

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Do your rules has to be
executed in the same order?

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In fact, the answer is no.

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You can probably
rearrange your rules

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and get a very
different effect, even

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without writing a new rule.

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If you're going to deal with
numbers at the prototyping

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phase, generally you don't want
to be making small changes.

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You don't want to be making 10%,
20% changes to your numbers.

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You want to be doing something
like changing things by 50%,

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maybe doubling it,
maybe halving it.

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At least change of
50%, but multiplying

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and dividing by two.

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This will give you
a much better sense

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of whether that
change to the numbers

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is going to be the thing that's
going to solve your problem.

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If you get the numbers wrong but
the changes go in the direction

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that you want, then you can dial
back the scale of the change.

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Maybe you have a variable
that was too drastic,

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but it started achieving
the things that you wanted.

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And so, OK, all right.

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Maybe sort of
halving that number

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would make it 25%
of that number.

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As an exercise, once
your prototype is already

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starting to work
one trick of trying

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to simplify your
prototype is to try

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to identify the
very few rules that

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are necessary for your
prototype to work.

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So you take all the rules
out and introduce rules,

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then, one by one.

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The rules that
you've already got.

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And you try figure
out that bare minimum.

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That's finding the
core, and that's

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the core of your
prototype, that's

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the thing that you might want
to carry into a larger game

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project in the future.

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Finally, throw away.

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In fact what I'm going
to encourage you,

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at the end of this
class today, is

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to make a completely new
prototype from scratch.

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For each person on your team.

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But I would suggest
as an exercise is just

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go back to the mechanic idea
and see what else you can

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do with that mechanic.

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Whether it's stealing from other
people or hidden information.

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All of your prototypes right now
probably test one kind of way

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to interpret that mechanic.

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What else [INAUDIBLE]
completely different ways

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to interpret exactly
the same mechanic.

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Make a prototype.

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You know, spend about
half an hour to an hour.

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You only spent an hour on
these prototype so far,

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and a lot of it was
figuring out what mechanic

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you were working on.

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Right?

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So try to build
something, test it with me

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or test it on your teammates.

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It would be great if you had a
weekend meeting, for instance,

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to go into that meeting with
as many different prototypes

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as you have team members.

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You just play each
other's prototypes

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and have a conversation.

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These are all different ways
to approach the same problem.

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So [INAUDIBLE] basically
and make something new.

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And then revisit what
you've got at a later stage.

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00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,760
So that's some tips for you
to do in the following week.

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But in the next
hour this is what

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I'm going to be
asking you to do,

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and that is to do a play test.

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Now, there are many different
ways to do a play test.

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This is probably what they're
going to be doing today.

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How many of you have
made a game that's really

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only for one person right now?

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All right, no one's
made a multiplayer game.

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00:05:01,270 --> 00:05:05,050
So you're probably going to
do a play versus player test.

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00:05:05,050 --> 00:05:11,170
That's fine, that's what we
asked for in the assignment.

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You can do multiplayer tests
for cooperative and competitive

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games.

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You can have [INAUDIBLE]
player tests where

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everybody gets the
same set of rules

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or different sets of rules.

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So the [INAUDIBLE]
symmetric or asymmetric.

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The trick with
multiplayer play test

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is that they tend to
be very, very loose.

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It's very hard to do,
say, a really, really

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tightly controlled experiment.

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One thing that often
happens is that when

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you have people playing a game
and later on in the semester

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00:05:40,825 --> 00:05:42,700
you're going to just
give them a set of rules

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and they're going to
have to interpret it.

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They might interpret
it in a way differently

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from how you intended.

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They may come up with--

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they may negotiate the
rules based on things

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that they don't quite
understand from the rules

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and come up with a solution
that wasn't necessarily

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what you expected.

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Communicate openly.

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They'll talk about, like,
hey you know is that rule--

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do you really want
to move there?

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You know?

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And things like that.

