Playtesting
Learning paths through this topic
Was the tester even looking at the monster when the scare went off?
A scare that fires behind the player's back, or at the edge of the screen, often looks like a failure in the results. This entry checks where each tester was looking, handles the tricky case of turning past a full circle, and tells whether the scare was seen.
Four horror fans and one beginner tested my game: whose opinion should count?
Friends who test your scary game are usually fans of scary games, but your players may not be. This entry reweights the ratings to match the audience you actually expect, and says what to do when a whole group of players is missing from your tests.
After which ending do testers start the story again?
Replaying is the strongest sign that an ending left a question open, or a wish. This entry measures it per ending and leaves out the testers who had to stop because their time was up, who would otherwise make every ending look boring.
I can test on only a few phones: which ones cover most of my players?
Buying the most popular phones again and again tests the same things over and over. This entry shows how to choose a small set of test phones by what each one adds that the others lack, weighted by how many of your players have that trait.
Is my level too long for the short breaks people play in?
Phone games are played in gaps, and a level that does not fit the gap is left unfinished. This entry shows how to turn your logged session lengths and level times into the share of start moments that still finish, and why long sessions must count for more.
Some sessions last 40 days because the phone clock jumped
A few players show impossible play times, and they drag every average. The cause is a phone clock that was changed or corrected in the middle of play. This entry shows which two clocks to record, how to notice a jump and how to still place a session in time.