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We playtest games for game designers; we work with them to help make their games better. Our goal is always to give the designer what they want for their design. We playtest for the educational experience; we are passionate about playtesting in order to learn more about how games work, how the industry works, and to practice our communication skills. We are located in Shizuoka, Japan, but we have structured our process in such a way so as to facilitate communication with designers and give feedback about their games according to the designers’ needs.
Our approach includes any of the following (depending on what the designer needs):
Blind playtesting: We can work with print and play documents or sent prototypes.
Designer-guided playtesting: We can play over Skype, Vassal, or in person.
Recording: We video- and audio-record us learning, playing and discussing the game. We share compressed video files via Dropbox.
Repeated playtesting: We give initial impressions. We interpret and work with rulebooks. We also do development, balancing, and strategy testing.
Sharing Feedback: We send our experiences and comments via a feedback form (pdf) and communicate via email, BGDF messages, or Skype.
Members: In addition to our core team, we also play games with other Lab members, other university students, and families and children in the community.
Availability: We are available nearly year-round, but some members are unavailable in September and January/February (because of exams, breaks and university duties).
Contact us: gamelab.shizuoka@gmail.com / http://bgdf.com/ username: gamelab.shizuoka
Games we have worked on:
a new abstract game by Charles Ward
Haze Islands: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1540260/wip-haze-islands
Food Fight A Game of Scones: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195536/food-fight-game-scones
a new cooperative game by Geoff Englestein
Blood and Fortune: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184458/blood-fortune
Tesla vs. Edison: http://prefundia.com/projects/view/tesla-vs-edison/2566/ and http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132544/tesla-vs-edison-war-currents
Crazy Zoo! (previously, Yahtzee Go Fish): http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1089569/wip-crazy-zoo-rethemed-yahtzee-go-fish-looking-pla
Journey of Sheep: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1097670/playtest-feedback-form
Far From Home: http://farfromhomeboardgame.weebly.com/ and http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139712/far-home
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