Find a parser beta tester!

Find a parser beta tester! is a short reflection piece on beta-testing, particularly when having your parser work beta-tested by others. Whatever the program used when making a game, beta-testing is the most painful part of the process: you not only need to have people play a game that isn’t complete and probably has too many bugs it’s embarrassing, but you also have to FIND THOSE PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. The pain…

The game give multiple options, between parser and non-parser players, players who know and don’t know you, so you would get a wide array of feedback, allowing you to fix it all before the deadline (though it is never truly fixed…). It is a pretty sound advice, having a wide-range of different testers, to ensure you’ve covered as much as possible the potential players base.

Testing is one of the most important part of game making*, as it can be the difference between receiving glowing reviews and… a torrent of negative comments because everything is broken. Not just that, but depending on the amount of issues with your game, you may feel guilty for having put them through such gruelling efforts (especially if they are not familiar with parsers).
*I say that but, lol, but I barely do that myself