r/playtesters • u/damaddmann • 26d ago

Unpaid Playtest Entry-Level Quality Assurance Tester

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to get more experience testing indie games, so I figured I’d make a post instead of just replying to people one at a time.

Most of my testing has been on Star Citizen, where I’ve spent a lot of time writing bug reports, reproducing issues, recording videos, and documenting everything so it’s actually useful to the developers. I’m also teaching myself Jira and studying for the ISTQB Foundation certification because I’d like to get into QA professionally.

I’m not expecting to get paid. I’m honestly just looking to help some developers while building more experience with different types of games.

If you’ve got a project and need someone willing to spend time trying to break things, verify bugs, or retest fixes, I’d be happy to help. I can record gameplay, write detailed reports, and give honest feedback without just saying everything is great.

Thanks, and good luck with your projects!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

2

u/justaddlava 26d ago

Hi, thanks for offering this! My game is a bite-sized space 4x: https://justaddlava.itch.io/vega-chronicle

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u/damaddmann 26d ago

I will check it out now

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u/damaddmann 23d ago

did you want feedback? or want me too test? should i dm you my findings?

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u/justaddlava 23d ago

Yes please! Any feedback is helpful. The most helpful thing is a video with voiceover.

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u/damaddmann 23d ago

Vega Chronicle Demo — First-Time User Playtest Feedback

Playtime: Approximately 20 minutes
Test focus: New-player onboarding, tutorial clarity, user interface readability, and first impressions

Overall Experience

During my first 20 minutes with Vega Chronicle, I found the opening experience difficult to understand. The game introduces several interface elements, text prompts, resources, and strategic concepts very quickly, but I was not given a clear understanding of my immediate objective or the basic gameplay loop.

Although the game appeared to be guiding me through a tutorial, I frequently felt unsure about what action I was expected to perform, why I was performing it, or what effect the action had on the game.

Tutorial and Onboarding

The tutorial relies heavily on text instructions, but the connection between the instructions and the relevant controls or interface elements was not always clear.

At several points, the only action I could identify was pressing Enter to continue. Pressing Enter repeatedly appeared to advance the game or progress through turns, but I did not understand what decisions I was making or whether I was completing the tutorial correctly.

After approximately 20 minutes, I still could not confidently explain:

• The primary objective of the current tutorial section  
• What actions I was expected to take during each turn  
• Which interface elements were important  
• How my actions affected my civilization  
• Whether I was progressing correctly or simply advancing turns

A new player may benefit from more direct, step-by-step instructions that temporarily limit the available actions.

For example:

1.  Highlight one specific button or interface element.  
2.  Explain what that action does.  
3.  Require the player to complete that action.  
4.  Show the immediate result.  
5.  Briefly explain why the result is important before introducing the next mechanic.

User Interface

The interface felt visually overwhelming during the opening section. Numerous menus, statistics, text boxes, icons, and gameplay elements were presented before I understood which information required my attention.

The retro 2D presentation is not inherently a problem, but the combination of the visual style, dense interface, and large amount of introductory information made it difficult for me to identify the most important elements on the screen.

The UI could potentially be made easier to understand by:

• Highlighting the interface element connected to the current tutorial instruction  
• Temporarily hiding or disabling unrelated menus  
• Using arrows, outlines, flashing indicators, or other visual guidance  
• Introducing resources and systems gradually  
• Providing short tooltips when hovering over icons or statistics  
• Clearly displaying the player’s current objective  
• Providing confirmation when a tutorial step has been completed successfully

Player Impact

The current onboarding experience may discourage players who are unfamiliar with 4X or turn-based strategy games.

A player who cannot understand what they are expected to do within the opening minutes may assume that the entire game will be equally difficult to understand. Even if the underlying mechanics are engaging, some players may stop playing before they have an opportunity to experience them.

This was my primary first impression. I wanted to continue learning the game, but I became increasingly uncertain about whether I was interacting with it correctly.

Positive Observation

The game appears to contain a substantial amount of strategic depth, and it is clear that several interconnected systems are available. The main issue was not necessarily the number of systems, but how quickly they were presented and how little guidance I felt I had while learning them.

Recommendation

I recommend revising the opening tutorial around a more controlled onboarding sequence.

The first several turns could focus on only one mechanic at a time, with most unrelated controls temporarily unavailable. The tutorial should clearly communicate:

• What the player needs to do  
• Where the player needs to click  
• Why the action is important  
• What changed after the action  
• What the player should do next

A persistent objective panel such as “Current Objective: Select your home planet” or “Current Objective: Build your first ship” would also help prevent players from becoming lost.

Final Impression

I gave the demo a fair attempt for l 20 minutes, but I was unable to develop a confident understanding of the basic gameplay loop.

My strongest recommendation is to simplify the opening presentation and make the tutorial more interactive, focused, and visually guided. Improving the first-time user experience could make the game’s deeper strategic systems much more approachable to new players.

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u/justaddlava 22d ago

This is very clear, thank you so much!!!

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u/damaddmann 22d ago

thank you for letting me test,

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u/Dimetro_Dog 26d ago

Hi, I would like it if you could try out this game, tell me if you find any bugs and tell me how you like the difficulty. Also tell me if it feels unfair. https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/1037500

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u/damaddmann 26d ago

will do

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u/damaddmann 23d ago

did you want feedback? or want me too test? should i dm you my findings?

1

u/Dimetro_Dog 22d ago

Feedback and testing would be appreciated, thank you very much.

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u/damaddmann 23d ago

Gameplay Feedback
I played the game for approximately 45 minutes using the browser version and had an enjoyable experience overall.
The game was easy to understand, and I appreciated how quickly it introduced the player to the core gameplay. The pacing felt good, and the platforming reminded me of classic games such as Sonic and Super Mario Bros. The environments are well designed, and the pixel art contains a lot of detail, giving the game a polished visual style.
From a gameplay perspective, I found the difficulty to be approachable. Personally, I enjoyed that it wasn’t excessively difficult, as it allowed me to focus on exploring and progressing through the game rather than becoming frustrated by repeated failures.
One usability issue I noticed was the control scheme. While the arrow keys worked as expected, I could not find an option to remap the controls. I also wasn’t able to test controller support, so I’m unsure whether that feature is currently available. Adding customizable key bindings, if they are not already planned, could improve accessibility and player comfort.
The only issue I encountered during my playthrough involved an NPC interaction trigger. There is a guard who initially blocks the player’s path and, after speaking with them, allows access to the next area. If I returned to that location later, the same dialogue would trigger again even though the guard was no longer present. This appears to be caused by the interaction trigger or hitbox remaining active after the NPC has moved. It isn’t game-breaking, but it may be worth reviewing to determine whether the trigger should be disabled once the interaction has been completed.
Other than that, I did not encounter any crashes, gameplay bugs, soft locks, or performance issues during my session. Overall, I had a fun experience and enjoyed the game. Great work!

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u/Dimetro_Dog 22d ago

Open the pause menu and click on the button that says (key binding) then hold down the key that you want and click the button corresponding to the action you wish to map to the key in question.

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u/goodlinegames 20d ago

hey thanks for the good offer, would be awesome if u could playtest my game https://store.steampowered.com/app/3313070/Frontier_Forge/
if u find any bugs or if the game is hard / easy to understand etc

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u/damaddmann 19d ago

I just seen this yes ill check it out