Playtesting for VR Games/
VR User Testing
Why Target Audience is important
User Testing is focused on playtesting with your target audience throughout the whole development cycle, from the concept to post-launch updates. Whether you choose to test with new users or with your existing community, it will help to discover if the game is fun to play, get insights on replayability and value, level of fun, test balance, test any of your hypotheses, discover what to build next, and open an opportunity for you to learn from your users and get consistent actionable test results.
Accessibility testing is focused on playtests with people with disabilities and not standard needs. Accessibility testing is essential to ensure that players with disabilities are able to fully enjoy and participate in a VR game. There are multiple reasons to do accessibility testing for your VR game.
Testing your VR game early can save your resources, both, time and money. The earlier you find the areas that need to be fixed, the less these fixes will cost you. Testing provides a great opportunity to identify problems along the way, so there is enough time and resources to iterate. You can also use playtesting to generate new ideas for your VR game. For example, it can be tactical user research, to understand what to build next.
Target audience is the most important aspect of the success of any product. Testing or doing research with your target audience is essential in order to get accurate and actionable feedback. It allows you to get feedback from the people who are most likely to play your game. Here are some of the specific reasons why it is important to test or do market research with your target audience and not just anyone:
- By testing or doing research with your target audience, you can learn more about their specific needs and wants. This information can then be used to improve your game and to make sure that it is something that they are interested in.
- It is important to use language and cultural norms that are appropriate for your target audience. Language and cultural norms play a huge role in the perception of a game and its success.
- Your target audience is more likely to give you honest feedback. People are more likely to be honest with feedback when they feel like their opinion matters. By testing or doing research with your target audience, you are sending the message that you value their opinion and are committed to improving your product.
VR Oxygen integrates data from a variety of social networks and devices to access a combined database of over 100 million profiles that VR companies can search in order to connect with the best-fitting candidates for each study. Find the right profiles by setting any requirements — from demographics, backgrounds, and different experiences with VR (novice VR users or experienced hard-core VR gamers), to any headset, and various VR-ready PC configurations.
Testing with new users from your target audience will help evaluate the first-time user experience or onboarding and discover if the game is intuitive enough for people who’ve never played this game before. It will help to uncover confusing UI and mechanics, solve any problems with balance and find out the best solution to scale difficulty for different types of players, whether it's a single player or a multiplayer. And will help to make sure you are building an enjoyable experience for both long-term fans and newcomers. There is no limit to the number of VR users you need to find, whether it’s a single player or a multiplayer. Scheduled multiplayers are often moderated by someone from the game development team.
Playtesting for VR games is more complex and may require on-site tests if observing a player behavior is required. However, this can be solved with Remote Assistant via live stream or recorded offline test. Read our VR Playtesting Case Studies to learn more about the most representative customer stories.
Playtesting for VR games can be hard but we are here to help. Contact us to share your problems, discuss Plans, and create a custom solution for your specific case. Read about testing VR accessibility to make sure your VR game is inclusive.