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Tile-laying City-builder - Signed Game - Req. Blind-testing

4 replies [Last post]
Wed, 11/13/2019 - 23:44
fixpix
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Joined: 09/22/2008
CBR Salesheet

Hello everyone :)

I am looking for playtesters for a competitive tile-laying city-builder game. As the title says, the game is currently signed with a publisher and will be released sometime in the near future.

Fortunately, most of the kinks have been ironed out with my regular playing group but blind-testing the game has become more important than ever.

I cannot offer much but I can save a spot in the "thank you" notes for you and return the favour by playtesting games that you might be working on as well.

Thank you for your time!

If you want to have a quick look and decide if it's something you'd be interested in, please refer to the salesheet attached.

The PNP can be downloaded from the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/799kggrhkyuiovc/CBR_PNP_20191113.zip?dl=0

I should point out that while there is a solo variant for the game, I am not interested in feedback on it. One of the main purposes of the blind test is collecting data for monuments, which are not actually used in the solo variant.

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Thu, 11/14/2019 - 00:02
#1
questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Hmm... Wrong approach

From my experience, you need to hire or make an agreement with a "Game Developer"... James Mathe's website used to have a list of "Game Consultants" and their roles. Many of them have the "Game Developer" skill set ... but usually it costs money for them to perform.

Here is a LINK/URL to those "Game Developers":

http://www.jamesmathe.com/hitchhikers-guide-to-business-consultants/

Best of luck finding the RIGHT resource for the job!

There is also TWO (2) other services that offer this: Game Smiths and Coalition Game Studios.

https://www.gamesmithsplaytesting.com

http://www.coalitiongames.com/rates.html

Take a look at those too...

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Thu, 11/14/2019 - 01:34
#2
fixpix
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Joined: 09/22/2008
Thanks for those links! Very

Thanks for those links, very useful information!

You're right, the publisher is going through a similar effort using their own resources. In the meantime, I could use all the help I can possibly get, professional or not. Playtesting is the one thing a game can't have enough of ;)

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Thu, 11/14/2019 - 12:38
#3
ananda
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Joined: 11/03/2019
Blind playtesting doesn't

Blind playtesting doesn't require professionals. In fact, amateurs may be better because they give a good idea of how the average person will interpret the game, rather than people who play games for a living. Of course, professionals are much easier to persuade.

@fixpix, I think you forgot to attach the salesheet.

Edit: never mind, I see it.

One approach I've found to be surprisingly effective is to go to your flgs and ask random people to play your game. Most will say no, but some will say yes. Some are even willing to read the rules (though an explanation video is very helpful), so that can be a good source of blind and non-blind playtesters.

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Thu, 11/14/2019 - 15:40
#4
questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Trust me: you need a Developer

ananda wrote:
Blind playtesting doesn't require professionals.

Your lack of experience shows. I have had Joseph Pilkuss III as my developer for a over three (3) years with TradeWorlds.

ananda wrote:
In fact, amateurs may be better because they give a good idea of how the average person will interpret the game, rather than people who play games for a living. Of course, professionals are much easier to persuade.

It's not that they are "professionals", it's that they have PLAYTESTING GROUPS usually with more than 4 players. I believe Joe has two (2) Playtesting Groups which he deals with one in Philadelphia and one in Virginia. And these groups do the "heavy lifting" and play the games, Joe collects the data and then consolidates everything and shares with me their comments.

These groups are just your average GAMERS but can HELP because they have played a lot of different games over the years.

While your FLGS idea is sort of valid, it's more for "late-playtesting" with the help of the Designer. Very few groups will "study" the rules at a FLGS even if the event is for board gamers. Usually certain people have established the games they want to play AHEAD of time.

Believe me, I've done this before too. Nothing compares to a "professional" and his/her groups. Finding the right one, that's up to you and the feel you get from first contact with the Developer.

Trust me... If you want to have your game properly playtested, you need to either A> Find a Developer (you can ask how may Groups he has and the amount of gamers in them... Could be a good way to establish a rapport) or B> Use a service that is specialized in Playtesting...

I've done both... And I'd rather deal with a "Professional" and his gamer groups. The problem with services (and BTW they did help us immensely) is that sometimes the playtesters can be TOO CRITICAL and give you POOR feedback. But sometimes the feedback (or casual comments) are good. For example: One playtester service was a bit critical in their ratings... Even thought they had a good experience playing the game. They helped us in determining that each Faction SHOULD have TWO (2) Asymmetric powers: one militaristic and one economic. That was super brilliant and it was thanks to a playtesting service (which cost us $400 USD because it was 4 different playtests testing various "game configurations"). But for one (1) comprehensive test it was $100 USD.

And so YMMV ...

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