Turn your Unity game into a playtest build for Protokite, step by step.
Protokite Playtest is an optional Unity package that turns a build of your game into a playtest build.
While a playtest runs, every launch of the game becomes one session on the playtest’s Sessions page,
and the playtest decides what that session collects. It needs no code: install it, point it at your
playtest, sign a player in, and press Play.
Get the package
The Flock SDK’s Playtesting tab installs it in one click. ProtokitePlaytest-<version>.unitypackage is
also attached to every Flock Unity SDK release, at the same version.
One session per launch, named after the player’s Steam ID or this install’s device ID
Protokite Sessions
Video recording
A recording of the game’s screen, uploaded when it ends
The session’s recording player
Heavy analytics
A performance window every ten seconds of play, each scene load, and your own playtest events
Flock Dashboards → Game Metrics, under the playtest category
Exception capturing
Nothing extra — the Flock SDK reports exceptions with its own setting, whatever the playtest turns on
Flock Diagnostics → Errors
A published feedback form
The player’s answers
The session card, and the playtest’s Feedback form page
Every one of them is switched on the playtest’s page in Protokite, so changing what a playtest
collects needs no new build — and the player is asked first, so a launch collects only what they
allowed. See Press Play. Each feature is described on
What a playtest collects.
The Flock SDK is set up and working in the project: Api Url, Api Key, Game Name and
Game Version in Flock → Settings, with a Resolved Version ID filled in. See the
Unity SDK page.
A playtest exists in Protokite. Creating one makes a Flock game version for it, named pt-
followed by the test’s ID.
Video is recorded on 64-bit Windows only. Every other platform runs the rest of the playtest and
says once in the log that it records no video. See Platforms.
In the Unity menu bar, choose Flock → Settings and select the Playtesting tab. It names the
version it will install, which always matches your Flock SDK.
Flock → Settings → Playtesting, before the package is installed.
2
Press Install Protokite Playtest
It downloads the package from the Flock SDK’s release and imports it into Assets/ProtokitePlaytest.
No Git is needed. Unity compiles it, and the tab then shows the installed version with two buttons you
use in the next steps: Open Playtest Settings and Check Playtest Setup.
The same tab once the package is installed: its version, where it is, and the buttons for the next steps.
Two other ways in, both at the same version as your Flock SDK: double-click
ProtokitePlaytest-<version>.unitypackage from the release page, or in Window → Package Manager → + → Add
package from git URL enter
https://github.com/QwackStack/FlockUnitySDK.git?path=/ProtokitePlaytest~#v<version> (this route needs Git
installed). Leave the package out of projects that are not running playtests.
Protokite finds the playtest from the Flock game version the build sends.
1
Read the playtest's version
Open the test in Protokite. Its SDK block shows the playtest’s Flock version ID. The version’s
name is pt- followed by the test’s ID.
2
Set Game Version to that version's name
In Flock → Settings → Configuration, set Game Version to pt- followed by the test’s ID, for
example pt-01JABCDEFGHJKMNPQRSTVWXYZ0. The Flock SDK resolves the name, and Resolved Version ID
shows the ID Protokite showed you.
Flock → Settings → Configuration: Game Version set to the playtest's name, and the ID it resolved to.
3
Turn playtesting on
Choose Protokite → Playtest → Settings, or press Open Playtest Settings on the Playtesting tab.
The first time, this creates Assets/Resources/ProtokitePlaytestSettings.asset with playtesting off and
selects it in the Inspector. Tick Playtesting Enabled.Protokite Api Url is already set to production, https://api-protokite.qwacks.com; change it only to
point at a local Protokite such as http://localhost:8020. The URL must start with http:// or https://
and contain no spaces; one that does not is refused rather than tidied up.
Protokite → Playtest → Settings: the switch, the Protokite URL, the question put to the player, the feedback form and the recording settings.
Set the version’s name, not the ID Protokite displays. The Flock SDK resolves Game Version by name, so an
ID typed into Game Version resolves to nothing and the build keeps sending the ID resolved before. The setup
window in the next step spots a pasted ID and offers to put the right name in for you.
Choose Protokite → Playtest → Setup Checks And Test Video, or press Check Playtest Setup on the
Playtesting tab. The window checks what a build of this project needs for a playtest. A check that passes
has a green tick and says so:
The window says
Once
Playtesting is turned on
The playtest settings exist and Playtesting Enabled is on
Protokite API URL is usable
The URL is an http or https address with a host and no spaces
Game Version is a playtest’s version
Flock’s Game Version is a playtest’s name, pt-<test id>, resolved to the ID a build sends
Players built for this platform record video
The build target is 64-bit Windows (x64)
Protokite → Playtest → Setup Checks And Test Video. Three checks pass; the fourth fails because this project builds for Android, and offers Open Build Settings.
A check that fails has a red mark, says what to change, and has a button that opens the place to change it:
Open Playtest Settings, Open Flock Settings, Open Build Settings (as above), or Set Game Version
To pt-… when you pasted the playtest’s ID into Game Version. The Game Version is checked with Flock when the window opens and
whenever the Flock settings change; Check Again asks again.“Players built for … record no video” does not stop the playtest: a build for another platform runs
everything else and records no video.
A playtest never signs a player in. Its session starts once a Flock session reaches the server, and a
Flock session starts when your game signs a player in, with Analytics Enabled and Analytics Auto
Start Session on in Flock → Settings → Advanced Settings (or when you call StartSessionAsync), and
consent given when Analytics Require Explicit Consent is on.A device sign-in is enough and needs no account:
The first time a device signs in, register it with RegisterWithDeviceAsync instead; the
Unity SDK page covers sign-in in full. The package’s sample has a
Sign In With This Device button that does both, for a build with no sign-in screen of its own.
