Why becoming a great playtester will not only make you a better designer but also get more people to playtest your games
Most of us have found ourselves in that situation where we’re at a game design event and we’d love to get in just one more playtest of our game before the night is over.
But how do you do that without coming across as selfish or being pegged as that designer who is only there to playtest their own game?
The answer may surprise you.
I spoke with Peter C. Hayward, founder of Jellybean Games, as part of the first ever Board Game Design Virtual Summit, and he talked about why you should first focus on becoming a great playtester and how this will open so many doors for you.
Rather than explain what he meant by this, I wanted to share a little snippet of our conversation (it’s a quick but valuable 2-and-a-half-minute clip). Have a listen here.
We also talked about ways to eliminate that dreaded beast, downtime, the best questions to ask at various stages of playtesting to get the most helpful feedback, and how to interpret body language to ensure people are loving your game instead of tuning out.
It was a great chat, as were all the other interviews during the Summit (and the 3 Summits since then!).
What are your thoughts on how playtesting other people’s games can make you a better game designer?
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