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One thing that you can do is to
have the person who is actually

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running the playtest,
someone from your own team

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where you're trying
to get information,

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00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,590
you will explain the rules
to people at the beginning,

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in early playtest.

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00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:28,550
In later playtests we
just hand them rules.

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But if they come up
with house rules,

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if they decide to interpret
your rules in a certain way,

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I would actually suggest not
stopping them right away.

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Let them play out a little bet.

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Because they're giving you a
free iteration of your game

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that you may not
necessarily have considered,

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and may end up working.

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It might work out great.

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00:06:47,050 --> 00:06:48,100
But then you cannot--

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But once they play
a little bit of that

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and then you get a sense of how
that works, take note of that,

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make sure that you know how
that is supposed to work out.

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And then explain the rules.

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No, actually.

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I'd like you to try playing
it with the rules interpreted

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00:07:00,460 --> 00:07:03,957
this way, which is the way
how you actually designed.

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And then you can get
a second player test

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of the same group of people.

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Let's see, what else.

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This is absolutely necessary
for multiplayer games.

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You are going to
have to do that.

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[INAUDIBLE]

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If you go to other classes
and make prototypes

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for digital games
on paper, you are

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going to need to do
this sort of playtest.

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So you're going to get
some experience doing

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that right now.

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I do want you to know that
there are a couple of other ways

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to do playtests.

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The Wizard of Oz
test where somebody--

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00:07:36,247 --> 00:07:38,080
the person that you're
inviting to play test

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00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,231
is basically playing
with somebody

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who's on your design
team, and that person

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is playing the computer.

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This is very good
for prototyping

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a digital game, especially a
single player digital game.

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You can be very constrained
on what information

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you provide the player.

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In fact, you don't
necessarily even

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need to provide a player
a full set of rules.

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You can just say, this
is the computer screen,

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your finger is the mouse,
or something like that.

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00:07:58,540 --> 00:08:01,910
Or even giving them a
simplified keyboard.

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00:08:01,910 --> 00:08:04,090
Up, down, left, right
or something like that.

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00:08:04,090 --> 00:08:05,964
That's how you communicate
with the computer,

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00:08:05,964 --> 00:08:08,790
you just push, or
you point, you click

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00:08:08,790 --> 00:08:12,130
by touching on the screen.

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The trick is to make
sure that the player is--

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that you're not giving clues
to the player about what

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00:08:16,390 --> 00:08:17,431
the computer is thinking.

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00:08:17,431 --> 00:08:20,050
The computer should be
communicating primarily

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00:08:20,050 --> 00:08:22,150
through the things that
a computer will show you.

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00:08:22,150 --> 00:08:27,670
Either images, sounds,
maybe numbers that change.

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00:08:27,670 --> 00:08:31,090
But the computer doesn't
actively explain the rules.

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00:08:31,090 --> 00:08:33,309
If the game was supposed
to explain the rules,

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you should have little
prototype pieces of paper

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00:08:36,190 --> 00:08:40,000
that you can hand out
in front of the player.

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00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,984
Now say the player is completely
confused and you think,

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00:08:42,984 --> 00:08:45,400
this would be a good time to
introduce a [INAUDIBLE] test.

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00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,800
Oh crap, I actually didn't
have a [INAUDIBLE] test

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00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:49,130
prepared ahead of time.

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00:08:49,130 --> 00:08:51,250
Well, grab a Post-it
pad and write it down,

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00:08:51,250 --> 00:08:52,690
slap it in front of the player.

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00:08:52,690 --> 00:08:53,690
Now that's [INAUDIBLE].

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00:08:56,470 --> 00:08:58,740
So you can be--

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00:08:58,740 --> 00:09:03,730
this can be a very,
very deep prototype.

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00:09:03,730 --> 00:09:06,730
You can actually test a lot of
different things in a computer

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00:09:06,730 --> 00:09:09,310
game on paper this
way, depending

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00:09:09,310 --> 00:09:12,160
on how much time you want to
go into producing something

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00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:13,756
to be tested.

