Studio case study
Three indie playtestsThree indie playtests, five testers each: what they found
In October 2026 Bounty Board paid for playtests of three indie games, five testers each at $10 a report. Each round found a problem its studio had not seen, and all three studios are changing their games because of it.
Published · Updated
- Would recommend Bounty Board
- 3 of 3
- Three of the four studios answered
- First application
- Under 4 min
- After each round went live
- Applications
- 66
- For 15 paid spots
- Reports accepted
- 15 of 15
- No changes requested
“Five testers in one week for a small test campaign, three updates shipped to the Bricks & Bribes demo, including a tutorial bug we'd never have caught ourselves.”
At a glance
Each round asked for five testers at $10 a report, six questions, and 20 to 30 minutes of play on a free PC download. The first reports arrived 4 to 11 hours after each round went live. The 66 applications came from 31 people based in 19 countries, 11 of them in the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom. The 10 testers who reported were based in the United States (2), Canada, Germany, Peru, Malta, Portugal, Indonesia, Argentina and Romania.
- Reports accepted
- 15 of 15
- Changes requested
- None
- Answer length, median
- 330 words
- Studio review time, median
- 46 min to 7 hours
- Reward per report
- $10
Bricks & Bribes
The tutorial taught the systems, and one step trapped a tester.
GriffinBuilds Studio asked five testers to play the tutorial of its turn based real estate strategy game for 30 minutes and answer six questions. Creators and gamers could join. The studio said most of the five already play strategy or tycoon games, so they could say where its game differs from what they expect. During the round the studio shipped three updates to its itch.io demo: a clearer auction panel, a prompt on New Game that offers the tutorial first, and a fix for the auction step. A fix for the mortgage step is in progress.
- Applications for 5 spots
- 23
- Time to first application
- 3.5 min
- Time to first accepted report
- 16.3 hours
- Time to a full round
- 6.7 days
“Five testers in one week for a small test campaign, three updates shipped to the Bricks & Bribes demo, including a tutorial bug we'd never have caught ourselves.”
AETHRA : Echoes Of The Forgotten
Four of five testers flagged the English.
AnaryxSof asked five testers to play the demo of its story driven action platformer for Windows for 20 minutes and answer six questions. Only creators could join. The studio said the reports showed it weaknesses it had not fully noticed, and it is using the testers' suggestions to guide its next updates.
- Applications for 5 spots
- 19
- Time to first application
- 2.7 min
- Time to first accepted report
- 20.7 hours
- Time to a full round
- 4.5 days
“Bounty Board gave me the opportunity to get valuable feedback on AETHRA from real players without spending anything on the playtest. The reports helped me identify weaknesses in my game and gave me a clearer direction for future improvements.”
Umisonia
The gamepad stopped working outside combat.
ZhinestarK asked five testers to play the early game of its Metroidvania action RPG for 25 minutes, on PC or Android, and answer six questions. Creators and gamers could join. The testers came from five countries and all five played on a gamepad; the studio counted a tester with QA experience and a gaming outlet that knows Metroidvanias among them. They found two bugs the studio had not seen: a crash during the intro credits and no exit button. The studio now plans gamepad navigation for menus, dialogue and the pause screen, a way to hide the touch buttons on PC, labels on the shop and equipment icons, an exit button, a look at the credits crash and another pass on the harder difficulty levels.
- Applications for 5 spots
- 24
- Time to first application
- 1.6 min
- Time to first accepted report
- 4.5 hours
- Time to a full round
- 4.8 days
“The five reports helped me see Umisonia's weak spots clearly, especially gamepad menu support and on-screen controls.”
Studio answers
Every studio that answered said yes to all four questions.
After the rounds we asked all four studios whether the reports were worth the cost, whether they gave the studio specific things to fix, whether the testers fit the game and whether they would recommend Bounty Board to other developers who want to run a playtest. Three studios answered.
- Reports worth the cost
- 3 of 3
- Specific things to fix
- 3 of 3
- Testers fit the game
- 3 of 3
- Would recommend Bounty Board
- 3 of 3
Each count is of the three studios that answered. Bounty Board paid for all four rounds, so no studio spent its own money.
What changed
The pilot changed how playtests work.
A studio in the pilot asked for screenshots in answers, testers from particular countries and a view of the whole round. Those shipped between October 14 and 20, after the rounds above had started, so these rounds ran without them.
Who tests
Testers come from the creators already on Bounty Board.
Every tester in these rounds was a creator with a public profile. As of October 22, 2026, 750 creators have one, and 127 applied to a campaign in the last 30 days. The United States is the largest country, home to 106 of the 262 creators whose payout country we know.
- Creators with public profiles
- 750
- Creators who joined, last 30 days
- 318
- Applied to a campaign, last 30 days
- 127
- Of them, based in the United States
- 31
- Creators based in the United States
- 106
- Audience in North America
- 44%
- Gamer accounts
- 84
Payout country comes from each creator's Stripe account, so it is known for the 262 who have set one up. The audience share is what 90 creators report on their profiles, where each can pick several regions. Playtests can be open to gamers too; no gamer applied to these rounds.
Takeaways
The most useful answers came from one question.
GriffinBuilds Studio found its most useful answers under "Where did you first get confused or stuck?", and for the next round would put that question first and ask for the exact step. Five testers find the problems several players share, and one tester can still find the worst one: only one hit the mortgage step that sent players back to turn 1.