Hi,
my name is Chris and I'd like to offer my services to fellow game developers who needs feedback on their games. There are some sites where some developers post their games asking for anyone to provide feedback on pretty much anything, but I think it's also good to do things the other way, so if you are looking for someone with a specific background to test your game this is a way of doing that. I'll list my services and a bit about my background.
What services I am offering
I have a set of monitoring tech which can be used during playtesting.
- On-screen camera-feed so you'll be able to read my body language during play. I don't put on a show and act like let's players, I keep it real.
- On-screen screen capture so you'll see the game I'm playing.
- On-screen gaze-capture so you can see where my eyes are looking on the screen at all times.
- On-screen keyboard and mouse overlay and game controller overlay, so you'll at all times see which buttons I am pressing.
- On-screen heart-rate monitor so you judge my levels of stress, excitement, and other feelings (currently just a number but will be changed to a graph and be stored to a JSON file eventually, haven't gotten around to develop that tool just yet).
- On-screen timer so if you edit the footage there is a persistent time marker which can be referenced.
- If you have a tool that exists outside the game window I can also capture this as part of the footage, for instance console print outs for seeing error messages in real-time, for instance.
These are all recorded into a single video file where the audio is split into different channels. Channel 1 has game-audio and voice-audio, channel 2 has game-audio and channel 3 has voice-audio, so there is an option for you to split these in an editing software if needed.
How the testing is conducted is up to you. I can do in-person video calls to perform some forms of testing and can also record the sessions and send it back to you.
- Contextual inquiry (only possible within the timeframe of 1000-1600 CET on weekdays). We can have an video-call meeting and you'll watch me play the game with all the monitoring tech and you may at any time ask me questions about what I am doing or what I am thinking regarding something.
- Think-aloud. I'll just play the game and speak what I am thinking. Combined with the monitoring tech may give some indicators as to why I am thinking it, based on what elements I have seen or not seen on screen.
- Task analysis. Prepare me for a specific task and I'll try to solve it the most intuitive way as I would normally. You can then measure my performance and have the added monitoring information on top of that to analyze. You can still ask me questions in a prepared questionnaire or whatever else afterwards.
- Just play. I'll just play the game without any task in mind and focus on the game itself.
- Whatever other method you think answers your questions.
Technical Limitations
I will be testing this on a PC running Windows 11, running a 5800x and a Vega 64. I am using PS5 controllers but these can be emulated as Xbox 360 controllers if needed. Currently I don't have a proper setup for mobile games and I don't want to install mobile games on my primary phone, so I won't test mobile games.
My background
I am an UX designer who moved over from the web/app designing field and teaching in higher education into the video game industry a couple of years ago. My BA was in virtual art and design and my MA was in media practices.
What's in it for me
Currently I am in more of an art production role at work and I really miss doing UX/Research stuff, and so doing the work to a small extent through this keeps my mind in shape regarding all the UX theory.
How much does this cost?
For now I am doing this for free while I am getting into the grove of it and improve the tech as needed. But because of this I don't think I'll be doing tests for longer than 30-45 minutes at a time, so it would be good if you planned ahead for something specific and be able to frame the test around that time limit. But going a bit over it is not the end of the world, if there is the need to talk about something for a longer period of time. These tests will have to be conducted within 10:00-16:00 CET on weekdays.