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00:09:13,756 --> 00:09:15,880
You don't to spend too much
time because, remember,

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00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:17,588
prototypes are supposed
to be disposable.

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00:09:17,588 --> 00:09:20,090
They're supposed to
be fast and cheap.

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00:09:20,090 --> 00:09:23,500
So it's a Wizard of Oz because
it's like the Wizard of Oz.

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00:09:23,500 --> 00:09:25,600
It's somebody behind
the scenes, manipulating

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00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,500
what you're seeing.

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00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:30,170
But there's no actual
computer there, it's just you.

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00:09:30,170 --> 00:09:32,350
You have to be very,
very constrained

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00:09:32,350 --> 00:09:34,780
yourself when you're
running a test like this.

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00:09:38,464 --> 00:09:41,590
You don't want to deviate
from the algorithm

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00:09:41,590 --> 00:09:46,010
that you set up for your
computer, if at all possible.

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00:09:46,010 --> 00:09:47,840
So if you've got some
tough AI character,

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00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:49,673
you shouldn't be making
human-like decisions

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00:09:49,673 --> 00:09:50,425
for that AI.

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00:09:50,425 --> 00:09:54,147
You should come up with a
bunch of rules for that.

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00:09:54,147 --> 00:09:56,230
This is another kind of
prototype that you can do.

235
00:09:56,230 --> 00:09:58,810
Not for today's exercise,
but later on in the semester.

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00:09:58,810 --> 00:10:00,960
If you decide to do
a live action game

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00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,370
or if your games really
about just a person

238
00:10:03,370 --> 00:10:05,510
walking around in a space,
even if it's going to be

239
00:10:05,510 --> 00:10:07,630
like a top down board game.

240
00:10:07,630 --> 00:10:09,490
You could just do
a live action game

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00:10:09,490 --> 00:10:11,281
where you just have
people actually walking

242
00:10:11,281 --> 00:10:14,300
around a real space.

243
00:10:14,300 --> 00:10:16,850
You explain the rules to
everybody who's involved.

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00:10:16,850 --> 00:10:18,520
Maybe your game's
for five people

245
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,030
and you explain the rules to
all five people before the game,

246
00:10:22,030 --> 00:10:23,350
and then you let them go.

247
00:10:23,350 --> 00:10:25,890
The problem, of course,
is that they're all

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00:10:25,890 --> 00:10:27,940
going to interpret those
rules their own way.

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00:10:27,940 --> 00:10:29,860
And because they may be
physically separated,

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00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:32,250
they may not be
negotiating with each other

251
00:10:32,250 --> 00:10:34,270
and as a result may
be not even playing

252
00:10:34,270 --> 00:10:35,710
with the same set of rules.

253
00:10:35,710 --> 00:10:38,950
That's also a problem.

254
00:10:38,950 --> 00:10:41,647
It's difficult to monitor what's
happening with a lot of people

255
00:10:41,647 --> 00:10:43,730
walking around a space and
doing their own things,

256
00:10:43,730 --> 00:10:46,190
like individual agents.

257
00:10:46,190 --> 00:10:49,784
But it's really, really fast to
prototype because you may not

258
00:10:49,784 --> 00:10:50,950
even need to write anything.

259
00:10:50,950 --> 00:10:52,810
You may not even need to
produce any sheets of paper,

260
00:10:52,810 --> 00:10:54,685
you just tell people
here's a bunch of rules.

261
00:10:54,685 --> 00:10:57,220
It's like setting up
a schoolyard game.

262
00:10:57,220 --> 00:10:59,740
And so if your
games about, here's

263
00:10:59,740 --> 00:11:01,940
a character moving
around a space

264
00:11:01,940 --> 00:11:03,940
or if you're [INAUDIBLE]
trying to actually make

265
00:11:03,940 --> 00:11:07,622
a live action then this is
something that you can also do.

