Metrics to facilitate playtesting in small independent teams of game developers

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The number of successful games being developed by small teams of independent (indie) developers on low budgets - rather than large teams with matching budgets at triple-A studios - is on the rise. Although changes in development and publishing technologies have allowed indie teams to make and publish successful games, playtesting during iterative development remains expensive and time-consuming. Games User Research (GUR) teams in both academia and at triple-A studios have been innovating playtesting methods; however, very little has been done to develop tools and techniques that help small teams of indie developers quickly and inexpensively playtest games under development, and then interpret and iteratively apply the results of the playtesting sessions to improve their games. The goal of this project is to create automatically-generated metrics from prototype walkthroughs that flag points in a game that negatively affect experience so that developers can know where to invest their resources in fixing the game. We will develop algorithms, develop a visualization tool, and conduct controlled experiments to contribute to the theory of player experience. There are clear benefits. The Canadian computer game industry contributes $2.3 billion/yr to Canada's GDP, is the third largest in the world, and 53% of game companies self-identified as independent in 2014. Governed by tight development timelines and ship dates, industrial GUR teams do not have time for methodological innovation; however, GUR academics must ground their research in the context of industry practices. Together, industry-academic partnerships can create new playtesting processes, game evaluation metrics, and game engineering approaches that will benefit this important and growing industry. In terms of social benefits, games have moved beyond entertainment into the spheres of health, wellness, learning, and business. The motivational pull of games has been used to promote healthy behaviours, connect people, and crowdsource work. The social benefits of these serious games can improve the health and well-being of Canadians.