7 Ultimate Testing & Techniques in Game Development

 Game Development is an important aspect of the gaming process. One ought to invest time in the game development process. If not so, they are sure to face the consequences which means an equal financial loss. No matter the number of awards or praises your game receives from the critics for the storyline, if it has bugs it will fail. Many game developers often have lofty expectations from their games. However, these games tend to fail due to bugs or other problems. Inadequate planning and hastily finishing up the development could only result in failures.

You don’t want your game to be disliked by the public to an extent that you need to pull it back. Proper planning will lower the chances of the game failing in the initial stages and you being forced to provide a refund. Completing the testing in a rush can badly affect the game and the reputation of your organization.

Quality Analysis and Game Development

Quality Analysis or testing involves game review that will help in finding the bugs. The process also helps eliminate the negative impact that these bugs may have on the game. Quality analysts, also called testers, are specialists in conducting these tests for ensuring the quality of the game. These quality analysts ensure a better gameplay experience by figuring out the bugs. When the development team knows about these bugs, they work and address these issues for offering a better game to the players. The analysts are responsible for making the necessary improvements in the game.

As testing is important for game development, you ought to know the different types of testing. This process improves the overall performance and quality of the game. Without much ado, let’s throw some light on the varying types of tests that quality analysts conduct. The objectives vary for each of the types and hence, different game developers go for different testing types.

1. Performance Testing

Performance testing helps to check the overall performance of the game and hence, quality analysts conduct this test. These testers check for the various aspects of the game to anyone, including the game memory as well as the consumption of the CPU. When performance testing is done, the game developers work on the game to make it better in terms of usage and performance.

2. Compatibility Testing 

Compatibility testing is, basically, done to check if the game is compatible with all devices across which it will be available. If the game is not compatible with any of the target devices or there are issues with the game, the quality analysts forward the final report to the developers. The developers, then,  work on these issues to make the game compatible with all the devices.

Compatibility testing is a very important part of game testing otherwise the developers face the consequences. Game Development emphasizes this testing because a majority of the games are released on multiple platforms. Also, if the game is released only on one platform, there might be issues because of the configurations of the device.

3. Playtesting

Another type of testing for games is playtesting which determines the level of fun in the game. In this stage, the quality analysts play the game to experience if the game is tough to play, how exciting would be the challenges for the players, and if the players will have a great time playing the game.

They also note if the various game levels, enemies in the game, and game milestones are enjoyable from the players’ perspective. This testing is important to a greater extent as one may rectify the flaws and work on the game design. Doing so ensures the game is best to play for the players and they will spread a word of mouth about the same.

4. Functionality Testing

Functionality testing involves a check of the functional features of the game by the testers. This may include checking the functioning of social media features.

 Suppose the game allows the players to sign in from their social media accounts, this testing ensures they face no hindrance in doing the same. Functionality testing will reveal if the login activity from social media accounts is easy for the players. The quality analysts check for the functional features of the game by signing in multiple times while using their social media accounts.

If the quality analysts encounter any problem during sign-in, they forward the report to the developers. The testers also check for feature integration and if the game design is being followed depending upon the requirements. If the integration is different and does not meet the requirements, they ask the developers to work on that issue too.

5. Smoke Testing

A primary test of the game development process for video games, the testers perform smoke testing when they receive the build. As this is a primary testing type, the testers do not go in-depth. Checking the basic features of the game is of prime importance to them. If there are issues with the basic features, the game developers work on them to make the game performance better.

6. Load Testing

Quality analysts perform load testing to check for the game server‘s capacity. If the game is a multiplayer one, this testing is crucial as it will determine whether all players can smoothly play the game or not. Any issues in this testing are reported to the game developers who figure out the problem. Consequently, the developers work on the relevant features and ensure multiple players can play the game. The quality analysts assess the load considering the varying aspects.

Takeaways

Quality assurance is critical to the development of a successful game free from bugs and one with enhanced performance. Different types of testing determine the performance of the game from various aspects and help in resolving the issues that the players may face while playing. Each of these tests determines the game quality so that the developers can work on the loopholes of the game. After the testing is done, it’s then that you may release the game on the market.