266
00:11:07,622 --> 00:11:09,580
This is just as valid a
prototype that anything

267
00:11:09,580 --> 00:11:13,960
that you're doing with
paper and cardboard.

268
00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,250
So here are the rules.

269
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:19,646
There's going to be people
who are going to play.

270
00:11:19,646 --> 00:11:20,770
I think we have five teams.

271
00:11:20,770 --> 00:11:22,420
One, two, three, four, five.

272
00:11:22,420 --> 00:11:24,370
Right?

273
00:11:24,370 --> 00:11:26,890
So that's a little tricky.

274
00:11:26,890 --> 00:11:31,439
How many of you have
two player games?

275
00:11:31,439 --> 00:11:32,730
AUDIENCE: Ours has two to four.

276
00:11:32,730 --> 00:11:34,240
PROFESSOR: Two to four.

277
00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:36,310
How many of you have
three player games?

278
00:11:36,310 --> 00:11:40,191
One, two-- three to four.

279
00:11:40,191 --> 00:11:41,335
[INAUDIBLE] four.

280
00:11:41,335 --> 00:11:42,801
And how many players?

281
00:11:42,801 --> 00:11:43,300
Four.

282
00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:45,490
Yours is a four player game.

283
00:11:45,490 --> 00:11:48,085
OK.

284
00:11:48,085 --> 00:11:49,900
So there's three, three.

285
00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:51,858
Yours is three to four.

286
00:11:51,858 --> 00:11:54,991
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

287
00:11:54,991 --> 00:11:55,990
PROFESSOR: Oh, actually.

288
00:11:55,990 --> 00:11:56,781
That's a good idea.

289
00:11:56,781 --> 00:11:57,610
OK, all right.

290
00:11:57,610 --> 00:12:02,170
So we're going to grab one
more MIT Game Lab staff member

291
00:12:02,170 --> 00:12:06,400
to come in and will help
test whatever team is not

292
00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,540
getting a chance--

293
00:12:08,540 --> 00:12:11,110
that doesn't have a
team available to test.

294
00:12:11,110 --> 00:12:12,820
We'll probably jump
in on this game.

295
00:12:12,820 --> 00:12:16,590
So can I just check the
two teams on my right.

296
00:12:16,590 --> 00:12:18,407
You're both three person games?

297
00:12:18,407 --> 00:12:19,990
All right, you test
each others games.

298
00:12:19,990 --> 00:12:24,242
And then this group here,
the two to four player games

299
00:12:24,242 --> 00:12:25,450
will test each other's games.

300
00:12:25,450 --> 00:12:27,790
OK?

301
00:12:27,790 --> 00:12:29,924
So you're going
to test one game.

302
00:12:29,924 --> 00:12:33,130
[SIDE CONVERSATION]

303
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:39,020
So, to clarify.

304
00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:41,249
You're going to test
one game, and they

305
00:12:41,249 --> 00:12:43,540
are going to shift over and
test the other teams games.

306
00:12:43,540 --> 00:12:45,992
We're not going to
do it simultaneously.

307
00:12:45,992 --> 00:12:46,492
OK?

308
00:12:46,492 --> 00:12:48,460
People, I'm not done yet.

309
00:12:48,460 --> 00:12:49,820
I'm not done yet.

310
00:12:49,820 --> 00:12:50,320
OK.

311
00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,620
So we're not going to
test games simultaneously.

312
00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:56,512
You're going to actually--

313
00:12:56,512 --> 00:12:59,710
we're going to test one
team's game at a time.

314
00:12:59,710 --> 00:13:02,520
So, say, the two
groups on my left.

315
00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,111
If you are testing
your four player games,

316
00:13:06,111 --> 00:13:08,360
we're going to play one
groups four player game first.

317
00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,530
Then everyone's going to move
over and play the other game.

318
00:13:11,530 --> 00:13:14,830
And the reason for that
is because the team

319
00:13:14,830 --> 00:13:17,350
that designed the game, even
though they're not playing

320
00:13:17,350 --> 00:13:20,020
the game, has a job to do.

