u/flyingrobotstudios

Hey r/playtesters ,

Quick recruitment post, but the methodology might be useful to other devs here too.

We're at Flying Robot Studios in Kolkata, working on The Great Indian Safari — a wildlife reserve simulation set in India. Phase 1 asks players to build a functioning ecosystem before opening to tourists. The whole tutorial is carried by three diegetic narrative voices that never break register. No tutorial overlay, no checklists. The simulation has to teach itself.

That last part is what we're testing.

We're running a closed playtest with 8 testers. The build is 60–90 minutes, played across 2–3 sessions over two weeks, ending at a hard stop. After they finish, each tester sits for a 30-minute recorded audio interview.

We're deliberately not running a survey. For "did the simulation teach itself?", surveys force testers into our framing and we get the answers our questions imply. Interviews surface the vocabulary testers use unprompted, which is a much stronger signal.

The price of admission is the audio interview. If that's not for you, we'll have a wider beta later.

Looking for players who play sim, management, narrative, or wildlife/nature games, can fit in 2–3 short sessions, and will give honest reactions — including the uncomfortable ones.

To apply, two options — whichever is easier for you:

• DM me here on Reddit, or
• Drop a message in our Discord: https://discord.gg/qPCygjhg

In your message, tell me a few games you've enjoyed recently, when you can fit 2–3 sessions over the next two weeks, and that you're up for the audio interview. Selected testers will receive a Steam key by DM to access the playtest.

Please don't apply in the comments — keeps things cleaner for everyone, and lets you give us a fuller picture in DM than a comment would.

Picking 8 testers by 21 May. Not picked? You're first in line for the wider beta, which will be open access on Steam.

Happy to talk methodology in the comments — that part's open.

— Satyajit, Flying Robot Studios