# Playtest — use case #4

**What it does.** Puts a playable build in front of real players. Each player plays
for a set number of minutes on their own machine while their screen and voice are
recorded, then answers a standardized player-experience questionnaire plus any
questions you author. What comes back is what no gate can produce: where a real
person got lost, bored, or stuck — with the recording to prove it.

**Just prompt your agent:**

```txt
Get 2 people to playtest my Steam demo for 15 minutes each. use pingfusi
```

The agent files the round, keeps working, and the players' verdicts, questionnaire
scores, think-aloud transcripts, and recording links land back in its context.
Everything below is the machinery the agent uses.

**Its routing skill:** the universal
[`pingfusi-review`](../../skill/pingfusi-review/SKILL.md) skill routes playtests —
there is no separate playtest skill. A playtest is the review tool with
`est_minutes` set.

## How a playtest files

A playtest is `core.review.file` (wire: the same review tool as every round) with:

- **`est_minutes` — THIS IS THE PRICE.** 5–30; a playtest bills
  `est_minutes × 2` credits per completed result (a credit buys 30 seconds of a
  player's attention). 10 is the standard session. On native platforms this is
  PLAY time — download and install happen before the clock starts.
- **`platform`** — omit it for anything playable in a browser (an itch.io or
  WebGL demo files as an ordinary web playtest against `url`). Send
  `platform:'macos' | 'ios' | 'windows'` for a native build:
  - **macos** — a player on their own Mac; `url` is a Steam store page (Playtest
    on OPEN signup) or a notarized `.dmg`/`.zip` download page. Results include
    the full think-aloud transcript inline.
  - **ios** — a player on their own iPhone/iPad; `url` is a TestFlight PUBLIC
    link or a live App Store page. The link must be live at filing time.
    Transcript included.
  - **windows** — a player on their own PC, working from their desktop browser:
    they claim on the reviewer site, install with their own Steam client, record
    with Xbox Game Bar, upload the MP4. `url` is the game's Steam store page.
    **No inline transcript yet** (`transcript_status:'unavailable'`) — plan to
    have the recording watched.
- **No store page yet? Upload the build.** `pingfusi publish-build <game.zip>
  --platform windows|macos` hosts a single zip (≤1 GiB, temporary — filing a
  playtest extends it through the round) and prints a `/b/<slug>` URL; file with
  that as `url` and the matching `platform`. Players are told up front it is an
  unreviewed developer build and that stopping at an OS security warning is their
  own penalty-free call — your instructions must never steer that decision (on
  macOS, notarize before zipping or expect aborts at the Gatekeeper wall).
- **`questionnaire`** — `"standard"` (default) asks the 11-statement
  player-experience instrument (one per Player Experience Inventory construct,
  −3..+3, score-comparable across rounds); your authored `steps` are appended
  after it. `"none"` drops it so your steps are the only questions.
- **Hardware convention.** If the game needs anything beyond keyboard+mouse — a
  gamepad/controller, a mic, VR — say so up front in `instructions` (players read
  them before claiming and self-select), and add an authored step asking what
  they actually used (options like `XInput gamepad` / `Keyboard+mouse`) so the
  answer comes back verified in `steps_result`.
- `n_target` caps at 3 players per round; file more rounds for more players.

## What comes back

Per player: a verdict, the questionnaire answers, `steps_result` (your authored
questions, answered), the think-aloud transcript inline with `[mm:ss]` stamps
(macOS/iOS; not Windows yet), and a link to the screen+voice recording — the link
re-signs on every results call, and the FILE is deleted after 7 days: it is for a
human to watch, most agents cannot use a video file. The round also returns a
hosted report URL (private by default; the owner can flip it shareable).

View everything locally with `pingfusi studio <ping_id>` — recordings, a
click-to-seek transcript, the questionnaire matrix with per-item means, and an
agent-written findings layer (`annotations.json`).

## Proof status

The use case remains **coming** until one real playtest round completes with an
approving verdict (`Completed the session`) and a sanitized receipt with a shipped
visual. Raw round state and player recordings stay internal; the catalog selftest
refuses an "available" label without the proof.