321
00:13:20,020 --> 00:13:22,824
Someone's got to be the
facilitator, sometimes.

322
00:13:22,824 --> 00:13:24,240
In a Wizard of Oz
test that person

323
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,450
is often also the computer.

324
00:13:26,450 --> 00:13:30,610
and that person's got the job
of explaining the rules, right?

325
00:13:30,610 --> 00:13:32,989
Everyone else has got
to be an observer.

326
00:13:32,989 --> 00:13:34,530
You should have a
notepad, you should

327
00:13:34,530 --> 00:13:36,500
have something that allows
you to take down notes really,

328
00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:36,999
really fast.

329
00:13:36,999 --> 00:13:39,340
You should be like writing
down everything you can

330
00:13:39,340 --> 00:13:41,010
about what you're observing.

331
00:13:41,010 --> 00:13:45,609
In particular, keep an eye
on the faces of the people

332
00:13:45,609 --> 00:13:46,650
who are playing the game.

333
00:13:46,650 --> 00:13:49,930
It's too easy to just get mired
and try to record everything

334
00:13:49,930 --> 00:13:50,710
about game state.

335
00:13:50,710 --> 00:13:52,860
It's more interesting to--

336
00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:55,570
it's more important
to also pay attention

337
00:13:55,570 --> 00:13:58,126
to whether they're engaged
or whether they get confused,

338
00:13:58,126 --> 00:13:59,500
whether they're
being frustrated,

339
00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:04,990
or whether a particular
game interaction--

340
00:14:04,990 --> 00:14:06,220
what's interesting to them.

341
00:14:06,220 --> 00:14:08,810
You can tell a lot just by
looking at someone's face.

342
00:14:08,810 --> 00:14:11,770
So, the observers
and the facilitator,

343
00:14:11,770 --> 00:14:15,190
once you're done
explaining the rules really

344
00:14:15,190 --> 00:14:17,800
shouldn't be talking
all that much.

345
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,380
In fact, once you get onto the
later stages of prototyping,

346
00:14:20,380 --> 00:14:22,921
when you have written rules,
you shouldn't be talking at all.

347
00:14:22,921 --> 00:14:24,820
You should be leaving
it to the players

348
00:14:24,820 --> 00:14:28,481
to actually figure out
the rules on their own.

349
00:14:28,481 --> 00:14:29,980
And the reason for
that is you don't

350
00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:31,630
want to bias your results.

351
00:14:31,630 --> 00:14:34,970
You don't want to accidentally
suggest good strategies,

352
00:14:34,970 --> 00:14:35,597
for instance.

353
00:14:35,597 --> 00:14:37,930
Saying that no, you really
want to be moving this first.

354
00:14:37,930 --> 00:14:40,990
Well, maybe you should make that
a rule instead of making it a

355
00:14:40,990 --> 00:14:42,880
suggested strategy.

356
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,900
So take that out--

357
00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:48,160
One's taking notes, practice
being as quiet as possible.

358
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:52,690
This is a small room,
it's very resonant.

359
00:14:52,690 --> 00:14:54,250
It gets pretty loud.

360
00:14:54,250 --> 00:14:57,085
You can have a discussion
after class is over

361
00:14:57,085 --> 00:15:01,600
or after the two play tests are
over about what you recorded

362
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,100
and we can discuss
what you're going

363
00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:05,230
to do with that information.

364
00:15:05,230 --> 00:15:06,460
OK?

365
00:15:06,460 --> 00:15:10,560
So I think the three of us
will be playing this game.

366
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,860
And you'll need to explain to us
the rules and take down notes.

367
00:15:14,860 --> 00:15:15,760
All right?

368
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:17,488
If you need note
taking material,

369
00:15:17,488 --> 00:15:18,982
there's plenty of pads.

370
00:15:18,982 --> 00:15:23,720
[SIDE CONVERSATION]