The Secret to Good Game Iteration

This ad is not shown to multipass and full ticket holders
React Summit US
React Summit US 2025
November 18 - 21, 2025
New York, US & Online
The biggest React conference in the US
Learn More
In partnership with Focus Reactive
Upcoming event
React Summit US 2025
React Summit US 2025
November 18 - 21, 2025. New York, US & Online
Learn more
Bookmark
Rate this content

This talk will cover designing, playtesting, and iteration. After listening to this talk you'll find out about how to prepare for and run your playtest, how to analyze the results and further iterate on your games, and I'll tell you about my personal experience regarding the topic, which I have gained while working on CIDA's boardgame.

This talk has been presented at JS GameDev Summit 2023, check out the latest edition of this JavaScript Conference.

FAQ

The main topic of Tamta Satyani's talk is game iteration and prototyping, including how to iterate on your game properly and run smooth playtests.

A game prototype is a minimum version of your game that you can create quickly to test out your game idea. It helps in evaluating the core mechanics and overall concept of the game.

The steps to create a game prototype include: 1. Designing the game, including rules and mechanics. 2. Implementing the prototype, either on paper or digitally. 3. Playtesting the prototype. 4. Analyzing the results of the playtest. 5. Iterating on the design based on the analysis.

The iteration loop in game development is the process of repeatedly designing, implementing, playtesting, and analyzing a game prototype to improve it. This loop continues until a satisfactory prototype is achieved.

Playtesting is important because it provides feedback from real users, helping to identify issues and areas for improvement. It ensures that the game is enjoyable and functional for players who have not been involved in its development.

Game developers should handle feedback by observing playtesters without interfering, asking objective questions, and focusing on identifying problems rather than solutions. It's important to value the playtesters' input and make them feel appreciated.

Rapid playtesting is a method where game developers quickly implement and test a large number of ideas to find the best solutions for improving game mechanics. It helps in identifying the most effective changes to make the game more enjoyable.

Developers should avoid interfering with playtesters, making them wait too long, and piling on new mechanics to fix issues. Instead, they should focus on making existing mechanics more enjoyable and ensuring the playtesting environment is comfortable.

A cohesive game design ensures that different parts of the game work well together and create interesting dynamics. It enhances the overall gameplay experience, making the game more enjoyable and engaging for players.

Tamta Satyani is a game developer from Georgia (the country, not the state), with five years of experience in game development. She also created a YouTube channel about game development and co-founded a game dev team called CEDA.

Tamta Asatiani
Tamta Asatiani
21 min
28 Sep, 2023

Comments

Sign in or register to post your comment.
Video Summary and Transcription
This talk explores game design, iteration, and prototyping, emphasizing the importance of playtesting with non-developers and smooth prototype testing. Observing playtesters carefully and gathering their feedback is crucial for understanding their thoughts and feelings. Playtesters are essential during the design process to ensure a cohesive and enjoyable game. The speaker shares a personal example of solving multiple problems with a single solution in the game Beast of Colchis. The talk concludes with a reminder to prototype, be nice to playtesters, and focus on making gameplay fun.

1. Introduction to Game Iteration

Short description:

In this talk, I will discuss game design, iteration, and prototyping. We will explore the game development process, including designing and implementing prototypes, conducting playtests, and analyzing the results. The iteration loop is crucial for refining your game. I will also emphasize the importance of playtesting with non-developers and ensuring smooth prototype testing. Let's dive into the secrets of good game iteration!

Hello, and welcome to my talk called The Secret to Good Game Iteration. I'm gonna be talking about game design, more specifically, game iteration and prototyping and how to iterate on your game properly, and how to run your playtest smoothly and that.

If you don't know what any of those big scary words mean, don't worry about that, because we're also going to talk about that at the beginning of this talk.

But first, hello my name is Tamta Satyani, I'm a game developer from Georgia, the country not the state. I've been working on games for five years now, and five years ago is when I created my YouTube channel where I talk about game dev. And I also recently co-created a game dev team here in Georgia called CEDA, and we make small, innovative games, or at least we try to.

