Post by Evolutionary Games in How do you collect useful playtest feedback from itch.io players?

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The itch.io community isn't here to beta test your game, so asking us to fill in extra forms etc, is a big ask. If someone does leave meaningful feedback, well the planets lined up for you that day - that's all.

As for the build, that's your job. You should be able to tell which build they played based on the when they left the comment and if you're releasing so many builds that you can't tell, you should probably spend more time testing or polishing your own game before releasing it.

If you receive a comment that the tutorial is confusing: Imagine that you know nothing of the game and you must play it based on the tutorial instructions alone. How far would you get?

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Ad Revenue Notes7 days ago

That’s fair. I was probably treating casual itch.io comments too much like reports from a structured playtest.

Asking someone who voluntarily left a short comment to fill in another form would likely create more friction than useful context. Your point about the build is fair as well. For a public itch.io page with one current build, the comment timestamp should normally be enough.

I was partly thinking about closed tests where different builds are sent to different testers, but that is a different workflow from normal itch.io comments.

The tutorial example is useful. It sounds like the developer should first try to reproduce the player’s experience with no prior knowledge, then ask one focused follow-up question only if necessary.

When you receive a vague but potentially useful comment, do you normally ask for clarification in the same thread, or just investigate it yourself?

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Evolutionary Games7 days ago(+1)

I've replied to a comment to ask for clarification - but received none. Most of my games / assets have zero comments.

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Ad Revenue Notes7 days ago

That’s useful context. It sounds like the bigger problem on itch.io is getting any feedback at all, rather than organizing it once it arrives. A more detailed reporting form wouldn’t help if players aren’t commenting in the first place. Thanks for clarifying.

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