Welcome to our blog post on the 6 must do things when you perform game testing.
We must test games just like normal software to ensure they work as intended before they reach the audience. And while testing is a serious consideration, there is no defined strategy for game testing as each game and the platforms in use will always differ.
However, while performing game testing, we test all aspects of the game. These include functionality, usability, multiplayer functionality, regression, endurance, compatibility, performance, content, hardware, recovery and localization.
In all these, there are some basic must do things when you perform game testing. Also of importance, there are the 6 must do things when you perform game testing.
These common game-testing processes are similar to a software test cycle and this blog discusses them in detail.
The Basic 6 Must Do Things When You Perform Game Testing
To begin with, we perform the following basic steps for game testing:
You gather requirements
The testers need to have an understanding of gaming requirements in details. These include the storyboard, game structure, game features, characters, concept, rules, game points and levels. These requirements help the video game testers to come up with an effective testing strategy.
You devise a video game testing strategy
The video game testing strategy must include the testing timeline, testers, number of testing cycles, and the testing scope. This will help in answering typical questions like, what needs to be tested, and questions around testing exclusions like what’s not tested?
Video game testing strategy also helps in understanding the different types of testing to be performed. These include testing for risks, service level agreements, risks and mitigation, defect finding process, reporting Process etc.
We also test the hardware components such as hardware components such as Joy stick, Console, Wi-Fi devices etc. that are not usually the part of game testing environment.
You create test cases
The testers must design both positive and negative test cases. Critical path testing, exception path testing, boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, error guessing etc. are some effective tastings that can be adopted to design the test cases.
You execute game test cases
This helps identify more defects in a particular gaming environment and hardware configuration. We also perform alpha and beta testing and test the game for specific age groups to enhance the game’s quality.
Another type of testing we perform that mustn’t be ignored when it comes to games is content testing. What this does is to help to ensure that the game’s content is right for the viewers and understandable.
You record test results
The aftermath of the game testing performed must be recorded. Recording the whole process helps testers understand error behaviour and improve errors.
You categorize defects
All identified defects must be recorded and categorized by priority. By categorising the defects, developers easily rework the errors.
For best results, these are the 6 must do things when you perform game testing. And the summary is, after you perform game testing and make changes, you must send the game to clients for feedback. Afterwards, you need to further improve it based on feedback before delivering it to markets for the audience to enjoy a hassle-free gaming experience.
7 Must Do Things When You Perform Game Testing
Aside from the 6 must do things when you perform game testing, we have also figured out some extra important 7 must do things when you perform game testing. These are effective testing strategies to give priority as they help in addressing and avowing serious issues. Let us take a look.
Perform Exhaustive Functionality Testing to Ensure Flawless Gameplay
One of the must do advance effective testing strategies is thorough functionality testing. It is the foundation of game quality assurance and it allows testers to validate several important areas. These include that all mechanics, systems, and features are operating as they should.
By methodically testing every interactive element and possible user flow, developers identify critical defects. This can be from installation issues and payment integration problems to gameplay blockers and progression halts. Functionality testing evaluates the holistic user experience.
This goes for ensuring seamless execution of onboarding tutorials, intuitive interfaces, responsive controls, balanced progression systems with escalating challenges, and engaging narratives that immerse players.
Rigorous documentation of use cases to guide testing protocols is key, outlining required inputs, expected outputs, and pass/fail criteria. All defects must be carefully logged and triaged by priority level for developers.
Conduct Localization Testing for Global Market Readiness
With top games releasing simultaneously worldwide, meticulous localization testing by native speakers is essential for culturalization and localization excellence.
Nuanced linguistic evaluation spanning grammar, syntax, tone consistency, and terminology ensure conceptual integrity.
Localization quality assurance analyses UI formatting, dates/numbers/currency conventions, graphics-text asset syncing, and text display. It identifies the smallest text, audio, or layout issues that undermine immersion for global users.
Accurately localizing games to meet geo-cultural needs ensures polished translations engender user trust and enjoyment regardless of native language.
Utilize Regression Testing to Confirm Bug Fixes
As developers rapidly iterate fixes for reported defects, sustained regression testing by rotating tester groups compares latest builds against previous versions, re-validating use cases to confirm fixes.
