Playtesting

For Infernal Relics I’m tossing enough money out there for me to be a playtester. Huzzah! But I’ve never been a playtester before, so I have a few questions…

• How exactly does it work? Like, what is expected of playtersters?
• What counts as good feedback, and what counts as bad feedback?
• When I finally did the pledge and told my regular gaming group, they were excited to test it with me. I mentioned the playtesting to a few other people, and they were also excited to test it with me. I’m assuming I can play it with others, who probably also have to sign an NDA. Is there a limit to the number of people I can test with?
• Is solo play (me running a few heroes by myself) frowned upon?

I realize most of these answers are probably in the files handed out when testing begins, but I’m just so curious now! You know how it is.

Yes, most if not all of this will be explained by the designers when you start playtesting, but from my experience.

You get pdfs that you can print, cut (and, if you want, sleeve) yourself. You can play with your friends. Nothing is required or even really expected, but it’s hoped that you’ll be able to play and give your feedback. Solo play is absolutely encouraged. In fact, I’ve found it to be much faster than playing with others. All of the group decisions happen at thought speed rather than speech speed. It has disadvantages, of course: Fewer ideas generated and more likely to miss a rule or something.

Good feedback, I suppose, is any honest expression of your opinion of cards, decks, or gameplay. You can make suggested changes, but the designers reserve the right (of course!) to make final decisions. Suggestions on mechanics, I think, are more likely to be incorporated than suggestions on names and quotes.

There may be multiple releases of cards or even whole decks. Last time around it became clear that some decks needed more work than others, so the designers would ask us at times to focus our playtesting and feedback on those decks.

Arenson pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only thing I’d add is keep your eyes open for typos or tricky wording. Any suggestions you can give that provides needed clarity makes the game play smoother for everyone. Oh and play as much as possible!

Thanks for the tips! I will certainly strive to do my part when the time comes.

And both of my parents are English majors. It’s like I have a genetic predisposition to proof reading. Even if I didn’t WANT to look for typos and awkward phrasings, my brain WILL find them.

During my playtesting I pretty much just asked a lot of questions about stuff that I wasn’t too sure of or clear of how it worked. Also just kind of throw in who I played against what and rant on about how much I won/lost and how much I enjoyed the battle all and all.

For those of you who are new to the forum, how playtesting works is that there is a hidden category of Playtesting boards on this forum that only Playtesters can see and where they can discuss all of the games that they’ve played and all of the unreleased decks, etc.

Once the current Kickstarter campaign ends, all of the people who have pledged to be Playtesters will be added to the group and allowed to see and post in those boards.

The very best feedback from playtesters is a description of what went well / was fun and what went poorly / was not fun about the different games that you play. We will definitely sometimes encourage people to do intensive playtesting of certain decks at certain points , though feedback on any deck is good!

I’m sure it’ll be easy to get the hang of. I’ve donated to be a PT too, so I look forward to doing all this with the other (currently) 11 of you.

More then 11 people are playtesters. I kicked in a bonus $45 to be a playtester so it’s at least 12.

Last I checked it said there were 38 spots remaining out of 50, so I thought that meant there are just 12 of us.

$45 dollars to help playtest is a bit expensive, imo.

Maybe…but being able to play the game months in advanced is pretty awesome.

Yeah, but the only reason I had the money was because a guy offered me $60 to do some really easy homework, so I was like “I’ve got spare cash. Why not?” Normally I wouldn’t have enough to be a playtester.

If you’ve only got $60 your name, brother, you probably shouldn’t be spending it on a card game. Word to the wise.

No, I’ve got other money, but I just didn’t have EXTRA money. I just used that extra money for playtesting. I wouldn’t normally spend that much, because I can’t work (focus on the school) until summer, and what money I do have, I save for comics, video games, my girlfriend, etc.

I had a similar experience. I have a fairly regular playgroup that gets together and plays Sentinels together. Not too long ago, one of the guys handed me a 50 and said “Let’s do it,” so here I am.

I plan on joining the playtest as well through the extra $45, so there’s at least 14 right there.

Not to mention the already existent playtesters.

Does playtesting carry over from one expansion to the next? If so, that’s pretty awesome.

I would like to know this as well. $45 dollars is expensive to playtest an expansion. But to playtest multiple/all future expansions? WORTH IT.

I payed $75 for it not knowing it would carry over to this release. But at least I also got Rook City expansion when it was released (may as well considering they already have the preview cards) as well as the two promo cards at the time (giving me three promo Legacy).

Yup, playtesting caries over, so anyone pledging for it this time will be a playtester for all future expansions as well!

And thus the pledges skyrocket.

Might want to make that clear on the Kickstarter page. That could get some money out of some people’s pockets.

Now knowing that it’s in perpetuity and proving Spiff’s point at the same time, I have increased my pledge.

100% agreed. People see that on the main page and the option will suddenly carry a lot more weight.

Oh, well hey, the latest update answers the whole question about how long we’re playtesters. We’re permanent? Awesome! Well then I guess there will be a lot more than 12 of us. Awesome.

Ugh, now I get to wrestle with my conscience on how much I can pledge without feeling guilty.

