Hi,

I'm curious how other indie developers collect bug reports during playtests.

For example when players encounter things like:

• getting stuck somewhere

• something can't be clicked

• UI behaving strangely

• puzzles being confusing

Do you usually collect those reports through:

• Discord

• GitHub issues

• Steam forums

• something built into the game?

I'm trying to understand what workflows people actually use.

If anyone wants to help a bit more, I also made a short survey:

https://forms.gle/FTEFdRTtTXca8Bkn9
I'll share a short summary of the results if people are interested.

I almost only Test my Game myself before a Public Release, it might Sound odd but im nearly 40  (tomorrow im 39) and i was very activ starting with my First PC Athlon 700 MHz combined with the legendary Voodoo 3 Card which beat all other Card inclzding those by  Nvidia haha anyway i Gott quake3 which was the sh1t Back then, i shortly aftereards bought the ut99 which bought we're AAA Products that really deserved the Game, They both created the term Multiplayer only Games, but Epic and id we're Not dumb, you got bots to Play with and They could  really destroy you in the upper dificulty Strings, haha and ut had Genius Like 40 Maps in 5 Mods and they released their Original  SDK in the Same Wave combined with Internet becoming the Example of Games with longterm success and i mean ppl still Play and creat Maps..

---> nearly all my ut maps: Unreal Archive / Search

---> steamworkshop level-design;: Steam-Community :: -X-ScornGames :: Workshop-Inhalte

----> my games: -X-ScornGames - itch.io

combined effort as leveldesigner as short ego boosting video as i was argueing with a programmer that level design is as important as scripting, and in the end all parts that form to a game, .... 

-X-ScornGames: The Revenge

And i was Faschinated you could creat Your very owm worlds i mean you could creat everything the Limit was only Your Imagination....i was 14 and finally fozund a German Guide in include Most stuff you needed to create a Proper Mal, and after2 to 5 Sears i was hosted at the biggest utsite there was called planetunreal i mean all Mappers that Had a Name we're there and so Level Design was my First Love and whatever amyone might think of my Games, IAM an Artist ans nothing but that, i Made sooo much Maps and of call myself pro in this very category, thou id never Call myself progamedev and honestly i wouldnt want to be i fozund my DARK Corner within DIY, i mean i am Artist ans No AAA Dev crowd creating sometbing ID rather call playtic, polisged and Just Made to earn Money and while you might argue that ppl neeed to Live and eat that very true but Here the amount is Just Too High its Like Popmusic, hollywood movied this Money These ppl have is Missing somewhere Else ppl still  starve and die or getting in der way of some dirty Business, No i dont mean only drugs, i mean the 25 biggest companies which make for Most of pollution and i mean every Kind you can think, thats was i reject the free market and im disguested by this hell Unleashed by Economis....

but back to the topic, i tell ppl after ive released a game carefully tested by nme, they can comment on found bugs, so i can fix them, but bugs, and feedback can be very different,....becasue personal preferences of a tester are you are ALLOWED to reject....becasue its one person you know and if you ask 10 ppl, and all say something different, who is right ? lol 

further down the road the way you test your games changes within your possibilites, if you have a team or something orreleasing on steam, you might want to ask ppl, best are ppl that are experienced, who play games and like it and most of all understand that their personal opinion aint a straight forward truth so they mighht be gving you reciommendations or what you could do to avoid something and they dont argue like most ppl do "this is shit, this is ugly" or "you should do...." rather they keep a polite even friendly behaviour and understand that this is not about them or THEM VS THE DEV, rather its to supporting the game, the dev and not according to any egobased stuff...

haha ive made a rant-post about it: X-ScornGames on Game Jolt: "My thoughts and attitude towards game-testing, thou ive got carried..."

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

So if someone finds a bug after release, do they usually just write it in the itch comments under the game page?

And then you fix it in the next update?

When players report bugs that way, do they usually include enough information (like screenshots or steps to reproduce)?