I think the kids are getting tired of hearing me come home from work and ask them to play a few rounds.  We’ve been grinding on the gameplay 2-3 times a week which is about as much as we can fit in on a regular week.

I see two things that are critical to the success of this product – first is the fun of the gameplay and second is the art.  I have little control over the art, since anything I draw looks like it came from a six-year-old, so I’m focused on the gameplay.  To ensure the gameplay has a good flow, is fun and doesn’t have dumb situations or outcomes, testing the game over and over is critical.

At this point, I’m going to start involving some close friends and family in the testing to get some outside feedback for the game.  This will also help refine the difficulty in learning the game, which can be hard to do by yourself when you’re so close to it all.  Of course, everything makes sense to me and it’s easy to understand because I’ve put a lot of time and energy into developing it.  What about someone that’s never seen it before?  How easy will it be to learn?

What testing do you need to do for your product?  Remember, you know your product better than anyone because you’ve been there every step of the way.  How will someone interact with your product if they’ve never seen it before?  How are you going to do more testing and get feedback?