Playtesting is one of the best ways for game studios to get actionable feedback on their game, ultimately leading to a successful launch. For example, playtesting can help game studios identify key game mechanics that help maintain high retention levels, or discover what changes need to be added to the tutorial level to ensure the players know how to play.
And, although game studios know the importance of playtesting their mobile game, they are never certain when they should start. Thankfully, PlaytestCloud has your back!
In this blog, we will discuss the ins and outs of when your game studio should playtest.
Timing is everything
Simply put, playtesting as early as possible is, without a doubt, the best option for any game studio. Whether your game studio only has the first five minutes of the first level, or just concept art, using playtesting or concept surveys to gauge player reactions from the very beginning will help ensure your game is as successful as possible.
Testing early also saves you time and money as you can iterate much faster on a pre-production game, and even substantial changes are possible since you haven't committed too much time to any feature or asset yet.
In the design stages, for instance, you can use in-person tests or surveys, whereas you may want to use remote testing once you have a short playable experience. Another great way that helps your team discover what works and what doesn't is playtesting prototypes built with a tool like proto.io or Framer.
The earlier you start playtesting, the more you will understand what your players actually want from your game!
Better late than never
For those game studios that are well into the development cycle, don’t worry, it’s never too late to playtest!
PlaytestCloud’s multi-session and longitudinal studies will help you understand any retention and engagement questions that arise during soft-launch, while our first-time player experience testing will ensure the first minutes of your gameplay are grabbing your player's attention, which in turn widens the top of the funnel once you start spending heavily on user acquisition. And, although your game might be near completion, it's never a bad thing to gain some last minute insights into what motivates your players to come back time and time again.
Time is money
The ultimate goal of any game studio is to create a game that people want to play, and that will skyrocket up the top grossing list. That is why, no matter if your game is in the very beginning stages of development or is in soft launch, playtesting is always a good idea.
To see how PlaytestCloud can help your game studio discover actionable results, see our website and create an account to start a free trial!
