Full-Tang
Recruit
Being new to this product's testing process, I would like to make a few general suggestions and comments concerning the development side of things - when discussing issues here on the board.
A little background of myself might be in order first.
I've tested several game products in the past. They are all MMOs from Everquest, to Star Wars Galaxies, to World of Warcraft.
Given that, I have never tested a single-player game, though I have played MANY over the years, and understand the differences between good ones and bad ones.
I usually try to avoid getting involved in the mathematics. The reason is, in the products mentioned above, mathematical balance cannot be understood by a single player testing a single class or profession in a game. They require the knowledge of the entire game, that is all the possible classes or class combinations, in order to understand where a potential imbalance may reside.
Therefore, I have a tendency to remove myself from the math, and pursue instead game play. To me, game play includes a lot of different potential discussions, but is the single most important feature of a game. (We've been developing a game design philosophy among our group for many years now, and there are principles to live by that don't need to be discussed here.)
One of the major issues I have when testing a game product is - where is the development team going with all this?
Testing takes time, and many times (like in M&B) it is difficult to overlook the fun game play in order to criticize accurately.
Taking time, it needs to be efficiently done. Therefore, I often request from the developers or creative director that they comment on MY comments. That is, when I mention an aspect of the game that should be looked at - the developers will inform me if I am outside the box, and you will not be pursuing this angle.
What this does is help me to find the limits to which the game will be developed, and I can concentrate on other aspects of the design.
An example of this:
Full-Tang: "I see a potential problem where the quest is not enough content. Suggestion - add 25 other quests."
Developer: "We intend there to be this single quest in the game at release time. We will be adding depth of content to this quest, but not adding content in the form of other quests."
AHA!
Now I know part of where the sides of the box reside, and I can concentrate on other things. This makes the testing process much more efficient, and hopefully my contribution will be more useful as a result.
Secondly - related to the above, if it's possible to have a single thread where all the developers' posts can be found, life is that much easier (and more efficient!)
Perhaps the board administrator can set it up so each time one of those working on the game makes a statement, it is automatically added to that thread and can then be easily found.
It would also be very important to understand that these comments in the new thread won't be viewed in the context of the discussion they were pulled-from. Therefore, attached above the developer's comment should be a link to the thread from which it was taken so when reading it I fully understand what the developer is referring-to.
Lastly - it's always helpful if a developer asks the testers to concentrate on certain issues s/he is currently working with, so that the testers (hopefully) correspond with what the team is doing at that moment in time. We call this Dogfiling.
Therefore, when the developer adds something new, s/he requests the testers to Dogfile it. Within the same day, then, there is considerable commentary on the boards concerning that particular concentration of attention, and hopefully any issues are quickly resolved.
Now - this post itself might be outside the box lol, but let me summarize...
1 - Developer comments might include the important feature of informing the testers whether or not they are outside that box, and won't be pursuing a given potential content change. Why is also important.
(This has always been missing from the testing process, and as a result the testers are blindly going about their business with no way of knowing what the limits of the design are going to be)
2 - A single thread compiling all developer posts would be a great addition, especially to those of us new to the beta. In this way, there is a single place to go to have some insight into the direction we should be pursuing.
(This one is stolen from City of Heroes. It's a great addition, very useful)
3 - A request for concentration of testing, or Dogfiling, so each issue a developer may be pursuing today is also concentrated on by the testers.
(This is my experience from the Star Wars Galaxies beta test. Though the product did not turn out that well, the idea in concept was a good one)
Hope it helps.
A little background of myself might be in order first.
I've tested several game products in the past. They are all MMOs from Everquest, to Star Wars Galaxies, to World of Warcraft.
Given that, I have never tested a single-player game, though I have played MANY over the years, and understand the differences between good ones and bad ones.
I usually try to avoid getting involved in the mathematics. The reason is, in the products mentioned above, mathematical balance cannot be understood by a single player testing a single class or profession in a game. They require the knowledge of the entire game, that is all the possible classes or class combinations, in order to understand where a potential imbalance may reside.
Therefore, I have a tendency to remove myself from the math, and pursue instead game play. To me, game play includes a lot of different potential discussions, but is the single most important feature of a game. (We've been developing a game design philosophy among our group for many years now, and there are principles to live by that don't need to be discussed here.)
One of the major issues I have when testing a game product is - where is the development team going with all this?
Testing takes time, and many times (like in M&B) it is difficult to overlook the fun game play in order to criticize accurately.
Taking time, it needs to be efficiently done. Therefore, I often request from the developers or creative director that they comment on MY comments. That is, when I mention an aspect of the game that should be looked at - the developers will inform me if I am outside the box, and you will not be pursuing this angle.
What this does is help me to find the limits to which the game will be developed, and I can concentrate on other aspects of the design.
An example of this:
Full-Tang: "I see a potential problem where the quest is not enough content. Suggestion - add 25 other quests."
Developer: "We intend there to be this single quest in the game at release time. We will be adding depth of content to this quest, but not adding content in the form of other quests."
AHA!
Now I know part of where the sides of the box reside, and I can concentrate on other things. This makes the testing process much more efficient, and hopefully my contribution will be more useful as a result.
Secondly - related to the above, if it's possible to have a single thread where all the developers' posts can be found, life is that much easier (and more efficient!)
Perhaps the board administrator can set it up so each time one of those working on the game makes a statement, it is automatically added to that thread and can then be easily found.
It would also be very important to understand that these comments in the new thread won't be viewed in the context of the discussion they were pulled-from. Therefore, attached above the developer's comment should be a link to the thread from which it was taken so when reading it I fully understand what the developer is referring-to.
Lastly - it's always helpful if a developer asks the testers to concentrate on certain issues s/he is currently working with, so that the testers (hopefully) correspond with what the team is doing at that moment in time. We call this Dogfiling.
Therefore, when the developer adds something new, s/he requests the testers to Dogfile it. Within the same day, then, there is considerable commentary on the boards concerning that particular concentration of attention, and hopefully any issues are quickly resolved.
Now - this post itself might be outside the box lol, but let me summarize...
1 - Developer comments might include the important feature of informing the testers whether or not they are outside that box, and won't be pursuing a given potential content change. Why is also important.
(This has always been missing from the testing process, and as a result the testers are blindly going about their business with no way of knowing what the limits of the design are going to be)
2 - A single thread compiling all developer posts would be a great addition, especially to those of us new to the beta. In this way, there is a single place to go to have some insight into the direction we should be pursuing.
(This one is stolen from City of Heroes. It's a great addition, very useful)
3 - A request for concentration of testing, or Dogfiling, so each issue a developer may be pursuing today is also concentrated on by the testers.
(This is my experience from the Star Wars Galaxies beta test. Though the product did not turn out that well, the idea in concept was a good one)
Hope it helps.
