First go check out part three or start at part one
The fun part of the course for me was delivering the prototype and getting feedback. Giving and receiving criticism are difficult to do. For me though the material of the course was easy as I wasn’t invested in in like I might be if this is my game design. The two feedback mechanisms that were discussed:
Ritual Dissent – you present your prototype in a few minutes (5 in our case) and then you turn your back to the group as they work with it and only give negative feedback. You write notes like crazy but don’t turn around or interact with the reviewers. (and yes I think this is a card title in several Cthulhu games)
Unknown Name – this method was the opposite – you present your prototype and they give only positive feedback as you all interact with it and ask questions. This was easier in that you can interact with the people directly. (and yes I know I had one job of getting the name ….and I failed – we’ll use Ritual Consent…… or maybe not!)
Both of these could be helpful for developers and testing. The important takeaway for me was that most people don’t want to give negative feedback to your face. Having some way they can give negative feedback anonymously or without seeing the impact of each negative comment might allow for more negative comments – which might make for a better game. The other part was that the feedback is organised. It’s done in all positive and all negative groups and not just a huge dump of both. This might help provide some of both – so you don’t walk away thinking it’s all bad (or all good).
The Bamboozle Brothers have written a great article about feedback –
https://inspirationtopublication.wordpress.com/2010/09/11/step-12-honest-feedback-honestly/
Has anyone done a form for feedback?
Let me know
Comment on this and then go read Part 5
PJ