Moving towards enhancing playtesting reports through data visualization

Abstract

Playtesting is a key component in the game development process aimed at improving the quality of games through gameplay data collection and identification of design issues. Visualization techniques are currently being employed to help integrate quantitative and qualitative data. However, two existing challenges are to determine the level of detail to be presented to developers based on their needs and to effectively communicate the collected data so informed changes can be reached. This thesis looks at investigating the effectiveness of using aggregated visualizations with four alternate visual designs to communicate playtesting data of multiple sources. To evaluate the visualizations in terms of their effectiveness in assisting developers in utilizing playtesting data, I present a study involving a semi-structured interview with professional game developers. The results provide an important contribution to the fields of Games User Research and Human-Computer Interaction towards identifying areas of improvement in the portrayal of gameplay data.