Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Game Design: Prototyping & Playtesting

In course

CS-444: Virtual reality

The goal of VR is to embed the users in a potentially complex virtual environment while ensuring that they are able to react as if this environment were real. The course provides a human perception-action background and describes the key programming techni ...

Description

This lecture covers the importance of playtesting in game design, emphasizing the Playcentric Design Process where player experience goals are set, prototypes are created, and playtesting is conducted early in the development. It explores the iterative design process, different types of prototypes (paper and digital), and the role of playtesting in refining game mechanics, aesthetics, kinesthetics, and technology. The lecture also delves into the different playtester types, the playtesting process, and the structure of a playtest session, highlighting the need for constant testing, refinement, and openness to feedback from various sources.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructor

Ronan Boulic

I come from Brittany, France, where I have completed my PhD degree in Computer Science in 1986 from the University of Rennes, France, at the INRIA-IRISA research institute. I also received the Habilitation degree from the University of Grenoble, France, in march 1995. I was hired in 1989 as First Assistant in the VRLAB, I became scientific collaborator, and senior researcher. I'm presently Senior Scientist (MER) and leader of the Immersive Interaction research Group (IIG). I'm co-author of around 150 research papers among which 43 appeared in international peer-reviewed journals. I have contributed to multiple SNF projects and EU projects. Please check iig.epfl.ch for more details.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Computer engineering

Software development: Software development process

Related concepts (32)

Game design

Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, and rules of a game. Games can be created for entertainment, education, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in the form of gamification.

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one. In some design workflow models, creating a prototype (a process sometimes called materialization) is the step between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea.

Game balance

Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended player experience. Game balance is generally understood as introducing a level of fairness for the players. This includes adjusting difficulty, win-loss conditions, game states, economy balancing, and so on to work in tandem with each other. The concept of game balance depends on the game genre.

Game mechanics

In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shaped move of the knight in chess. A game's mechanics thus effectively specify how the game will work for the people who play it. There are no accepted definitions of game mechanics.

Software prototyping

Software prototyping is the activity of creating prototypes of software applications, i.e., incomplete versions of the software program being developed. It is an activity that can occur in software development and is comparable to prototyping as known from other fields, such as mechanical engineering or manufacturing. A prototype typically simulates only a few aspects of, and may be completely different from, the final product. Prototyping has several benefits: the software designer and implementer can get valuable feedback from the users early in the project.

Related lectures (32)

Game Design: Prototyping and Communication

By Stéphanie Mader explores game design through prototyping and communication, emphasizing the iterative design process and the importance of conveying mood and gameplay.

Introduction to Game Design

Explores the process of designing video games to create meaningful player experiences, covering game genres, iterative design, and creating game concept documents.

Video Game Analysis: Structures and Mechanics

Explores video game analysis, covering representations, ludic structures, code, and the importance of narratives in game studies.

Educational Design: Project Development

Covers educational concepts, engineering design, teamwork, prototyping, and project development for teaching specific learning goals.

Game Design: Theory and Practice