How to Analyze Playtest Data

What does analysing playtest data look like? I analyse and report on a single playtest question, using data from a real game test.

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What does analysing playtest data actually look like? In this hour-long stream, I analyse and report on a single playtest question, using data from a real game test.

Qualitative and quantitative data analysis is a huge part of being a games user researcher – playtests generate a lot of data, from observations of player data, ratings, interview responses and analytics.

I wanted to reveal what the process of handling that kind of data is really like. In this video I take the responses to two playtest questions (“overall, how would you rate this game”, and “why?”) and work through the whole process of atomising, themeing and reporting on the results.

At the end of the video you will:

  • Understand how to handle a large quantity of player feedback, and make sense of the conclusions
  • Be able to assess which findings are most important to communicate to game teams
  • Be able to present qualitative and quantitative playtest information on slides

You can watch the full video on YouTube here.

The game used for the playtest is Two Timin’ Towers, winner of the 2020 GMTK game Jam made by What The Game. The team kindly let an early build of their game be used for this test. Learn more about Two Timin Towers, and wishlist it here.

This video uses data gathered for my course on how to plan, run and analyse surveys. Students of the course get access to the complete playtest data, and guided through the process of designing a survey, analysing the results and presenting them impactfully.

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Meet the author

Steve Bromley is an expert user researcher, who works with studios of all sizes to run playtests, and integrate user research into the game development process.

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