C3V Playtesting FAQs

[tcglkn]

HERE IS AN EMPTY COMPREHENSIVE-FORM TO FILL OUT

HERE IS AN EMPTY QUICK-FORM TO FILL OUT


Here is how to use the empty forms above:

1. Get a notepad and take notes as you playtest. (using a laptop and notepad/word works too)
2. When you are done open the Empty Playtesting Form.
3. A window will appear with a single post. That post is the Blank Playtesting Form.
4. Click the QUOTE button at the bottom.
5. You should now fill out all the required information.
6. Once the info is complete, highlight all of the text in the entire post (minus the [quote] code). Then right click the text and click copy.
7. Close the window.
8. Paste the the text in a PM to the Lead Playtester and hit submit.
9. You are done.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A COMPLETED PLAYTEST FORM (no public examples yet)

This thread is here to answer any questions on the specifics of play-testing.

FAQs

Q - What is Play-Testing?
A - Play-Testing is a term used to describe what people do to "test" a new game or game component simply playing the game through a series of prescribed tests to check for brokenness or game compatibility.

Q - Who can Play-Test?
A - Any Heroscapers.com member can play-test C3V.

Q - How do I know what to play-test?
A - To find out what units need play-testing, you will need to go to the "C3V Playtesting Sign-up" thread. You may pick any available Design to Playtest and announce that you will be playtesting it there, and then click the appropriate LINK on the front page. That link will take you to the Profile Page of the Lead Playtester (LP) so that you can send him a Private Message asking for the current info for playtesting.

Q - How do I play-test?
A - Here is a detailed list on how to play-test each Design type.

Spoiler Alert!

Check out the Playtesting FAQs! Once C3V Design Threads have been moved to the playtesting phase, the Lead Playtester will run an Initial Playtest, when the Lead Playtesters vote to send it to Public testing they will be posted in the public C3V Public Playtest Sign-up. Any HeroScapers.com user can sign-up for one playtest at a time, and the Lead Playtester will PM that member the current form of the design. The Playtester must return any completed Playtest Sheet to the Lead Designer, who will post it in the appropriate Private Design Thread. The Playtester must not share the Design with anyone other than the Lead Playtester, and failure to comply, will be grounds for dismissal from the C3V project.

The following are the minimum requirements for Playtesting any C3V Design

• Figure Design: 10 Playtesters are in total are required (3 Comprehensive Tests; 7 Quick Tests). Each playtester should complete a C3V PUBLIC PLAY TEST FEEDBACK FORM; COMPREHENSIVE or QUICK that includes detailed reports of 2 army tests with the tested Design as part of an army battling another army of the same point cost. (Try to make the armies competitive or synergetic, don't just throw random units together.)

Q - Are there any hints, tips, or guides on how to Play-test?
A - This post can be very helpful in listing a few things that you should look for when Play-testing.

Spoiler Alert!

CHECK LIST FOR FIGURE UNITS

- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak.
- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.

- ARMY TEST X2/ Create a competitive army using the test unit as a base, and then play a single game with the test unit in a competitive army against another competitive army. Both armies should have the same approximate point cost, 400-600 is a great competitive point range and should be the range for point value of most Armies, but you can feel free to test armies that have a higher or lower point value.
Be sure to run this test twice, using different armies in each game.

Q - How do I document my play-test results?
A - Here is the COMPREHENSIVE-FORM to use.
Hers is the QUICK-FORM to use.


Q - Where do I post my Feedback Form when I have completed it?
A - Send your completed Playtest sheet in a PM to the Lead Playtester of the Unit that you have playtested.
NEVER POST ANY INFORMATION ABOUT AN UNRELEASED UNIT IN PUBLIC THREADS!


Q - How in depth should my feedback be?
A - Take good notes and write down anything of importance. Information on almost anything the tested unit does or affects is critical. If you feel like you aren't giving enough information, give a turn by turn report.

Q - Is it possible to play-test on my own without an opponent?
A - Yes. Many of us have been Solo-Scaping for a while, and we haven't gone blind yet.

Spoiler Alert!

