As part of
the latest Gamasutra feature interview, Playdead CEO Dino Patti and game director Arnt Jensen discuss how they went about testing their hit indie game
Limbo, and the sheer number of people who were brought in to try it out.
Over the course of the game's development, Playdead brought "several hundred people" into the office to test the game, reveals Jensen -- around 150 of whom were asked to simply play it for the first time without any direction given from the developers, and who were used for only that one playthrough.
"It was so important," continues Jensen, "We learned so much just sitting and watching people. Usually we didn't say anything. We just give them the controller, and then we sat behind them, and we didn't ask any questions."
However, the team were not interested in whether or not the testers enjoyed the puzzles, but rather cared whether the puzzles were too easy or too difficult.
"We were arrogant enough... We didn't want to know what they were thinking, because we think we're the best to decide what's great. So we didn't ask them anything," he notes.
"We just watched them and saw if they had any problems. That was it. Could they solve the puzzles? What should we do to make it easier to solve them?"
The full interview, which delves into how the game was made and the simplicity running through the game,
is now live on Gamasutra.