Quick overview of the game development process. Before you make a game, you must make a prototype, which is a minimum version of your game that you can make quickly to test out your game idea. The way you make your prototype is, first you design it, so you come up with the rules for your game and the mechanics and all those things, and then you implement it, whether on paper or you make a digital prototype. Generally, you should try to make a paper prototype if possible, but sometimes that is just not viable with some game mechanics, and so you must make a digital prototype. Then you playtest your prototype. Usually, first playtest is done by the developers, or the developer, if there is only one. Then you analyze the results of your playtest. How did the playtest feel? Did the game feel as it tended to? Usually, the answer during the first playtest is no. You design your game again, you change some things about it, and then you implement those changes. You playtest again, and analyze again and again. This process of designing and analyzing and changing is called the iteration loop, and you're iterating on your game when you're doing this.

Then, after quite a few iterations, you finally come up with a prototype that you like, and you then continue making the actual game. You're done with the prototype phase. But today, we are going to be talking about this prototype iteration loop. When you go through a couple iteration loops, at some point you want somebody that is not a developer to play test your game. Because you need an outsider's perspective on it. You might feel very good about your game and you might like everything about it. But it might not be as good for somebody who hasn't worked on it for hours. And to make sure that your prototypes run smoothly, invite a person or a group of people and test your prototype ahead of time to make sure everything is in order. If it's a digital prototype, make sure that there are no game breaking bugs. And if it is a paper prototype, make sure that no key components are missing. Which is usually very easy to fix with paper prototypes. Take the pressure off of the playtesters. Make sure that they understand that they are very important and vital to the design process.

2. Importance of Playtesters and Testing Process

Short description:

Playtesters are crucial for game designers. Don't shame or get frustrated with them. They may not understand the game as you do. Be a silent observer during playtests and avoid interfering or giving hints. Don't make playtesters wait too long. Have drinks and snacks available. Analyze the playtest results, especially the live reactions of the playtesters.

And without them, you wouldn't be able to make this game. Which is true, playtesters are very important for game designers. And also, don't shame your playtesters. And don't get frustrated with them. I've had my students get really frustrated with game designers and I've had... not game designers, the playtesters. And I've had a student think that a playtester is messing with them by pretending to not understand the rules. Which is... which was not the case then and is usually not the case. It's just that things that seem obvious to you because you made the game don't seem so obvious to playtesters because they have no idea about your game.

Try to be a silent observer and not interfere with the testing process because you're not going to be there for every single player, right. When your game comes out, you're not going to be able to sit in front of everybody and explain to them how your game works. So you have to really check and see how your game will do in the real world. A playtest is the best way to do that, so you should not interfere, you should not give any hints. Sometimes when a playtester is really stuck in some place, you might give them a small hint. But do note that you should then work on that area to make sure that a player can still go through that area without the hint. Also, don't make your playtesters wait too long.

So if you're inviting a few groups of people, a good arrangement that works for us for example, is that we usually invite people with a buffer that is twice as long as we think the prototyping of a single game will take. So for example, we think that prototyping this game for this person or this group once will take one hour and we invite people two hours apart. This also gives us a chance to rearrange the pieces and get everything ready for the next group in case... you know, just to get ready for them. And we usually don't have to wait because too long for the next group because play tests usually take longer than you'd expect, especially for inexperienced game designers. You might think your game takes one hour to play and then it takes an hour and a half to play. Also, make sure that why we're doing this in the first place is that if you make the play testers way too long, they might get tired or bored or hungry and then that interferes with the design process. So you're not sure anymore if your play testers weren't happy because your game was bad or was it because they were hungry and angry and cranky and wanted to go home at that point. Also, I'd advise to have some drinks, cold drinks, water first of all, but also maybe some soda, it's where you're play testing and maybe also just some light snacks and play test with your target audience.

So for example, if you are intending to make a game, if your game is intended for 10 year olds, you should get a group of 10 year olds to play test your game. During and after play tests, we should analyze how the test went. During the play test is the most crucial, the most important part, because the live reaction of your play tester never lies. Your play tester, you might ask questions about things later, if you're not sure why they did or didn't do something.