What you need to do to Solo-Scape is to decide before beginning that you will not change the results based on what you want. So if you roll a 20 for Mind Shackle, then you must honor those results. Also, there are many times in competitive games where predicting your opponents Order Marker placement is a huge factor. Since you "know" where your "opponents" markers are because you are your "opponent", you will need to exercise some selective memory. Don't try to remember where the orders are, instead, role play as yourself. By this I mean, you should make a decision that you believe you would make if you did not know what the "opponent" is thinking. Also, it is important when rolling for initiative to have a system for knowing when a team is rolling. What I do is I always assume that the first Initiative roll is for the "unit" that I am testing. Another method would be to use two separate colored D20s, one color for each team. I also set up right next to my computer so I can type as I play or right after I play a game, that way the results are fresh in my mind and my test sheet is accurate.

Q - What kind of tests do you want run?
A - For the C3V we want tests for any version of Offical HeroScape you can play. Basically if it is an event that you would see run at GenCon or an Offical Scenario, you can test our units in those situations. Team battles and higher point battles are also acceptable.

Q - How long do we have to test?
A - While we understand people are busy and testing takes a good bit of time, please do not sign up if you cannot complete it in less than 3 days. This will allow us to get more people who can test faster to sign up. If you sign up for a test and take over a week to do it, not only are you holding up the unit, but you possibly took the test from another person who had a free afternoon to test. Even if something has been up for a few days, PM the LP and see if they need testers. Also let us know if you need more time or cannot complete a test. Communication goes a long way here.

Q - Do we need to test the Basic Stats too?
A - No. Basic sides have no cost, so no testing is needed.

Feel free to ask any questions on Playtesting, as we will be dealing specifically with the ins and outs of Play-testing here.

[tcglkn]

Updated with basic information from Griffin over in the C3G. Props to Griffin. Please ask any questions I may have missed!

[Chardar]

A couple of suggestions to make playtesting easier on both you and your wallet.

DO NOT print anything for your testing. Unless you only plan on playtesting a single unit in your entire life you will burn through printer ink extremely quickly. Especially if a unit is edited based on the test results. Think about it. For that one unit you printed the initial card, then the updated card, then the final card. That's a lot of printing for one unit. Here's some things you can do instead.

This is my personal favorite, but you'll need either an iPod or a phone with web browsing. Come to the website and just take a snapshot of the figure's stats. This works especially well with the non-carded units (the cards are made after playtesting), because the text can be aligned to fit the screen without much effort. Then just place order markers on your phone as if it were a card.

If not just copy the card down onto notepaper. This isn't as neat, and does require a bit of effort, but a pencil and a sticky note are much cheaper than printer ink, or a smartphone for that matter.

[tcglkn]

The card's won't even be made by the Playtesting phase. It will just be a list of stats and powers.

[DragonSlayer2]

So does this mean we will be seeing figures to playtest soon???

DragonSlayer2
~getting excited

[tcglkn]

Soon.

[The Champion of Weston]

I can't wait to see what the figure is to playtest.

[Viegon]

How quickly do you have to send in your Playtesting Form?

[DragonSlayer2]

^ thats a good question. How long do we have??

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Viegon

How quickly do you have to send in your Playtesting Form?

Hopefully, there will be some leeway with the holidays for the first unit.

[Dredd Stev]

Originally Posted by DragonSlayer2

^ thats a good question. How long do we have??

That's really up to the LP of the unit you'll be testing (in this first case it's tcglkn) but as a general rule of thumb I think 2-4 days is reasonable amount of time. We have some of our own requirements for the public playtesting phase and rest assured your input is highly valued... but please don't sign up right away if you can't test properly for a week or more, that just slows us down.

It's also worth noting that you should make a strong effort to format your comments and notes to the LP properly. The established posting standards for the site apply to anything you submit to us too, and poor grammar / hard to follow comments won't win you any praise from us...

On the other side of things we encourage all PPT's (Public-Play-Tester) to share their insights and thoughts byond what is strictly on the playtest sheet. This is a very important part of the overall C3V process and the more data we have to mine the better the finished Haduc will be.(See what I did there? Haduc sounds like product! I'm so clever )

[quozl]

Question: Basic too?