We recently had the opportunity to try out Python Math: Adder's Garden Adventure (and another game I won't mention here) with some fourth graders near RIT - it was a great experience. We got a lot of pretty useful feedback, mostly related to graphics and the way we were laying out levels.
We also stopped for ice cream, and just had a chance to get off of the RIT campus for a while, and that was pretty nice as well.
The best thing though is that events like these remind me why I like making games in the first place, so it was a great opportunity for me to kind of recharge. Watching a bunch of 4th graders figure out how a puzzle works is awesome. There are a lot of things that go into making a game, and when they get silly or annoying it helps to realize what the end goal is. I spend a lot of time advocating for stuff like this in games, both in the proprietary and Open Source ends of the spectrum.
Know what the heck you're making and why you're making it - that way when you have to deal with stupid hard stuff, you know why you're subjecting yourself to this crap. When I watch people playtest the games that I make and I see them smile, I realize how ridiculously worthwhile everything is, and it helps me to stop being so wrapped up in the minutia of what I'm doing.
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