25 Free Indie Game Playtesting Tools & Survey Templates (2026 Q4 Diligence Drive + rclone + OBS Path Refresh)

Structured intake—require build_id, surface (playtest vs fest_public), and severity P0–P3 on every submission.
Pro tip: export CSV into Airtable weekly

Fast form iteration—embed on playtest landing pages with hidden build_label prefilled from URL params.
Best for: NDA-friendly intake

Triage contract—dropdowns for platform, build_id, surface, severity; quote-only repro—pair 422 invented-repro help.
Use for: Discord → issue loop

Receipt + severity validation—validate playtest_vod_triage_receipt_v1.json, diligence_mirror_receipt_v1.json, and issue JSON exports in CI.
Best for: fest + diligence automation

Org Shared Drive vs My Drive—Q4 diligence zips fail with 403 when personal session cookies expire mid-download; keep evidence on Shared Drive with least-privilege viewers.
Pro tip: never promote on a single browser cookie

Team Drive / Shared Drive CLI—rclone copy + dry-run before partner zip; pin team_drive_id in config beside diligence tree.
Pair with: jq Team Drive ID sanity

Official Playtest hub—invite-only installs separate from public fest demo visibility.
Pair with: branches + isolation runbook below

Depot isolation—never promote playtest configs onto fest_public without scope review.
Pro tip: map rows in playtest_scope_map_v1.json

Live + async voice—private roles per surface; pin survey + build_label each week.
Best for: supervised first-hour sessions

Community slice tests—include controls, surface tag, and GitHub issue link—not raw VOD dumps.
Use for: browser-friendly demos

HTML5 + desktop demos—devlog comments as lightweight bugs; tag whether report is itch vs Steam surface.
Use for: jam-era prototypes

Last-N-minutes capture—testers clip repro into playtest-vod/inbox/; prove writable path after OneDrive Known Folder Move.
Pair with: OBS path KFM preflight

Recording path UI—ban absolute Desktop/Videos shortcuts that break after KFM; pin inbox path in facilitator README + receipt.
Pro tip: 10 s test clip + sha256 before fest night

Windows capture utility—region record + auto naming into triage inbox on facilitator laptops.
Best for: Win11 playtest stations

Local ASR reference—overnight transcript of playtest VODs without cloud upload when consent requires.
Use for: unstructured Discord clips

GPU batch lane—faster nightly batches than baseline Whisper on the same clips.
Pair with: CUDA fallback help

Triage database—gallery view for clips, severity, surface, owner, and fest-week status.
Best for: producer-led triage

Weekly triage sheet—import survey CSV; kanban by P0–P3 before Wednesday smoke.
Use for: close-or-defer rituals

Transcription stack—Silero VAD, ffmpeg extract, receipt JSON—companion to this survey + diligence hub.
Start here: VOD-heavy teams

Surface separation—playtest_scope_map_v1.json + playtest_isolation_receipt_v1.json before fest visibility.
Best for: October–Q4 Next Fest

Ninety-second path gate—O1–O6, obs_replay_path_kfm_receipt_v1.json, 10 s clip hash after OneDrive Known Folder Move.
Use for: empty inbox nights

Mirror config truth—M1–M6, diligence_mirror_receipt_v1.json, rclone_path_ok before partner zip week.
Best for: Drive 403 recovery

Art evidence lane—sha256 hero GLB + rclone dry-run into 03-art/hero/; pairs this hub’s Drive/rclone rows.
Use for: diligence art folder

Course milestone—blender_glb_mirror_receipt_v1.json + blender_glb_mirror_ok beside Resolve archive.
Best for: promotion PR packets

Workflow essay—gates T1–T6, summary templates, and playtest_vod_triage_receipt_v1.json.
Use for: implementation depth

Scope map authority—three-lane model (beta FFA, Playtest invite, fest_public); read once then bookmark this resource.
Best for: branch confusion

Branch setup—one-evening password playtest before isolation maps and VOD triage scale.
Best for: first Steam playtest

BUILD_RECEIPT gate—add vod_triage_ok, path_writable_ok, and rclone_path_ok beside metadata smoke before fest or diligence zip promotion.
Pro tip: close P0 playtest rows first