This ensures patching specific defects has not created new bugs or reintroduced old ones.
Rigorous regression testing under simulated load profiles gauges software stability gains. By this, it provides ongoing assurance as features are added. It is a must do thing when performing game testing because; by methodically retesting fixes, test cycles culminate with greater confidence in software quality prior to release.
Perform Compatibility Testing Across Diverse Devices/Platforms
triple-A games are being released across console, desktop and mobile platforms. These necessitate testers to validate seamless cross-platform operability and conduct compatibility testing using real-world hardware spanning generations.
Rigorously testing on a matrix of devices with varying capabilities and parameters confirms UX parity and consistent performance, ensuring text/graphics render properly across screens. Testing popular integrated chipsets confirms hardware encoding/decoding functions properly, benchmarking FPS rates/load times against internal targets. Edge case testing on minimum spec devices ensures a broad accessible audience.
Execute Load Testing to Gauge Peak Demand Capacity
As online multiplayer games scale to service millions simultaneously, load testing by simulated user groups is critical to evaluate performance metrics under peak demand.
This quantifies max user concurrency and server response times as load increases and provides vital data on infrastructure demands. To this end, indicating when throttling or autoscaling may be required to prevent disruption.
Load tests help optimize caching, bandwidth allocation, matchmaking and telemetry systems to handle volatile traffic spikes from launch surges or future content drops. This data is key for capacity planning to deliver lag-free experiences even at scale.
Combine Test Cases Using Combinatorial Methods
Just as the others, this is just another must do thing when you perform game testing.
Combinatorial test case design pairing variables using Orthogonal Arrays (OA) can effectively evaluate complex games using fewer test iterations. Mapping critical parameters and inputs into an OA generates optimized test suites assessing all combinations.
By testing gameplay systems using OA-derived test suites, critical defects are caught efficiently versus exhaustive testing. Pairwise testing combines test cases to simulate millions of scenarios balancing test coverage with feasible testing cycles. AI now auto-generates combinatorial test sets customizable to game testing needs.
Review Official Game Rules to Guide Testing Efforts
Reviewing the published rules governing gameplay, progression mechanics and systems provides testers an authoritative reference encapsulating the designers’ vision, clarifying intended functionality against which defects are logged.
This is the last must do thing when you perform game testing. The rules indicate requisite steps to reach certain states or acquire new abilities, equipment etc.
Understanding prescribed mechanics, legal/illegal moves and principles governing interactive systems guides test case formulation cantered on acceptable software behaviour.
Published rules set player expectations – so aligning test protocols to affirm gameplay flows as described or flagging inconsistencies is key for experiential excellence.
By focusing testing efforts around these 6 must-do items we discussed; Documentation, Localization, Regression, Compatibility, Load and Combinatorial testing, game studios ensure releases deliver triple-A quality experiences ready for eager gamers worldwide. Rigorous, data-driven and meticulous methodology is key for interactive defect detection. Please let me know if you would like me to clarify or expand any section further!
Who is the Ideal Video Game Tester?
We have been in this industry for many years now and we know just about everything on the ideal video game tester. In this section, that is exactly what we will be discussing.
Has Passion for Gaming with Strong Analytics
The ideal candidate for a video game tester role boasts an inherent passion for gaming combined with a meticulous and analytical nature. We recruit testers who play a variety of game genres and platforms as hobbyists.
This equips them to evaluate games with an intuitive grasp of what engages players. Sharp observation skills allow testers to spot subtle defects from animation glitches to gameplay exploits.
Besides playing and reviewing games recreationally, testers should stay conversant with industry trends, innovations and comparisons between titles.
Has Strong Communication Skills
We mandate strong communication ability – verbal and written – to effectively document and track issues throughout iterative cycles. Testers log comprehensive bug reports spanning critical reproduction steps, screenshots, system data, stack traces etc. to help developers isolate, reproduce and fix defects.
Clear reporting and version control skills are vital. Being comfortable with databases and bug tracking systems is preferred to input, access and manage testing data.
Has Creative Thinking Skills
Hiring game testers with good thinking skills is also a must do thing when you perform game testing.
