teach students methodologies for involving players in their design process, creating test scenarios,
really listening to feedback, evaluating results, and
learning how to productively integrate changes
into their designs.
This is exactly what we do in the games programs at USC Interactive Media. At every level of
design instruction, playtesting is part of the process. From informal tests of paper prototypes, to
more structured tests in our state-of-the-art lab
for digital projects, students are taught to embrace
player feedback. My hope is to train a generation
of designers who use solid, repeatable methodologies in their design process, ones that allow them
to take greater risks in their work, expand the
boundaries of play, and explore its innate beauty.
design nirvana. Before, it had just been me and
my idea. Now I was engaged in a dialogue with my
players, and with Kevin, who helped me learn how
to integrate player feedback with discretion.
Later when I began to teach game design, I
remembered that epiphany, and I knew there was
no way to explain to my students how important user testing is to the design process—they
would have to experience that moment of insight
themselves. But I could build it into their training. I could force them to sit behind that glass
and watch players try to use their game. I could
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tracy Fullerton has
been a game designer for 15 years, developing
projects for companies including Microsoft, Sony,
Disney, Intel, MTV, and NBC. Currently, she is
co-director of the Electronic Arts Game Innovation
Lab at USC, where she has worked on experimental games such as Cloud, flow, and The Night Journey. She is also
the author of Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to
Creating Innovative Games, a design textbook in use at game programs worldwide whose second edition is scheduled for release
in early 2008.
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DOI 10.1145/1340961.1340971
March + April 2008
