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My project is nearing beta release soon. With some finished but mostly unfinished sprite and only the common branch finished. I was going to ask my friends to test it for, and have them tell me where I made minor errors. But when I did this previously with an even less finished version, I was disappointed to find they didn't do... Any, of those things. I understand, though. It seems troublesome. After all, I didn't do it myself either.

So, once it's ready. I thought I'd look for some beta testers. The question is: Should I offer money for that? I saw some proofreaders offering a fair fee. Figure it's almost the same.

Money tends to be quite good motivator, yes. After all, you're asking for people to take the time to play your game with the aspect of spotting out errors, and actually listing those out to you in a constructive manner. Then again how much, if at all, you should pay for it really depends on the length of the game and whether or not your aim is a commercial one.

Ozitiho wrote:My project is nearing beta release soon. With some finished but mostly unfinished sprite and only the common branch finished. I was going to ask my friends to test it for, and have them tell me where I made minor errors. But when I did this previously with an even less finished version, I was disappointed to find they didn't do... Any, of those things. I understand, though. It seems troublesome. After all, I didn't do it myself either.

So, once it's ready. I thought I'd look for some beta testers. The question is: Should I offer money for that? I saw some proofreaders offering a fair fee. Figure it's almost the same.

You shouldn't be using testers to find spelling/grammar/sprite animation errors (which it sounds like you're referring to?). Your testers are there to give feedback on what the experience of playing your game was like. Whether or not they liked your characters/plot, if the game ran smoothly for them, if they had any bugs, etc.

If you're trying to polish the game's animations/script, what you're looking for is an editor or a proofreader. To find a good one, yeah. You'll probably need to pay.

When having friends test a game, it is VERY helpful to them and you to sit side by side at the computer and go through it together. Both you and your friend are to look for errors, with your friend playing the game and YOU writing down the errors.
The first person who looks at my finished projects is my life partner. We sit down together; she plays the game, and we both watch for mistakes, while I write down the errors.

Ozitiho wrote:My project is nearing beta release soon. With some finished but mostly unfinished sprite and only the common branch finished. I was going to ask my friends to test it for, and have them tell me where I made minor errors. But when I did this previously with an even less finished version, I was disappointed to find they didn't do... Any, of those things. I understand, though. It seems troublesome. After all, I didn't do it myself either.

So, once it's ready. I thought I'd look for some beta testers. The question is: Should I offer money for that? I saw some proofreaders offering a fair fee. Figure it's almost the same.

You know, it's good to have two to even four or five beta-testers so you can have a variety of perspectives on the gameplay. I would get a few of your friends to beta test and also go on the forum here and ask other individuals for help. Your friends will point out the errors and such but someone you don't know may give you more honest feedback and be spot on with telling you what is wrong.

Also, using money as a way to find teammates (proofreaders, editors, testers, etc.) is a good option. It usually guarantees you that they will work hard and give great feedback while also being responsible and communicating with you regularly. However, I think it also depends on whether or not you are releasing your game for free or if it is for commercial use. I would definitely pay someone to help with a commercial game but if it's a free VN, it may be a better idea to look for free help (although people may be more flaky and not communicate with you). If you are worried about flakiness, ask for a resume or example works that they have helped create. Although, I have seen a few VN's that are free but have had teammates who have been paid before. Overall, it's just preference.

As Vogue stated above, a tester shouldn't be looking for spelling and grammar errors. That should be left to an editor and later, proofreaders. I would highly recommend finding an editor and proofreader before a beta release if you have not done so already.

Note: I am a beginner visual novelist and everything I wrote above is what I would do if I were in your situation.

As has been mentioned above, if you're looking for testers, it should be for general feedback on your game, not proofreading.

I don't think getting good testers necessarily depends on paying them, though that's one way to ensure commitment. As I've been alpha/beta testing for my current project, I've found about six people to test it, and they're mostly friends who're interested in game dev/media work themselves, whose work I can test in return. I've snagged one of my media student friends, two game dev friends, one of my voice-acting friends, and a couple of people from LSF who were commenting in the game thread.

While I haven't yet been able to assist the LSF people in return, I've beta read a novel for my media friend, given game dev feedback for my dev friends, and played some mini-VNs my voice-acting friend made. Having reciprocal testing relationships has been really useful for me, because I get to give and receive help, and I have a group of contacts who I know will provide informed and honest opinions -- we all have to trust each other to be honest, or we'll all be giving each other bad advice, and then we'll all release bad work. The downside, I guess, is that I don't get the layperson's view on my projects, but for me that's outweighed by the fact the feedback I receive comes from people who know exactly how and why something I've tried hasn't worked.

So if you're stumped for who should test your game and how to find them, my advice would be to think of people you already talk to who know how to talk about games, if not how to make them, and see if they'll help. Then see if you can help them in return~ : )

^What kitsubasa said. I'm friends with a few fellow writers that are usually willing to look over my stuff, and I can count on them to give informed and specific feedback. I also use them as sounding boards when I'm still outlining ideas and trying to figure out the story. And of course, I do the same for them and their writing too.

