Playtesting with Children

When designing a game for children, there are considerations to take into account that are not considered with adult playtesters.  First, game designers must get written permission from the parents for their child to participate in playtesting.  This means that the parents must first be sold on the concept and validity of your game for them to agree to have their children participate in playtesting.  So clear communication about all aspects of your game is essential.



The physical playtesting setting can impact a child's comfort and sense of security, which can also impact their attentiveness to the game.  Options include testing in the child's home if a quiet room.  Or testing could be in a room that is furnished to appear cozy and comfortable with age-appropriate furniture. 

A thoughtful introduction to the child, and a brief recap of what they will be doing will facilitate putting the child at ease and ensure they understand what they need to do.  Having a parent observing from behind a two-way mirror, or sitting back behind the child, will also give comfort to the child that they are safe. 

Emotions play an important role in gameplay. They can help focus attention, facilitate decision making, enhance enjoyment and motivate learning.  Based on the work by psychologist Paul Ekman and others, there are seven emotions that can be measured in the face: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise and curiosity.   Because remembering and describing gameplay experience is not an easy or intuitive skill for most people, it is especially important to ask children to try to "think out loud" their thoughts or impressions as they play the game.  That way, you have further insight into their reactions and thought processes.

Also, the game designer should be able to see the face of the child during gameplay, and see the level and actions the child is engaged in.  In addition to physical observation, there is software now that can measure such data analytics of gameplay, down to keyboard strokes.  This way, the game designer can record these key emotions as they occur, and what facilitate the reactions.  This data can be compiled and compared across observation data from multiple children to confirm if there are particular challenges, actions, events, etc. that cause specific uncomfortable actions so the designers can modify the game to address these items.  And similarly, the designer can see what elements of the game are most enjoyable, engaging and motivating for the child so those elements might be further enhanced.


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