In addition, the process mainly involves clarifying the vague points, adding fun elements or reducing boredom, balancing the victory situations, and so on. This according to Techopedia. While Playtesting is a term that is applied commonly among PC and or role-playing games, we applied the basic playtesting principles first to our physical board game version.

There’s more about the Ubuntu Game in this article about debriefing and feedback

Validating the Game through Playtesting

Both Prototyping and Playtesting play an important hand in hand role in validating your game or application.  We created our version of our game or application, often called a beta test or prototype, based on some early assumptions about our MTP which included who the target audience is, what problem we’ve identified and are solving and how we can create an intuitive, enjoyable gaming experience for our target audience. In the chicken and the egg schematic, your prototype of course precedes your playtesting, which puts your prototype through some hopefully tough validation paces.

Most of us develop our prototypes based on an initial, limited number of features and characteristics that we generally feel will have broad based acceptance among our audience and user community. This is also commonly called an MVP or minimal viable product. At Games 2 Unite, with Ubuntu Game, we were ready to first try it out internally before we expose it to beta test customers or initial adopters. Our initial prototype was actually a physical board game.

Games 2 Unite launched its Ubuntu Game prototype in June. We built an MVP based on what our MTP was. Our target audience is teenagers of different ethnicities and cultures who together play our game to, through questions and collaborative activities, learn about their differences through conversations around diversity, inclusion and equality along with some of the critical issues facing the world today like climate change or overfishing. Once our MVP was created, we turned to Playtesting where play testers playing our game.

Piloting with the Target Audience

First, we play-tested our physical board game prototype internally to validate the mechanics of the game and to fine tune our user instructions as needed, we were then ready to take on exposing the prototype to our beta test users. Our early beta customers not only played the game, but recorded feedback on a micro level detail, validating our actual questions in terms of what landed well for a teenage audience. Playtesting with our ideal audience was invaluable in validating our game and processing improvements that went into the next iteration of the game.

Our next Playtesting will involve the digital version of our game through a platform called Tabletopia. We will again engage our target audience now with the digital version of the prototype and not only process the feedback but compare the feedback to the initial physical board game version. The true test will be what is called Blind Testing, where the testers have no prior experience or exposure to the game.

Prototyping is an important milestone and accomplishment as it serves as the first version of your gaming application, but one word of caution is to not get too attached! Some of the feedback you can get through Playtesting can be critical, even harsh and with any MVP or prototype, be prepared for the worst and the best. Even if you have to significantly course-correct given the feedback on your prototype, imagine staying the course without that feedback. This would be a sure failure!

The Ubuntu Game features in our Make and Break live play sessions

The post Prototyping and Playtesting – Games 2 Unite’s Ubuntu Game first appeared on Ludogogy.

The Ubuntu Game is a physical and virtual board game designed to teach teenagers the wonders of diversity, inclusion and equality as well as empowering them to discuss critical issues facing us as a society like climate control, overfishing of the oceans and sustainable farming.

It does this through game play that challenges its players through questions, conversation, collaborative activities, experiential media (videos and virtual reality) and discovery about themselves, their beliefs and their likenesses and differences through culture, race, creed and other differentiators.

Today’s Teens are Problem Solvers

At Ubuntu Game we believe today’s youth are smarter, more opinionated and have greater access to information and therefore greater capability in thought processing and problem solving than any prior generation. Because of this, it is essential that their viewpoint on board game design and even their direct input be cultivated and encouraged. The majority of board games are designed by white males who dominate the space but also restrict its diversity, a known industry issue.

To combat this limited view in design, we released a beta or Minimal Viable Product (MVP) version of our game, designed to be played by beta customers to garner feedback and constructive improvements towards the game. It is a generally accepted practice that an MVP is a preliminary beta product with some clear cut shortcomings that can be iteratively improved or even pivoted on, depending on the nature of the feedback. Ubuntu Game solicited direct feedback from teenagers playing the beta game themselves.

With the success of the Ubuntu Game directly tied to the power or quality of our questions, our questions were derived from a diverse collection of young and older team members, some of whom were well versed in the diversity/inclusion space. We plan to crowdsource our game content and all-important game questions through our players ultimately.

This initial vetting of the game is all typically part of a lean startup or EXO initiative, which we adopted during the formative stages of Ubuntu Game to validate what we were doing.  In the EXO framework, much up front thought is given by the game developers towards identifying the Massive Transformative Purpose or MTP. What is the critical impact the game will have in a positive way?

Our Massive Transformative Purpose

With Ubuntu Game, our MTP was to create a movement where diversity and inclusion and equality became the norm in the world to counter the recent outbreak of derision, bullying, racism and marginalization that bubbled to the surface due to Black Lives Matter and other incidents.  This is considered alongside the specific problem which is being solved and how our game can solve the problem. Finally, of course, it makes the mechanics of the game much easier to design.

We felt that the route we wanted to take was getting teens into conversations to explore and discover their differences and to better understand and accept them. Initially, our focus groups validated this hypothesis as a core approach to diversity and inclusion understanding! This allowed us to formulate a Value Proposition Canvas to sketch out the benefits and problems solved by our game.

Within the game, we built online questionnaires and surveys to obtain feedback from game players to improve the game. We also had a Breakthrough Wheel which each player spins at the game’s conclusion,  to determine what was their top takeaway from the game, their biggest personal breakthrough, or who they would like to share something with that they learned from the game.

In addition, they may be asked “What would you do differently after today’s game, or what action will they immediately take after today’s game?” or “What discussion will you have with your parent(s) after today’s game?”

Sharing as Learning

This is all intended to memorialize or anchor the key impacts or impressions from the game for each player, and to get them to verbalize it so that it becomes more present to them. Given the game play is a shared experience with other game players, this sharing can lead to significant breakthroughs and discovery by players.

This learning process sets the players up to look forward to future play sessions and clearly places their shared peer experience as a paramount feature of the game. The crystallization of the game’s outcome for the players makes them more mindful of their own growth, which is perhaps the game’s most important objective.

In conclusion, getting young adults to talk about their experience, contribute to the game’s content and seeking their ongoing feedback is what sets Ubuntu Game apart.

HOW THE UBUNTU GAME IS PLAYED

Players traverse the board using mini cultural icons by rolling a die. They land on spaces that trigger questions and conversations in six categories that matter, including diversity, connection, understanding our differences, our similarities, controversial topics and fun facts.   A mobile app is used to add context, enlightenment or information to kindle the conversation. Players can play as individuals, as pairs or teams. Some players will spin to see what kind of barrier to play they will experience.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Additionally, players will get to role play as “Avatars” and see themselves, literally, through a Virtual Reality experience, as someone from another culture, creed or place in life. Augmented Reality with accentuate some of the images they’re familiar with in their surroundings.

Players will also participate in activities, one on one or with the group, solving riddles about society and diversity, work collaboratively towards a common goal or even just have fun pitching in together to make a recipe!

The game is over when every player reaches the end of the board. The player, pair or team with the highest score wins. Winners get to spin the “Breakthrough” wheel landing on various options to explain what’s changed in their perceptions and what actions they will take.

Read Richard’s other article about Ubutntu game and watch the play session.

The post Debriefing and Feedback for Ubuntu Game first appeared on Ludogogy.