Testers should demonstrate analytical thinking – able to methodically diagnose unexpected behaviour, synthesize insights across test modules and identify smart testing scenarios or missing test cases by reviewing builds from a player’s perspective.
We desire curiosity to explore interactive elements, pursuing unscripted scenarios that feel intuitive rather than mechanically running test suites alone.
Be Able to Review Documentation and Scripting
Another must do thing when hiring the ideal game tester to find one with the ability to review documents. As gameplay progresses from prototypes to polished games with vast possibility spaces, reviewing in-development documentation around intended functionality assists testers.
Studying intended features, rules and mechanics reveals oversights between implementation and design to enhance submissions.
Increasingly, testing roles demand some scripting ability to create automated unit tests, bots or simulated user inputs. Adapting manual test cases into automated suites improves execution efficiency over sustained cycles.
Even basic scripting in Python or JavaScript pays dividends in productivity.
Has Leadership Skills
It will also do you some good if you add leadership skills among the most important things to consider when you hire game testers.
With multiplayer testing, coordinating groups to replicate match configurations tests systems at scale. We desire leadership ability alongside attentive individual testing. Collaboration with remote teams also emphasizes video conferencing and messaging skills.
Has Objective Approaches and Great Work Ethics
Testing games well requires deep engagement coupled with objectivity. Our testers gain mastery across integral components of video game pipelines while retaining critical detachment regarding overall quality.
A rigorous work ethic is mandatory – the zeal to keep testing creatively even with long hours before launch milestones. Testers embody a vitally discerning, quality-cantered voice safeguarding player experience.
Creativity and Accountability
Also, importantly, hiring testers with accountability and creativity are among the common must-do things when you perform game testing. Great testers harness creativity wedded to accountability through metrics.
We seek candidates able to self-manage productivity within fluid assignments. Using discretion combined with scheduled direction, they deliver objective feedback, clinical data and actionable solutions.
The Role of Crowd Testing for Game Testing
There are so many great benefits of adopting crowd-testing in video game testing.
Harness the Crowd for Authentic, Real-World Feedback
Crowd testing leverages distributed groups of enthusiastic gamers to manually test products in authentic contexts. Their collective real-world experiences provide invaluable qualitative and quantitative feedback no single tester can replicate. Studios enhance game quality through data-driven insights before launch.
Uncover Diverse Perspectives Through People-Powered Testing
Cognitive diversity across crowd testers aids more creative defect discovery. Individuals miss things that groups uncover through varied capabilities and mentalities.
Testing on broad device types guarantees compatibility. Playstyle nuances improve balancing, progression tuning and multiplayer dynamics for wider appeal.
Achieve Round-the-Clock Testing Through Global Access
Asynchronous crowd testing enables 24/7 coverage by parcelling test cycles across multiple time zones with no downtime.
The collective scale facilitates extensive load testing to gauge infrastructure demands for online stability at peak concurrencies.
Pinpoint Precise Localization Needs Via Region-Specific Groups
Recruiting crowd testers from target regions provides authentic local culturalization feedback.
As native speakers analyse terminology, UI formatting and translation quality, subtle but immersion-breaking language issues surface before launch.
Scale Exploratory Testing Cost-Effectively
Manual scripted testing exercises predefined cases.
Unrestrained crowd testing encourages free exploration – replicating emergent user behaviour.
This uncovers obscure defects in vast possibility spaces at costs impossible via full-time hires.
Analyse Sentiment Through Unfiltered Commentary
Candid crowd commentary while encountering unfinished builds provides granular human insight around enjoyment, frustration and motivation.
Sentiment analysis then targets specific balancing and progression variables to heighten appeal.
Derive Actionable Metrics Guiding Core Decisions
Rich crowd-testing metrics spanning hardware profiles, performances, playtimes and progression speeds deliver empirical data.
These user analytics guide accessibility and system optimization decisions for broader adoption.
Accelerate Regression Testing Via Parallelization
Running regression tests in parallel across crowd groups accelerate the validation of fixes over sequential testing.
More quality issues also surface through their diverse use cases and shared reporting.
Global crowd orchestration delivers testing authenticity, scope and coverage at once impossible solo. Their collective intelligence facilitates launching widely resonating titles ready for success!
