KFC

The KFC (short for Keep, Fix, Cut) is a technique to gather notes after conducting a playtest and organizing them in a simple to understand format. In essence, it consists of three columns (one with each letter of the acronym) under which your team can categorize the information. The tool has nothing to do with chicken, but the acronym makes it really easy to remember 😛

This is very similar to the Rose method in UI/UX design; except that the names of the columns are Flower (for things to keep), Thorn (for things to remove) and Bud (for opportunities to exploit).

I’m not sure when was the first time I heard of KFC, but I heard of the Rose Method from Ninja Robot Studio’s analysis of Voice of Cards.

I’ve found this tool shines in a group setting, but it’s also pretty useful to organize your own thoughts.

1. Gather notes from playtest
2. In a piece of paper or whiteboard, draw the columns
3. Transcribe notes to stickies (one idea per sticky)
4. Discuss with your team where they should go

Let’s imagine we just conducted a playtest for our VR FPS gun range

You and your team have just come from observing an early playtest of the P90 submachine gun. After gathering your notes, you all go to an office and draw the KFC on the whiteboard. One by one, you post your stickies on the board and discuss why you feel they should go there. A complete board might look like this:

The scope of each one can then be discussed with the team who would be implementing them, and this information taken to Production for prioritization. Remember that even cutting something from the game requires implementation and testing time.

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