The gaming industry is on a boom, and the pressure and responsibility on the software industry to keep up with the quality is ever-increasing. The target consumer group, in this case, includes professional gamers, hence it cannot be treated casually.
As every game and the platforms are different, a fixed manifesto cannot be applied to the testing process. All the elements of game testing like Usability, Regression, Compatibility, Content, Recovery, Functionality, Multiplayer functionality, Endurance, Performance, Hardware, and Localization must be verified and checked before the release. It is much similar to a regular Software Testing Cycle.
Let’s see in detail what are the basic stages in the testing process of gaming software.
Collecting basic requirements
As it is a gaming software, the software testers must have a basic understanding of the design of a game. Aspects like Game structure, Characters, Rules, Levels, Storyboard, Game features, Concept, Game points, etc. are a must for a tester to know. This is a general plus point while designing an efficient test plan.
Deciding and Designing a game testing strategy
A proper design of the game-testing strategy always includes all the aspects of testers, in-scope (Mandatory elements to test), types of testing that are to be executed, service level agreements, Bug-finding process, testing timeline, Number of testing cycles, Out-scope (Mandatory elements to NOT test), Testing for risks, Risks, and mitigation, Reporting Process, etc.
Although it is software testing, Hardware should also be checked and verified. Components like Console, Joy-stick, Wi-Fi devices, etc. must be tested.
Drafting test cases
Remember, while drafting the test cases, design both kinds of pf test cases, Negative and Positive. Some of the effective methods to create test cases are Exception path testing, Equivalence partitioning, Boundary value analysis, Error guessing, etc.
Performing game test cases
This is the main part of a game testing process. The tester is supposed to verify and detect the bugs and defects in the gaming software in this stage. Also, testing the game for a certain age group helps to improve gaming design comfort. Performing Beta and Alpha testing is also helpful.
In this stage, one must not forget about content testing. It is the basic filter that verifies if the content of the game is understandable and right for the users.
Recording the test results
The list of defects found and an overall test conclusion report must be produced after the test. This makes it easy for the user to understand the patterns and general behaviour of the software, which ultimately helps in building good gaming software.
Cataloguing the defects
The defects and bugs found here must be prioritized and categorized. This is a generally good practice to later easily work on the defects.
Conclusion
After the testing process, the defects and bugs in the design are rectified, and the game is reviewed by a focus group of target customers and feedback is reported. Considering this feedback, the game is further enhanced, and then finally after rechecking, it gets released in the market.
We hope this blog is helpful for you to understand how game testing works and what are the main stages of its process.
Originally published at https://www.vtestcorp.com on September 7, 2021.