3. Observing Playtesters and Gathering Feedback

Short description:

The best way to understand your playtester's thoughts and feelings is to observe them carefully. Look for signs of confusion, frustration, or enjoyment. When asking questions, be mindful of bias and avoid leading questions. Focus on understanding the playtester's thought process and gather their problems, not solutions. Make playtesters feel valued and appreciated to encourage future participation.

But people have false memories and they have biases, so that method isn't always reliable. So the best way to tell what your play tester is feeling and thinking is watching them carefully as they play the game. Are they stuck on a level too long? Are they confused? Did they get scared by the jump scare? Did they think it was funny? Those are the kinds of things that you should look out for.

And if you're not sure about something, you can ask questions, but ask the correct questions. So for example, your play tester skipped a door on level 1. You shouldn't ask, did you notice the door at level 1 and didn't want to go through it? Or did you not notice at all? Because your question prompts the answer. And the play tester might want to impress you and say, oh, yeah, I noticed the door, but I didn't go through it. They might be compelled to answer like that. Instead, you should say something like, okay, level 1, tell me about everything that you saw and thought. What was your thought process while going through level 1? And if they noticed the door, they might mention it. They might have noticed the door but thought it was insignificant and then they also won't mention it. So, yeah, this is basically don't try to make an option or an answer more appealing, which is a hard thing to do when asking playtesters questions because we are very biased on our own games as well, just as playtesters are biased and we kind of want them to give us specific answers to take a game in specific directions but you have to try and be as objective as possible if you want your game to be the best version of itself.

Also, remember that you want the playtesters' problems and not their solutions, but you shouldn't let them know about it. So what do I mean by wanting the problems and not the solutions? So first of all, for example if your playtester says didn't like the boss with the scythe and you should remove it. That means that you should absolutely do something about the boss with the scythe, but you don't necessarily have to remove it. Maybe the boss' tutorial is just confusing and you need to work on the boss' tutorial. Maybe the boss should be nerfed instead of removed. Maybe there's some other factors in play. You should pay attention to the gameplay process, but also you should ask the tester some leading questions like why do you feel like that? What specifically did you feel when playing through the boss? Maybe the boss has some specific mechanic that makes it annoying and you should take that behavior out? Or maybe you should change that behavior and reprogram it in a way? Basically, there is no shortage of ideas for game designers. You will probably come up with a thousand better solutions than your playtester will. So you don't need their solutions but you do need their problems because you will definitely overlook problems with your games. But don't let the playtesters know about this because you shouldn't be arrogant with your playtesters. You shouldn't take them for granted. You shouldn't say oh don't tell me your problems. Your problems don't matter. Your input doesn't matter. You should make them feel good about it. Good about the playtest. Good about the game. You should make them feel like they contributed because maybe they'll want to playtest again, which is again what we want.

4. Importance of Playtesters and Cohesive Design

Short description:

Playtesters are crucial during the design of a game. Piling on new mechanics doesn't solve problems. Instead, make the design cohesive and make existing mechanics more enjoyable. Rapid playtesting is essential to find the best way to make a mechanic fun. A personal example is the game Beast of Colchis, where the boss needed control over players, so minions were added but proved to be tedious and boring.

Because playtesters are very important and we really really need them. They're crucial during the design of a game. The urge to over complicate. So if you're mechanic, if your prototype is boring, there's usually an urge to pile on new game mechanics on top of the existing ones, because the thought process is that if there's more things to do in my game, then it will be more fun. But piling mechanics onto a boring game usually doesn't fix it. And piling more mechanics onto an awkward and tedious game definitely won't fix it. Because more things to do doesn't equal more fun.

A good example of this is, we all know the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, and there's a variation of it called Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard Spock, I believe, where it is just same Rock, Paper, Scissors but there's more symbols to make with your hands and those symbols beat each other the same way that in Rock, Paper, Scissors this one beats that one and that one beats this one. And it doesn't really add any gameplay it's just more signs to make. There's no new gameplay in Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock as opposed to Rock, Paper, Scissors. So, yeah. Just piling on new mechanics does not solve your problems. Instead, you should make your design more cohesive. So, different parts of the design should be more interconnected, and you should make the different game mechanics intersect and work with each other in interesting ways to create what is called a game dynamic. Also, you should make your existing mechanics more enjoyable. For example, if walking in your game is boring, don't add an option to fly, but think about how you can make walking fun. For example, yeah.

