Survey-Only Playtests

Modified on Sun, 11 Jan at 5:00 AM

Get honest player feedback fast — no build required.

Perfect for early validation, creative testing, and audience insights.

What is it?

A Survey-Only Playtest lets you run targeted surveys with real players, without needing a game build.
It’s ideal for early-stage testing, concept feedback, and strategic decisions before you invest in development or marketing.

This is also valuable for teams with live games or apps who want to collect player feedback to identify bugs, uncover blockers, understand user behaviour, or explore new use cases. It helps improve existing experiences and supports studios looking to scale effectively.

When should you use Survey-Only?

Select this playtest when you want to:

Test your idea or theme before building (Concept Testing)
Decide between art styles or game names
Prioritize features that matter most to players
Understand your audience and their habits
Fine-tune monetization before launch
Validate marketing angles (trailers, taglines, icons)
Gather post-launch feedback for live games

Whether you're pre-production, mid-dev, or post-release, it’s your fastest way to make informed decisions.

What can you do with Survey-Only?

What You Can Do	Examples
Validate the Game Idea	“Would you play a game like this?”
Prioritize Features	“Which feature is a must-have on Day 1?”
Test Visuals & Branding	A/B test trailers, icons, taglines
Understand Player Segments	Know who plays — age, device, region, style
Refine Monetization	Will they pay? What price? What kind of In-App Purchase?
Optimize Marketing	Which creative hooks or messages click best?
Spot Early Red Flags	Understand what would turn players off

What’s included (and what’s not)

Feature	Survey-Only	Notes
No Game Build Needed	✅	No .apk upload required
Survey Tool Support	✅	Use Lysto’s tool or 3rd-party like Alchemer
Player Targeting	✅	Choose age, gender, region, device, gamer type
Upload Creative Assets	✅	Add concept art, trailers, feature mockups

How it works (step-by-step)

Create a New Playtest Request from your dashboard and Select 'Survey' as the type of request.
Add Project Details like Project Name, Playtest Objective, and choose the playtesting device. Then input your game icon image and game name.
Select if you'd like to start the survey as soon as possible or on a specific date. Add any instructions the players need to keep in mind while answering the survey questions.
Set up your target audience.
Upload your survey or add the survey link. Alternatively, you can also integrate a third-party tool (Alchemer) for conducting the survey.
Launch & Review Responses: Once playtesters submit the survey, the data appears in your dashboard, ready for analysis.

What roles benefit from Survey-Only?

Role	Key Benefits
Game Designers	Validate concepts, characters, storyboard, test features, and art style feedback
Product Managers	Segment audience, prioritise features, and pricing data
Marketers	Test trailers, names, icons, and creative hooks
Founders/Execs	Use insights to pitch, de-risk ideas, or guide roadmaps

Why use this instead of a playtest?

If You Want To…	Survey-Only Is Best
Validate ideas/storyboard without a build	✅
Make design/feature decisions early	✅
Understand your market and player base	✅
Test pricing, ads, and IAP interest	✅
Optimize branding before spending	✅
Avoid dev time on unwanted features	✅

Survey-Only Playtests = fast, focused, and risk-reducing.

You don’t need gameplay to make wise decisions — you need honest, scalable feedback from the right players. That’s exactly what this gives you.

To know more, reach out to us at contact@lysto.io