One of the challenges before launching your game is finding people who are willing to test it and offer you useful feedback on it. Getting friends and family to check it out is certainly useful but isn’t always enough. Understanding your user and ensuring that the user experience is as good as it can be before releasing your game into the market, is a hugely important part of the process.
As a game music composer, I’m not really able to offer much advice on how to develop your game but from my experiences in working with many amazingly talented indie game developers (see my credit list), I know that one area which is often tricky, is in knowing where to source those beta testers. So, I’ve had a go at compiling a list of places that could be useful to be aware of and to check out.
I know that the game development journey can be a long one and hope that this article helps you a little bit along the way…
1. Alpha Beta Gamer
Alphabetagamer is ‘the worlds biggest beta testing site’. They cover alpha and betas on all platforms and do so for free, however they will only play your game if it’s free or if you give them some keys to distribute and offer through their website. They aim to add new games to their website each day.
2. Indie Quality Assurance
IndieQA was created in 2015 by a group of playtesters wanting to support Indie developers with their games. They offer a free service to beta test games as long as you provide keys for your game for your preferred platform.
3. Beta Family
Beta Family has over 65,000 testers that you can invite to test your game and target based on demographics and device. They have an easy to use test builder and 3 different price plans (from free to $399/month) for you to choose from.
4. PreApps
PreApps is a site that helps people to discover and test new apps before they are released. They cover apps on both iOS and Android and offer various services to help with the launch and promotion of your mobile app. This includes submitting your app to over 150 sites for review.
5. UberTesting
UberTesting provides access to real users to test and offer feedback on apps, websites and more. For mobile game developers it can be a great way to get feedback on your game. You don’t need to integrate SDK, you can target specific user segments, set up surveys, interviews, focus groups and more.
6. Betalist
Betalist is a place to discover and showcase new startups. It’s a community of creators and early adopters. If your mobile app or game offers something exciting for early adopters to get their teeth into then check it out.
7. Playtest Cloud
PlaytestCloud offers a one-stop solution for playtesting mobile and browser games during all key stages of game development cycle i.e. prototyping, development, soft launch and after release. You can easily set up a playtest, specify your target audience and then watch and listen to videos of people playing your game. There are 4 different products and various prices associated with the kind of survey or test you’re looking to implement. Prices range from $9 per response right up to over $1000 for longer studies.
8. Roast My Game
Roastmygame is a site which encourages indie game developers to post their games so that they can gather ‘sugarfree’ feedback on it. Anyone can post a game and anyone can offer feedback.
9. Reddit
There are various subreddits, which allow you to share your game and ask for feedback. Check the rules for each subreddit to make sure it’s ok to post something there before doing so. Here are a few to maybe take a look at:
- /r/gamedev
- /r/playtesters
- /r/playmygame
- /r/inat
- /r/gamedevclassifieds
- /r/gamedevscreens
- /r/testmyapp
- /r/alphaandbetausers
- /r/androidapptesters
- /r/startups
- /r/indiegaming
- /r/iosgaming
10. Twitter
There is a huge gaming and gamedev community on Twitter with many people very willing to take a look at and support your game. Find me there @ninichimusic! If you have a strong following on Twitter, then ask your followers if they want to beta test your game. As well as that, here are some hashtags that may be useful for you:
- #gamedev
- #indiedev
- #indiegame
- #indiegames
- #indiegaming
- #betatesting
- #betatesters
- #testmyapp
- #apptesting
- #mobileapptesting
Read next: How to Promote Your Game on Twitter
About the author: Ninichi is an experienced game music and film music composer. She creates music for games, film and other media, and would be delighted to help you create the music for your game or project.
Contact Ninichi to explore working with her now and follow her @ninichimusic