This is usually done with rapid playtesting, which rapid playtesting is when you have a bunch of just a huge list of ideas of how to fix something, and you implement them quickly, and you play test all of them as quickly as possible. For example, in the case of walking is boring, what can we do about walking? We can change the camera zoom, change the camera position, change the camera turn speed, change the smoothness of the camera, change the smoothness of the player movement, change the speed of the player movement, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, change the feel of the player movement. There are so many things we can do about it, and we should test all of these ways to find what is the best way of making this mechanic fun, in our case walking. And if you don't find the solution, rapid playtesting will usually at least get you in the right direction. Okay, so when my camera is smooth, it's kind of fun, but how can we make this even more fun? How can we, maybe we can completely transform the game to make it just instead of a third person walking simulator it can be a, you know, just a little spirit looking around the room, with a smooth camera, or something along the lines of that.

A personal example of what I just described is when we, Alteida, we're working on our current game, Beast of Colchis, which is a board game, a 1v1 board game, where the heroes that are in the corners here, find, fight the Gueleshabi, which is a mythical creature from Georgian folklore that is kind of like a huge dragon. The thing about the, you know, boss essentially, the boss Gueleshabi, is that it is much stronger than the players because all of the players are against it, but it is also much slower because otherwise it would quickly catch up to all the players and kill them off one by one. But when the boss is slow and the players are quick, they can all kind of avoid him until they get strong enough and then they can easily defeat them, defeat him, which is called a degenerative strategy, when there's one undeniably great strategy, which in this case is avoiding the boss until you get strong enough and then killing it off easily. So we needed some way for the boss to control the players and sort of lead them in a specific location or perhaps weaken them. And so we added the little minions, and the way the minions worked is that each of them had its own dice roll. All the players roll walk by rolling a dice, and that was also how the minions walked. And it was very tedious and very boring because the all of the minions also had their own health and so it was very hard to track. Reminder that this is a board game, and we quickly realized that that wasn't going to work.

5. Solving Problems and Making the Game Enjoyable

Short description:

We solved multiple problems with a single solution by removing minion health, replacing them with fire, and making the board dynamic. This made the game more cohesive and enjoyable. Remember to prototype, be nice to playtesters, and focus on making the gameplay process fun. Thank you for listening!

So the first thing we did was we removed the health for all the minions so now they die in one hit but they also retaliate, so every time a player kills a minion, they also get some of their health removed. And then we also removed the dice roll so the minions move two pieces on each turn, which was still very tedious and boring and so we replaced the minions completely with fire.

Fire doesn't move at all, it stays on the board until the game is over, and the boss throws the fire by drawing a fire card. This was much more fun because now the players can try to sneak up on the boss and hit and run, but there's the risk of getting hit by fire. And also fire, since fire stays on the board, the board itself became more fun because kind of the makeup of the board, new things would get added to the board as the game went on, which was another complaint from our play testers, that the boss was too boring.

So this way, we made the game both more cohesive and we solved multiple problems with this single solution. So to wrap up this talk, remember to prototype. Be nice to your play testers. Don't try to solve design problems, but by piling on new mechanics, instead, think about how you can make your games cohesive and make sure the process of playing your game is enjoyable instead of just making some fool like, you should kill this boss and, you know, so what if the process isn't fun. Thank you for listening to my talk. Please tell me if you have any questions. Those are my socials on the top, my YouTube channel, etc. And the ones on the bottom are of our team and you can follow our development process if you're interested...

Check out more articles and videos

We constantly think of articles and videos that might spark Git people interest / skill us up or help building a stellar career

