Games Testing

 An illustration of game testing elements  (source)

What is Game testing?

Game Testing is a game production sub-suit, is a computer game quality monitoring product testing process, Game testing's primary purpose is to discover and record software defects  (aka bugs). The highly technological area of immersive software entertainment research includes computers, analytical capabilities, essential assessment ability and durability.

Most common strategies for game testing

Functionality Testing

This method of checking is conducted to confirm that the finished product complies with the criteria. QA Testers primarily hunt for generic game or user experience issues such as gaming asset credibility, stabilization difficulties, audiovisual problems and game mechanism problems.

Combinatorial Testing

You can test the game easily in its earliest stages using this method. The first move is to figure out how much you need to test your game. That is why you can use this special form of test to verify if the game meets the specific specifications or bug-free functionality.

Compatibility Testing

The compatibility test helps to identify any functionality shortcomings and demonstrates whether the finished result satisfies the basic program, hardware and graphics specifications. This kind of evaluation helps check whether the user interface (Games UI) is designed for various screen dimensions of different devices

Performance Testing

This stage of testing can also be referred to as Quality assurance and is used to determine the overall performance of the program in real-time and load conditions. This method of testing guarantees that the existing infrastructure allows the smooth running of the game. Load checks are carried out in order to assess if a load-based app or device operates correctly.

What determines a software testing life cycle?

In preparation for the device to have predicted anticipated behaviours, software testing is the complex method for software evaluation and software validation. Software testing is currently a systematic sequence of tasks across the whole life cycle of software development. A life cycle of computational research also splits the practical experiments into five stages.

A figure is taken from the research document (source)

Requirement Analysis: 

Concentrated on understanding requirements for what is to be developed and tested;

Test Planning: 

Test strategy and test plans which cover estimate tasks, selection of test approaches, document planning, descriptions of tools and assignment of responsibilities are based on the objects that will direct software development and delivery;

Test Design:

Centred on writing test cases and where possible, development of automation scripts. The development of test data can also include;

Test  Execution:   

In summary, is the method of establishing the appropriate conditions to perform experiments and then performing tests, including the reporting results, recording errors, checks, and re-testing.

Test Closure:  

Dialogue and assessment of the procedure applied to the testing objects take place at this point. In brief, software testing is an important aspect of product production and is one of the primary factors in the elimination of bugs, maintenance and total software costs for the software industry[25] which is a critical step in the process of game development.

What are the common misconceptions about games QA?

• It's just playing games all-day

"There is a big difference between testing and playing," says Cubitt. "We plan and execute tests in a methodical way, to ensure everything is covered. It could be connecting and disconnecting for a day when testing multiplayer, it could be going through every customisable item and ensuring they load as expected."

• It's a laid-back and fun career 

"The role can be very high pressure. There are still not enough companies employing embedded testers throughout development -- instead, they opt to bring QA on towards the end of development. Testers in these situations are often faced with inadequate testing tools and resources. Time is running out, all the bugs must be found, prioritised, fixed and regressed before an immovable deadline.

Conclusion

Based on the rapid growth of technology and the advancing gaming environment, game testing is fundamentally integrated into the process making the demand for game testers essential in order to provide critical data and ultimately producing a more polished product 

References

“Computer Games Are Serious Business and so is their Quality: Particularities of Software Testing in Game Development from the Perspective of Practitioners.” https://tudublin-my.sharepoint.com/personal/shaun_ferns_tudublin_ie/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fshaun_ferns_tudublin_ie%2FDocuments%2FITB%20Modules%2Fmultimedia%20development%201%2F2020files%2FWeek%2011%20readings%2FComputer%20games%20are%20.

Dring, Christopher. “How to get a job as a video games tester.” GamesIndustry.biz, Wednesday 12th February 2020, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-02-12-how-to-get-a-job-as-a-video-games-tester.

Limbachiya, Niranjan. “7 Different Types of Game Testing Techniques.” DZone, https://dzone.com/articles/7-different-types-of-game-testing-techniques.