Video Game Design and Coding · PLECK lesson

PLECK lesson 166 · suggested week 34, day 1

Prepare a privacy-respecting beta test

Objective. Write a short task script and consent statement.

Godot Engine Standard desktop editor 4.7.2-stable, GDScript (Godot 4), Compatibility renderer. Headless Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf passed 106 assertions on the supplied scaffolds, including malformed JSON saves. Audio used the Dummy driver and a synthetic WAV, not a speaker. The visual editor, browser export, and signed-in submission were not tested. The desk still does not run a student's own upload.

About 55 minutes. The due date is chosen by a parent.

Consent, observation, severity, focused fixes and regression

Suggested pace: Recall and predict 5 min; Read instruction and scaffold 12 min; Build or design the assigned artifact 25 min; Run acceptance tests 8 min; Explain and checkpoint 5 min.

Materials: Paper and pencil or a private text document, Local course folder and prior checkpoint, No paid assets or public account required.

Comes after VGC-L165.

A beta test asks whether a near-complete game works for someone outside its development process. Write a brief explanation of purpose, duration, voluntary participation and the ability to stop. Use anonymous tester codes and do not ask age, school, location or diagnosis. Tasks should cover finding controls, performing the core action, reaching a milestone, using a comfort setting and restarting. Optional recording requires separate consent; written notes are sufficient and preferred when privacy is uncertain.

Worked example

A neutral beta task asks the player to find and use a comfort setting. Notes record what they tried before proposing an interface repair.

Prepare a privacy-respecting beta test — evidence task

  1. 1. Write a five-task beta script and short consent statement.
  2. 2. Prepare an anonymous results sheet tied to the candidate version.

Deliverable. Beta test script and anonymous results form.

Acceptance checks

Understanding question. Why ask consent separately for recording?

Submit readable text or photos/scans of each numbered design page. Audio explanation may supplement a diagram or text, not replace requested artifacts.

If this is still shaky. Test locally with an anonymous script. If no tester is available, label a structured self-test and follow the same tasks. Start with the first assigned task and re-run its acceptance test before adding the remaining feature.

Optional extra. Ask for one optional qualitative preference only after task observations are recorded. Document one changed parameter, your prediction, and the observed effect; optional, not required for completion.

Name ____________________ Date ____________________