Optimizing HTML5 Games: 10 Years of Learnings
JS GameDev Summit 2022JS GameDev Summit 2022
33 min
Optimizing HTML5 Games: 10 Years of Learnings
Top Content
Watch video: Optimizing HTML5 Games: 10 Years of Learnings
PlayCanvas is an open-source game engine used by game developers worldwide. Optimization is crucial for HTML5 games, focusing on load times and frame rate. Texture and mesh optimization can significantly reduce download sizes. GLTF and GLB formats offer smaller file sizes and faster parsing times. Compressing game resources and using efficient file formats can improve load times. Framerate optimization and resolution scaling are important for better performance. Managing draw calls and using batching techniques can optimize performance. Browser DevTools, such as Chrome and Firefox, are useful for debugging and profiling. Detecting device performance and optimizing based on specific devices can improve game performance. Apple is making progress with WebGPU implementation. HTML5 games can be shipped to the App Store using Cordova.
The Whimsical Potential of JavaScript Frameworks
React Summit US 2023React Summit US 2023
28 min
The Whimsical Potential of JavaScript Frameworks
Top Content
Watch video: The Whimsical Potential of JavaScript Frameworks
The speaker discusses the whimsical and detailed work of Stripe, particularly their interactive and dynamic pages. They explain the use of React for building whimsical details and tracking mouse position. The speaker introduces React Spring for smooth animation and React3 Fiber for creating a 3D egg model. They also mention the use of Framer Motion and React server components for animating CSS properties.
Remix Flat Routes – An Evolution in Routing
Remix Conf Europe 2022Remix Conf Europe 2022
16 min
Remix Flat Routes – An Evolution in Routing
Top Content
Remix Flat Routes is a new convention that aims to make it easier to see and organize the routes in your app. It allows for the co-location of support files with routes, decreases refactor and redesign friction, and helps apps migrate to Remix. Flat Folders convention supports co-location and allows importing assets as relative imports. To migrate existing apps to Flat Routes, use the Remix Flat Routes package's migration tool.
Building Fun Experiments with WebXR & Babylon.js
JS GameDev Summit 2022JS GameDev Summit 2022
33 min
Building Fun Experiments with WebXR & Babylon.js
Top Content
This Talk explores the use of Babylon.js and WebXR to create immersive VR and AR experiences on the web. It showcases various demos, including transforming a 2D game into a 3D and VR experience, VR music composition, AR demos, and exploring a virtual museum. The speaker emphasizes the potential of web development in the metaverse and mentions the use of WebXR in Microsoft products. The limitations of WebXR on Safari iOS are discussed, along with the simplicity and features of Babylon.js. Contact information is provided for further inquiries.
Boost the Performance of Your WebGL Unity Games!
JS GameDev Summit 2023JS GameDev Summit 2023
7 min
Boost the Performance of Your WebGL Unity Games!
Top Content
The Talk discusses ways to boost the performance of WebGL Unity games, including issues with bundle size, memory usage, and runtime performance. It suggests using Brotli for compression and non-exception support for better performance. Choosing the appropriate texture compression format and experimenting with separate builds can also help. The Talk also covers optimizing textures, models, audio, and assets by reducing build size, using compression, disabling unnecessary models, and optimizing audio quality. Unity's optimization tools and profilers are recommended for analyzing performance and memory issues.
Making Awesome Games with LittleJS
JS GameDev Summit 2022JS GameDev Summit 2022
34 min
Making Awesome Games with LittleJS
Top Content
Little.js is a super lightweight and fast JavaScript game engine that has everything included to start making games right away. It has a tiny footprint and no dependencies, making it perfect for size-coding competitions like JS13K. Little.js is built with an object-oriented structure and comes with several classes. It provides a fast rendering system, a comprehensive audio system, and various starter projects for different game types. Little.js is designed to be simple and easy to understand, allowing you to look at and modify the code.

