Today was the day of the science fair hosted at Southampton University's Highfields campus me and my classmates took part in the event by showcasing our games. Over 5,000 people attended the science fair which gave us game designers a fair share of visitors most of those visitors being children and young adults which was a great playtesting experience for me since the age of my desired audience is anyone 10 years old and above since I am aiming for an E10+ ESRB rating for Kessler.

Image of setup for Science fair including a TV showcasing the main menu and an Image of a Young Boy Playtesting the game.

Throughout this playtest event I got to explain my game idea to many interesting people but most importantly I got to see how people approached the little demo I gave them and find some issues that I would not have otherwise seen for example.

• Young Audiences picked up controls super quickly (sometimes without even being told)
• The wording times need to be extended to give players more time to read the intro
• The intro needs to be shorted to stop players from losing interest and getting bored (add a skip button maybe)
• Lights by ladders cause some players to get stuck
• The player can jump up a ladder resulting in a funny bum shuffle effect
• Sometimes ladder exiting causes a speed boast

These imperfections and information I found during this playtest event will be valuable for furthering my development of Kessler concerning my target audience and desired rating.

At the end of week Seven I participated in a science fair to showcase my game, Kessler, and received valuable playtesting feedback from Many visitors, mostly children and young adults. The playtesters found issues with the wording times, intro length, ladder mechanics, and other imperfections that will be useful for further development of the game.