The build asks its player what the playtest may collect, and collects nothing until they answer. The
question is drawn over the game as soon as this build’s playtest has loaded, and offers four answers:
record the screen and collect play data, the screen only, play data only, or nothing at all, which
leaves the build behaving as one with Playtesting Enabled off.
The question a playtest build puts to its player, over the game, before it collects anything.
It is answered with the mouse. While it is on screen the cursor is shown and free, and it goes back to how
your game had it once the player answers. Nothing is selected when it appears, so your game’s own Submit key
presses no answer, and a click in the question’s first half second is ignored.
It is the playtest’s own question. The Flock SDK’s Analytics Require Explicit Consent is a different
one, asked by your game in your game’s words about your game’s analytics. Neither answer moves the other, and
the question says so in front of the player.
The answer is kept on the player’s machine and used by every later launch, and each session start carries
playtest_consent and playtest_consent_asked, so a session with no recording reads as a player who asked
for none rather than a build that went wrong. To be asked again in the editor, press Forget This
Machine’s Answer in the setup window.Your game can take the question over from its own menus:
ProtokitePlaytest.PlaytestConsent // the answer in forceProtokitePlaytest.SetPlaytestConsent(ProtokitePlaytestConsentChoice.VideoOnly); // answer it; NotAnswered asks againProtokitePlaytest.AskForPlaytestConsent(); // put the question on screen againProtokitePlaytest.IsConsentQuestionOpen // while it is on screen
Turn Ask The Player For Playtest Consent off in the playtest settings only where your players are
asked another way, or for a test run with nobody there to answer; the build then collects what the
playtest turns on, and every session says the player was never asked. An answer a player has already given
still counts.
The Console says what the playtest is doing, each line starting [Protokite Playtest]:
[Protokite Playtest] The playtest's consent question is on screen; nothing is collected until the player answers it.[Protokite Playtest] Playtesting is ready: playtest 01JABCDEFGHJKMNPQRSTVWXYZ0 is loaded, with features exception_capturing, heavy_analytics, video_recording and a feedback form.[Protokite Playtest] Recording video for the playtest to …/recording-….webm.part, at 1280x720 and 15 frames a second (Vp8). It stops for good after 60 minutes of play, before the file passes 1536 MB, or when the game stops it.[Protokite Playtest] Protokite session 01J… started for this launch, with the player's device id and Flock session 01J….
The session then appears on the playtest’s Sessions page. It ends when the game quits; quitting waits
up to 3 seconds for Protokite to take the end. A sign-out, a new Flock session or restarting the Flock SDK
neither ends nor restarts it: a launch is one session. In code, ProtokitePlaytest.Status answers the
same question the log does, and ProtokitePlaytest.Describe(status) gives the log’s words.
The Console says why and what to change, once, as a warning.
Status
Meaning
Fix
TurnedOff
Playtesting Enabled is off, or the project has no playtest settings
Turn it on in Protokite → Playtest → Settings
ProtokiteApiUrlMissing
The Protokite API URL is empty
Set Protokite Api Url (production is https://api-protokite.qwacks.com)
ProtokiteApiUrlUnusable
No http:// or https://, no host, or a space in it
Correct the URL; it is never trimmed for you
WaitingForFlock
Everything is set; the Flock SDK has not started yet
Nothing — it goes on once the Flock SDK starts
FetchingPlaytestConfig
Asking Protokite for this build’s playtest
Nothing
PlaytestNotLinked
Protokite has no playtest for this build’s Game Version ID
Set Game Version to the playtest’s pt- name
ProtokiteRefusedApiKey
Protokite turned down the Flock API key
Check Api Key in Flock → Settings
PlaytestConfigUnavailable
Protokite or the network kept failing
Nothing — it is asked again when the next Flock session starts
PlaytestConfigForAnotherVersion
Protokite answered with another version’s playtest, as a proxy dropping headers does
Check what sits between the game and Protokite
PlaytestNoLongerCollecting
The playtest has closed
Reopen it in Protokite, or point Game Version at a running one
WaitingForPlayerConsent
The playtest is loaded and the player has not said what it may collect
Nothing — the question is on screen
PlayerRefusedPlaytest
The player asked for nothing to be collected
Nothing — it is their answer
A refusal (PlaytestNotLinked, ProtokiteRefusedApiKey, PlaytestConfigForAnotherVersion) is not asked
again until the Flock SDK starts again or the game is relaunched, since the answer would be the same.
Turn Playtesting Enabled off and point Game Version back at a release version before you build a
release. A release build still uploads any recording an earlier playtest build on that machine could not
send, so a player’s recording is never stranded; with playtesting off, nothing else is recorded or sent.
To take the package out, press Remove on the Playtesting tab. Your settings asset stays until you
delete it.
A playtest build records the player’s screen when the playtest turns video on, and sends what they type
into the feedback form. The build asks them first, and does what they answer, but tell your testers
before they play all the same: what is recorded, that it goes to your studio’s Protokite playtest, and how
to reach you to have it removed. That question is about this playtest alone — anything your game collects
of its own is still yours to ask about.
What a playtest collects
Video, performance windows, exceptions and feedback forms, the C# calls for each, and how to test it all.
Unity SDK
The Flock SDK the playtest runs on: setup, sign-in, and your game’s data.
Qwacks
Flock
Protokite
Data Duck
