Submission of Major Assignment 1: Playtest Scenario and Playtest Plan
Submit your Playtest Scenario and Playtest Plan for your nano-game. The Playtest Scenario only contains the parts you will playtest with your group.
Click here to see a worked example of a Playtest Plan from Josefin Westborg.
In terms of design of your scenario, you may use your previous design from Major Assignment 2: Game Design Document and Playtest Plan in Introduction to Transformative Game Design as a baseline or create a new game. Either way, you will only focus on one key scene that your group will playtest in each session.
Later in the course, you will submit your complete a Game Design Document with all of the components as an Appendix for Major Assignment 2. Please review the linked instructions for Major Assignment 2, since Major Assignment 2 builds upon Major Assignment 1.
Word count: 400-700 words.
- Research Question:Â Include a research question for your framing design. What problem are you trying to solve or question do you hope to get answered through this Research Through Design process?
- Your Playtest Scenario should contain all the instructions that facilitators and participants need to playtest.
- A short description the nano-game as a whole (2-3 sentences)
- One (1) workshop activity you plan to include. This activity should focus specifically on preparing players to engage in the scene they will play in unique ways and be sufficiently different from any workshops you included in a previous version of the game. You will playtest the new workshop and evaluate its effectiveness in guiding players toward your chosen transformative impacts through play.
- One (1) scene from your game that participants should role-play. You will tie your workshop to this scene for your playtest. Try to choose a “core scene” with content key to the transformative impacts you hope to encourage.
- One (1) debrief question that each player should answer during the playtest. You can choose emotional. intellectual, or educational debrief questions based upon the goals of your game. Refer to the “Reflecting on Self-Awareness” and “Reflecting on Experience” from the Reflection Toolkit for some examples of baseline structures for questions. Your debrief questions should be specific to your desired transformative impacts.
- Outline a Playtest Plan, including:
- The timeframe for the structure of your playtest (see below).
- How you plan to collect feedback, such as taking notes and recordings. Remember that the debrief is a separate phase from feedback.
- The feedback questions you plan to ask your peers after the playtest.
Remember not to assign “homework” in the form of post-game questionnaires after the playtest. Gather all information during the playtest session.
Please adhere to following timeframe structure for each nanogame playtest as closely as possible:
- Give a basic brief of the game and hand out the characters (no more than 10 minutes)
- Play one (1) workshop activity designed for your nano-game for a part of the game that players might find challenging (no more than 10 minutes)
- Play one (1) scene (no more than 10 minutes)
- Ask 1 emotional, intellectual, or educational debrief question for each player to answer (5-10 minutes)
- Feedback (no more than 10 min)
= 30-50 min max
Remember that each playtest and feedback session should not exceed 50 minutes: 40 minutes maximum for the playtest making sure you save 10 min for post-game feedback from all participants. Use a timer. Be respectful of your peers’ time so that all games get playtested thoroughly.
Importantly, your debrief is a separate phase from feedback. Your debrief should focus upon the experience of the players in the game, emotionally and/or intellectually. Feedback should always come after debriefing, as processing and reflection are crucial to the transformation process.
Finally, please share your Playtest Scenario and Playtest Plan immediately with your Playtest group when complete. Your peers should have the time and opportunity to opt-out as needed. Please contact your teachers if this happens.