Game Smiths Play Testing

This looks great! I like your Facebook page and look forward to the website. I have a couple of games I would love to have you test. I'll be in touch soon!

Joe

Hey Tyson, I'd like to know more about pricing structures and services offered.

What kind of time frames do you all need?
What kind of games do you playtest? And at what phases of development?

Thanks for sharing!

Geeze, what more can someone ask for. Sounds like a fantastic service.

I'm in the process of making revisions to two games, but I'd love to send you one in the next month or so.

Are you all on Twitter, too?

I'm just trying to say that nobody contacts "Coalition Games" unless they are serious about their game. Paying for a "service" with reasonable pricing structure is something "serious" designers do.

I would feel bad if only "poor" prototypes or "less exciting" games might land up in your "queue" only because the designers know that your playtesting is FREE. It's not like I am advocating "Coalition Games" business model (as compared to yours). I am just saying that sometimes it is worthwhile to "invest" into something.

Free for a few people to play once and say: "This is crap." Or "This will never make it." Isn't a service that would interest me... I'm just worried people may "abuse" the generous offer of your team's time with games that are less than at par (whatever that means).

One "technical" question: "Do you mail back the games you test?"

And if you do, don't you take a loss when shipping back games??? Just wondering -- this was a bit unclear. While PNP productions take effort and time to construct, again they are at your "cost" (Paper and cutting time, etc.) Don't you take a "loss" playtesting these games!?

We're looking for another set of "eyes" on the NEXT "prototype". We'll have to wait until January 2018 to get a better understand of your offer. We will of course playtest the game in November - December, and see what people think of this LATEST "incarnation" of the game.

The game has been totally "re-vamped" for it's production release which should occur some time in Q2 2018 and delivered by Q3 2018. Maybe a little earlier (we hope).

Your services could be "invaluable" to us - since this prototype would be next going to the manufacturer for production...

One of the point mentioned was "Shipping Back" games. I would of course be willing to pay to have this Prototype returned. This is something some people who use your service may want too.

But first it needs my playtesting and hopefully some LOCAL "playtesting" too ... See if I can maybe get some other people involved at the local level.

I'll PITCH your service to the good people of "Outer Limit Games" and see if they are okay once I get more details concerning your service. It's got to be SOON ... because we want to go into production SOON TOO!

Will get back to you on our schedule, once I get a confirmation.

Cheers!

I was fortunate enough to get in on the FREE offer!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys have to say. I'm really hoping I'm not wasting your time. This is the first game I have sent out for reviews. I've had a lot of playtesting at Protospiels and GenCon and blind tests and with a playtesting group. I still worry if it was enough... :)

Look forward to your review and please, don't go easy on me!

Joe

We're very excited too! I just got a confirmation e-mail from our Developer Joseph Pilkus (@The Professor) and he thinks the idea of a third-party blind playtest is a good idea.

Totally understandable. I'd like to mention one single point: Our game is "scenario" based and features a couple expansions ALREADY! As such I would be interested in trying three (3) different playthroughs... Because how the game is designed, these will offer totally DIFFERENT game experiences to the players. While the "core" is similar and as players become more familiar with the "core", the game tends to speed up with more familiarity. The specifics change in how the game progresses and also how more complicated the game is.

I'm just waiting for a response from OLG (our Publisher) and see what the timeline and schedule looks like. They will be the ones to decide if we give your service a try. Like I said already our Developer thinks it's a good idea... So we'll need to wait until Mike & Stan respond.

And I'm hoping your pricing structure is reasonable too... We're all for giving you guys some early business. But at the same time, it needs to be affordable too.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to PM me.

Cheers.

We'll see what Joe's groups think... For now let's say 3 playtests and ignore the experimental one (#4). It's experimental because I have never tried both the Planetary Expansion with the alternate scenarios. Those alternate scenarios have been playtested - but the COMBO has not.

Right now the plan is for Joe's groups to handle it...

We should be okay with only the 3 playtests and you'd experience about 75% of the game in those 3 games. There's still another scenario (Battle Front) and another expansion (Roles Compendium) ... but we'll rely on Joe's teams to handle those playtests.

We want you to get "your feet wet"... and not "drown you in the sea" so to speak! LOL For $39 USD, backers are getting a fantastic deal. The game is packed with all kind of scenarios, expansions, and all around amazing artwork.

So let's stick to 3 playthroughs...

The website looks excellent, Tyson! Nice work.

Just wanted to give a[nother] public shout-out to these guys and the work they do. The video footage and critique provided is great for games that have made it to the blind play-testing stage, and/or are in need of development. Their prices and turnaround are reasonable, and the end product provides a wealth of information.

Beyond my monthly game design group meetings, it's been difficult for me to find a larger pool of testers. For someone whose "usual" group of play-testers becomes accustomed to and comfortable with how a game currently works, a fresh set of eyes can offer a new perspective and further improve a game design.

That's been my case, and when I learned of Game Smiths, I jumped at the chance late last year. I've had two projects reviewed by these guys so far, and I don't regret it one bit. Rather, those projects wouldn't be in their current strong state without their input.

Thanks again, guys. Keep up the great work, cheerful attitudes, and effective critique. :)