Workshops on related topic

Make a Game With PlayCanvas in 2 Hours
JSNation 2023JSNation 2023
116 min
Make a Game With PlayCanvas in 2 Hours
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Steven Yau
Steven Yau
In this workshop, we’ll build a game using the PlayCanvas WebGL engine from start to finish. From development to publishing, we’ll cover the most crucial features such as scripting, UI creation and much more.
Table of the content:- Introduction- Intro to PlayCanvas- What we will be building- Adding a character model and animation- Making the character move with scripts- 'Fake' running- Adding obstacles- Detecting collisions- Adding a score counter- Game over and restarting- Wrap up!- Questions
Workshop levelFamiliarity with game engines and game development aspects is recommended, but not required.
PlayCanvas End-to-End : the quick version
JS GameDev Summit 2022JS GameDev Summit 2022
121 min
PlayCanvas End-to-End : the quick version
Top Content
Workshop
João Ruschel
João Ruschel
In this workshop, we’ll build a complete game using the PlayCanvas engine while learning the best practices for project management. From development to publishing, we’ll cover the most crucial features such as asset management, scripting, audio, debugging, and much more.
Integrating LangChain with JavaScript for Web Developers
React Summit 2024React Summit 2024
92 min
Integrating LangChain with JavaScript for Web Developers
WorkshopFree
Vivek Nayyar
Vivek Nayyar
Dive into the world of AI with our interactive workshop designed specifically for web developers. "Hands-On AI: Integrating LangChain with JavaScript for Web Developers" offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between AI and web development. Despite the prominence of Python in AI development, the vast potential of JavaScript remains largely untapped. This workshop aims to change that.Throughout this hands-on session, participants will learn how to leverage LangChain—a tool designed to make large language models more accessible and useful—to build dynamic AI agents directly within JavaScript environments. This approach opens up new possibilities for enhancing web applications with intelligent features, from automated customer support to content generation and beyond.We'll start with the basics of LangChain and AI models, ensuring a solid foundation even for those new to AI. From there, we'll dive into practical exercises that demonstrate how to integrate these technologies into real-world JavaScript projects. Participants will work through examples, facing and overcoming the challenges of making AI work seamlessly on the web.This workshop is more than just a learning experience; it's a chance to be at the forefront of an emerging field. By the end, attendees will not only have gained valuable skills but also created AI-enhanced features they can take back to their projects or workplaces.Whether you're a seasoned web developer curious about AI or looking to expand your skillset into new and exciting areas, "Hands-On AI: Integrating LangChain with JavaScript for Web Developers" is your gateway to the future of web development. Join us to unlock the potential of AI in your web projects, making them smarter, more interactive, and more engaging for users.
Introduction to WebXR with Babylon.js
JS GameDev Summit 2022JS GameDev Summit 2022
86 min
Introduction to WebXR with Babylon.js
Workshop
Gustavo Cordido
Gustavo Cordido
In this workshop, we'll introduce you to the core concepts of building Mixed Reality experiences with WebXR and Balon.js.
You'll learn the following:- How to add 3D mesh objects and buttons to a scene- How to use procedural textures- How to add actions to objects- How to take advantage of the default Cross Reality (XR) experience- How to add physics to a scene
For the first project in this workshop, you'll create an interactive Mixed Reality experience that'll display basketball player stats to fans and coaches. For the second project in this workshop, you'll create a voice activated WebXR app using Balon.js and Azure Speech-to-Text. You'll then deploy the web app using Static Website Hosting provided Azure Blob Storage.
Managers Are From Mars, Devs Are From Venus
TechLead Conference 2024TechLead Conference 2024
111 min
Managers Are From Mars, Devs Are From Venus
Workshop
Mo Khazali
Mo Khazali
A Developer’s Guide to Communicating, Convincing, and Collaborating Effectively With Stakeholders
It’s a tale as old as time - collaboration between developers and business stakeholders has long been a challenge, with a lack of clear communication often leaving both sides frustrated. The best developers can deeply understand their business counterparts’ needs, effectively communicate technical strategy without losing the non-technical crowd, and convince the business to make the right decisions. Working at a consultancy, I’ve both failed and succeeded in architecting and “selling” technical visions, learning many lessons along the way.Whether you work at a product company, are a consultant/freelancer, or want to venture beyond just being a developer, the ability to convince and clearly communicate with stakeholders can set you apart in the tech industry. This becomes even more important with the rise of GenAI and the increasingly competitive developer market, as problem-solving and effective communication are key to positioning yourself.In this workshop, I’ll share real-world examples, both good and bad, and guide you through putting the theory into practice through dojos.
Tiny Game Live Coding Workshop
JS GameDev Summit 2023JS GameDev Summit 2023
115 min
Tiny Game Live Coding Workshop
Workshop
Frank Force
Frank Force
Dive into the captivating world of micro-game development with Frank Force in this interactive live coding workshop. Tailored for both seasoned developers and curious newcomers, this session explores the unique challenges and joys of creating games and demos with extreme size constraints.