How to Use Playtester Mistakes to Improve Your Game Design

Recently, I have adopted a new tactic for playtesting. I explain the rules of the game to my playtesters, and then tell them that I am going to roleplay as a rulebook. I will answer any questions they may have, but I will not correct any mistakes they make without being prompted. This is not exactly blind playtesting, but it is a similar concept: see what mistakes players make when the designer is not correcting them. We are blind to players' perspectives, undervaluing messy playtests and overestimating the impact of errors.

Errors reveal the resilience of our designs. In watching playtesters play Junkernauts, my miniatures game about household appliances fighting each other, I consistently see playtesters forget to counterattack. Counterattacks are a critical part of strategy in the game because they create a combat trading puzzle in which players seek ways to attack that avoid retaliation. But the game works even without counterattacks: there are still tactical considerations, just simpler. While I could remove counterattacks from the game, I leave them in because I know players will learn about them at some point.

Errors show what players assume. In a recent Junkernauts playtest, I was trying out a new ranged bottle-rocket weapon that damages other enemies in line of sight of the user. I discovered that players assumed this meant other enemies in a straight line, rather than in other directions. This suggests that changing it to hit enemies in the same line as the target would better match expectations. It is more difficult for players to self-report unintuitive mechanics if they already know what the rules are supposed to be, because their knowledge anchors their expectations.

Errors indicate which mechanics need more reminders. Preventing mistakes is less important than helping players recover from them. One of my favorite ways to do this is to highlight the existence of rules through special abilities. Since players often forget about counterattacks in Junkernauts, I have several counterattack powers; the Scaldron can counterattack before it is attacked rather than after, and the Doomba cannot be counterattacked at all. Even if players miss that counterattacks exist, they will eventually discover them because of these abilities. I keep track of which mistakes players correct and which ones they never notice to determine which mechanics I need additional cues to highlight.

Mistakes teach us how resilient our games are, what we can change to be more intuitive, and which mechanics need more player attention. They are a golden opportunity to learn things about your game that are impossible for you as the designer to see because you already know the rules. Correcting them during the game denies you some of the most unbiased feedback you can find.