In order to make a game good you have to test it. From fixing bugs to balancing values, you need to test your game so it can be good!
This does not mean that all forms of testing are equal, being able to run through cheat codes and having someone try and play from start to finish are two very different things. I have found that in testing your game you are going to have three phases that you go through: solo/internal testing, supervised testing, and unsupervised testing. The key to getting the most out of these phases of testing is to understand what it is good for, know when you should move to another phase, and what you cannot accomplish in that phase.
Solo/Internal Testing
At this time you got a fresh idea, it's new, it's cool, it's going to need to be changed. So you have it in prototype and play it either by yourself, dev team, family, Significant Others and ask does this fit it? Is it fun? Am I accomplishing what I want? Make changes and repeat to refine your changes. With internal testing the important thing is to test if the idea roughly works and to get it into state to show others. Now while you are in the solo/internal testing phase something to keep in mind is that these are people close to you and the perception of the game can be clouded with that. So, as always, take any praise with a dose of humility.
Supervised Testing
You tested yourself and you think this change is great. Awesome! Now is the time to sit at the table and teach people how to play. Have feedback forms printed for feedback and watch how your testers play the game.
Are they engaged? Bored? Frustrated? Excited? Take notes of everything including if things feel broken and ask for feedback after the test is done. Listen and write every suggestion and criticism down. Encourage testers to be vocal and try to keep the conversation flowing both during and after the game. You never know what good ideas can come from this! Use the feedback forms to collect some of the player’s thoughts to analyze them later. If you can mark the feedback forms so you can match them to your notes later. The important part about supervised testing is to see how your potential players will like your game.
Unsupervised Testing
You have your idea, tested it with who you think wants to play your game. Now you need to test the rules. Now hopefully you have been writing the rules down the whole way so it's time to put your editor hat on and revise revise revise. For the final kind of testing where you see how your rules leave the nest and fly, you can’t be at every table explaining what you meant. It is tempting to jump in as you watch people misunderstand your rules and correct them but instead you have to hold back and write where things go off the rails. At this point what you are testing is your ability to write the rules down and not the game itself.
In all of these stages being open to feedback is key since that is the point of testing. If you get feedback, listen to it and see how well it fits or not? With these 3 stages of testing in mind you can plan on taking your game from ok to good and good to great.
If you have questions or thoughts about the playtesting process drop them in the comments below.