And if you don't have someone like that, then I'd highly recommend finding someone. If you're just trying to focus test or gauge reactions to certain things, nearly anyone will do, but a single fellow writer or developer can give opinions that are worth ten times that of less informed individuals. As an example, you could make a recruitment thread looking for beta testers on these forums, and I'm sure you'd get one or two constructive reviews at the very least.

Exchanges for mere feedback and impressions is one of the more stable skill trades too, since it only requires a modicum of time, and I've met very few people who don't enjoy giving their opinions about things. It's sort of a net positive, at least in my experience; I like reading things that people have made, and my own projects need to be critiqued to improve.

I see... Looks like I've had some serious misconceptions on how testing works... Yeah, logging it myself sounds like a much better idea. I'll definitely do that. See if I can get my wife to run through it with me. Thanks.

Sadly, though. I don't have any writer friends. Not even any friends that play VN's. So that's a bummer. Definitely something I'll have to work on. Seems hard to judge your product properly when you're the only one judging it.

Ozitiho wrote:I see... Looks like I've had some serious misconceptions on how testing works... Yeah, logging it myself sounds like a much better idea. I'll definitely do that. See if I can get my wife to run through it with me. Thanks.

Sadly, though. I don't have any writer friends. Not even any friends that play VN's. So that's a bummer. Definitely something I'll have to work on. Seems hard to judge your product properly when you're the only one judging it.

ah have you tried D.A theres tons of ppl the communities nice you could post on a forum that you need a proofreader/tester and I'm sure people would try to help (specially if there intrested in the story itself!) Wish I could help you more but..Im a newb lol

I'm surprised no one has really emphasize this yet,
but you can recruit testers here on the LSF forums. There are explicit places to do so.

For proofreaders, you can look for people advertising themselves in the "I am a Writer, Editor, Proofreader or Translator" subforum of the Recruitment & Services Offered Forum.
For beta testers, you can post your project in the Demos & Beta Testing thread and ask for people there.

trooper6 wrote:I'm surprised no one has really emphasize this yet,
but you can recruit testers here on the LSF forums. There are explicit places to do so.

For proofreaders, you can look for people advertising themselves in the "I am a Writer, Editor, Proofreader or Translator" subforum of the Recruitment & Services Offered Forum.
For beta testers, you can post your project in the Demos & Beta Testing thread and ask for people there.

Exactly. I'm think I touched on this, but sites like these are great for establishing professional networks. At the very least you can find one-off testers, but you can also foster friendships if you're willing to put yourself out there as well.

trooper6 wrote:I'm surprised no one has really emphasize this yet,
but you can recruit testers here on the LSF forums. There are explicit places to do so.

Haha, that's what I was thinking of doing when I said that. This website is amazing. With so many skilled, helpful people, it's no wonder I want to stick around more than I do.

Willowen wrote:I would definitely pay someone to help with a commercial game but if it's a free VN, it may be a better idea to look for free help (although people may be more flaky and not communicate with you). If you are worried about flakiness, ask for a resume or example works that they have helped create. Although, I have seen a few VN's that are free but have had teammates who have been paid before. Overall, it's just preference.

I was wondering about payment of beta testers myself... so for a noncommercial project it's OK etiquette to ask for free testers?

It seems to me like a lot of free projects just post directly to Completed Games and work out the bugs there. But personally, for a non-jam game, I'd prefer to at the very least have a couple people confirm they can play to the end before posting to a general audience.

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on what it's OK to ask of a free tester (and about what they might or might not be motivated to do)?

YossarianIII wrote:I was wondering about payment of beta testers myself... so for a noncommercial project it's OK etiquette to ask for free testers?

I'd say for commercial project you can also get free testers, depending on the stage of completion. To me personally, it seems backwards to pay someone to merely play your game for free (that otherwise would cost money) and only have them tell you if they liked it. But as it was pointed out, and I just learned, there's a difference between proofreading and testing. Proofreading you should pay for regardless of commercial or free, because it's a ton of effort.

YossarianIII wrote:

Willowen wrote:I would definitely pay someone to help with a commercial game but if it's a free VN, it may be a better idea to look for free help (although people may be more flaky and not communicate with you). If you are worried about flakiness, ask for a resume or example works that they have helped create. Although, I have seen a few VN's that are free but have had teammates who have been paid before. Overall, it's just preference.

I was wondering about payment of beta testers myself... so for a noncommercial project it's OK etiquette to ask for free testers?

It seems to me like a lot of free projects just post directly to Completed Games and work out the bugs there. But personally, for a non-jam game, I'd prefer to at the very least have a couple people confirm they can play to the end before posting to a general audience.

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on what it's OK to ask of a free tester (and about what they might or might not be motivated to do)?

I think you can always ask, commercial or non-commercial, and see if anyone is interested in testing the game for free (well...I'd say also for their name in the credits as tester). See if you get any takers. If you don't get any takers? Then you might need to offer money.