Are playtesters getting playtest versions of Unity?

Chris said Infernal Relics is our first priority, but that playtesters will have the chance to playtest Unity later on.

I love it when questions are answered in 10 minutes. Thanks, foxtrot.

Upped my pledge. I feel dirty. But I’ll love it later.

As funny as that would be I am NOT going to wrestle you.

[quote=““The Conscience””]

As funny as that would be I am NOT going to wrestle you.
[/quote]

Alright, that was well played.

Just upped my pledge $45 as well, got my gaming group at IUPUI that I play Sentinels with.

Personally I think it is worth it to become a playtester since it is for life. Due to the fact we’re already playtesters we get the playtesting stuff before the kickstarter ends, so next expansion anyone who pledges this time around will get to playtest even earlier. And i’ll tell you one thing, these new Heroes are pretty gnarly.

I heavily leaning toward upping the pledge for Playtesting duties…filling my card sleeves with olde Pokemon cards, with printed out Infernal Relics information gives me a bit of a butterfly-in-the-stomach feeling, but one that I can’t quite tell is positive or negative.

We shall stew for a moment.

Oh? Are you one of the guys I met at Whos Yer Con, at ICTC, or at Arsenal?

Two more weeks to go, but Diablo 3 comes out at the same time… I don’t know what to do.

[quote=““The Conscience””]

As funny as that would be I am NOT going to wrestle you.
[/quote]
There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!

G is eating all my money, you’re supposed to be there to stop them! Err… me?

No, those were probably some friends of mine though. Spoke to me for a moment when you visited the Gamer’s Guild at IUPUI. Some friends and I were playing Sentinels there. I provide most of the games.

Thinking of upping my pledge, too. Seeing if any of the local gaming group, who’ll be reaping some of the benefits as well, want to split costs with me. Of course, one of them is ALSO funding the kickstarter, so we’ll see.

Out of curiosity, can one ‘gift’ Playtester status, or is it just for the person making the official pledge?

Gamer’s Guild at IUPUI == ICTC!

Welcome! Glad to see you here.

When the Kickstarter ends you’ll receive a survey/message from Paul asking you what your forum name is so that you can have Playtester forum access. I suppose if you split the pledge with your friend you guys could share a single forum account for playtesting purposes (if it’s ok with the >G guys). Though you do miss out on this nifty “Playtester” badge by your avatar.

Got a question about NDA’s. From the hints dropped by playtesters, I assume we’ll have to sign one. What about the people we play with? What’s the policy for them?

I think I have decided to not become a Playtester. I feel I wouldn’t be able to play with enough frequency to iron out enough details, and/or craft whatever I’d need to craft to be able to play effectively enough. I would simply feel too guilty slapping Playtester after my name when all I’d really be doing is selfishly looking at the cards before they’re made officially ready.

Maybe next time.

You could always pledge to be a playtester now and then next time you will be a playtester aswell and be able to start a little bit sooner.

Unless the people you play with have a photographic memory, there probably won’t be too much of a problem with them going out and spreading the word of every card and such, just let them know not to go out to public forums and post everything they can about it. At least that is what a presume, I myself usually play solo anyhow.

When I mentioned NDA, I use the term very loosely. Basically, the terms of playtesting are such that you don’t reveal too much information about them publically on the internet. If Greater Than Games finds that you do spread too much detailed information about the cards publically on the internet, your playtesting privilages will be revoked (nothing legal, simply follow the rules or you are kicked out). It’s actually encouraged that you play with friends, especially friends you play with often, so as to get better testing out of the game.

I have a group of friends at work who were REALLY excited to help me playtest (how selfless of them, I know), and I was worried it wouldn’t go anywhere until I had them each sign a NDA and either scan the documents or take photos… Easy peasy? All the better!

You could always pledge to be a playtester now and then next time you will be a playtester aswell and be able to start a little bit sooner.

Yes, I know that’s an option. But I can’t be sure what I’ll be up to when the next expansion hits, whether I’ll be in the same situation as now, or worse, or better. Of course, I could also join the bandwagon with the next expansion, whenever it hits!

That being said, if the Kickstarter is nearly over and we’re within a stone’s throw of Abuscade, I may just toss my hat ino the Playtester ring to ensure his arrival sooner rather than later.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to make Ambuscade. We’re averaging more then $1k a day, and it’s at 11 days left and 8k more to go.

And who knows, there mat be a big jump at the end making it go up to a hundred and fifty thousand at least. You can never tell about these things.

Yeah. As Fred Hicks of Evil Hat pointed out, a lot of people tend to wait for the last minute, either for easier financial record keeping or because they wait for the “sure thing” time of the project.

I think i’ll be one of those type of backers (unless it is a >G product), though I probably won’t go on there too much after the projects I decided to go ahead and back are up. Heck, I wouldn’t of even backed them if Infernal Relics kickstarter didn’t give me a reason to go on everyday.

I too have this innate power!

Please use your power to it’s fullest to rid the 2nd edition and IR of all typos, since you are a playtester.

I’ve been doing my best, but since I’ve been doing it mostly at 3AM… I caught a few weird wordings, but most of the typos have been noted by other, more well rested playtesters.