Game Test at Mess up the Mess in Ammanford
A very important part of this R&D is testing out our material. Because game testers are often hard to find, we've linked up with several youth groups across Wales to play through this work-in-progress piece/ prototype game. In order to get a good representation of young people we've selected groups with an age range of 11-30 year olds, in both urban and rural locations, including groups with neurodiverse members. After each game test we had the participants fill out feedback forms asking about whether they enjoyed the experience, what they would pay, what moments stood out, when did they get confused, and how we could make this piece more accessible to them.
So what have we learnt?
We need to make the rules clear! No, even clearer than that! And now clear it up!
Young people LOVE that element of betrayal
Secret meetings and sneaking around past the guards are incredibly exciting
This is pure logistical chaos (but worth it)
Make the rules clearer!
This piece needs a tutorial as part of the exposition
We need to run at least one game test with a full cast
It was perhaps slightly ambitious to run game tests with just Jeremy and myself despite there being 5 characters. So in each test, we roped in the facilitators of the groups to play additional characters, and the team leaders were always cast form amongst the group. Also me running the game AND playing one of the characters was quite the challenge. So we soon realised we needed to run at least one game test like a rehearsed reading with a full cast.
The most important thing we learnt though was: We're on the right track. Yes, there are challenges yet to solve, but the vast majority of young people are loving it. There were screams of outrage when team leaders died. People literally ran from room to room to complete rituals. The good natured trash talk between teams was amazing.
This piece is worth making!
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