Playtest Recorder & Tagger

Module: Design · Category: LevelDesign · Tool ID: PlaytestRecorderTagger

Records level-design observations as location-anchored event tags during PIE sessions, then provides a review timeline for designer iteration. Persists sessions to JSON on disk. Path-records player position/rotation during PIE. Integrates with UE’s Replay system for full playback. Heatmap visualization for event density.

Tool open during a PIE session with multiple events tagged, viewport showing event markers.

When to use it

• Designer-led playtests: tagging combat / pacing / navigation / bug / polish observations as they happen
• Internal QA pass: recording where players consistently get stuck
• Replay analysis: recording a playtest and reviewing where to improve
• Heatmapping event density across a level

What it isn’t for

• Don’t expect this for analytics. It’s an editor-time designer tool, not telemetry.
• Don’t use this for video recording. UE’s Movie Render Queue handles that.

Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Playtest (or browse to Design → LevelDesign).
2. Click the tool card.
3. Create a new session (or load an existing one).
4. Start PIE — tag events as they happen.

Interface tour

Session Manager

Action	What it does
Session Name input	Name for the new session
Create Session	Creates and activates a new session
Sessions list	Per-session row: name, map name, start time, duration, event count
Load Session	Activates the selected session
Delete Session	Removes the session file

Event Tagger

Field	What it does
Category picker	Combat / Pacing / Navigation / Bug / Polish / Custom
Severity picker	Info / Warning / Critical
Note input	Free-text observation
Capture Player Location	Reads PIE player’s current position
Manual Location XYZ	Manually enter location
Add Event	Logs the event with location + category + severity + note

Event List & Filter

Section	What it does
Filter Category	Show only events of one category
Filter Severity	Show only events of one severity
Events list	Per-event row: timestamp, category, severity, note, location

Single-click an event to focus the editor camera at the event location.

Path Recording

Action	What it does
Toggle Recording	Starts/stops capturing player position + rotation at intervals
Capture Interval	Sample rate (default 0.25s)
Stored as JSON	Serialized to disk per session

UE Replay System Integration

Action	What it does
Start Recording Replay	Triggers UE’s full demo recording
Saved Replays list	Browse, play, delete saved replays
Replay View Mode	Free Camera / Follow Player (chosen at playback)
Play Saved Replay	Plays back via UE’s PlayReplay system

Heatmap Overlay

Visualizes event density in the editor viewport — colored hot spots based on event clustering.

Session loaded with 30+ events, filter active showing only Critical severity, viewport showing focus camera at one event.

Workflow

Recording a session

1. Click Create Session, give it a name.
2. Optionally toggle Path Recording to capture player movement.
3. Optionally Start Recording Replay for full UE demo.
4. Start PIE.
5. As you play, switch to the editor and tag events: pick category + severity, type a note, click Capture Player Location, click Add Event.
6. Stop PIE — session auto-saves.

Reviewing a session

1. Load the session from the Session Manager.
2. Switch to Event Review.
3. Filter by category / severity.
4. Click events to focus the viewport at their location.
5. Optionally enable Heatmap Overlay to see event density.
6. Optionally Play Saved Replay to re-watch the session.

Exporting

Export CSV writes the events list as plain text for sharing with the team.

Settings reference

Sessions persist to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Playtest/sessions/<sessionname>.json. Replays use UE’s standard demo path.

Output

• JSON session files. Events + path captures.
• UE replay files. When Replay recording is enabled.
• CSV export. Events as plain text.
• In-viewport heatmap. Toggle visualization.

Tips and gotchas

• Event location must be valid. Capture Player Location requires PIE running; otherwise use Manual Location.
• Replay playback supports two view modes. Free Camera (default UE) and Follow Player (auto-set view target on first non-spectator pawn).
• Heatmap density is logarithmic. Small clusters show faintly, hot spots saturate.
• Sessions accumulate. Clean up old session files manually if storage matters.

Related tools

• Project Doctor Suite (Tech module) — runtime health audit complementary to designer events