Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10.26
Completed Advanced Controls table.
To use one of the template files included in the topic's CD-ROM, start by selecting the
right file based on your table dimensions. If all of your test parameters have only two
values, then use the file CombTemplates2Values.xls. If one or more of your parame-
ters has three values, use the file CombTemplates3Values.xls. If you have any parame-
ters with four or more values, then you need to construct your table by hand or see
the “Combinatorial Tools�? section that follows.
Once you have identified the right template file to use, click the tab at the bottom of
the worksheet that corresponds to the number of test parameters you are using. Then
find the template on that sheet that matches your parameter configuration.
For the
HALO
Advanced Controls test you just completed, you would open the
CombTemplates3Values.xls file and click the “5 params�? tab at the bottom of the
worksheet. Scroll down until you find the table labeled “1 parameter with 3 values, 4
parameters with 2 values.�? You will see that this table is identical to the one in
Appendix D that produced the test table in Figure 10.26. Cut this table out and paste
it into your own test file. Lastly, do a textual substitution for each of the test values to
arrive at the same result.
At some point, you will find it difficult to construct and verify large parameter and
value counts. Fortunately, James Bach has made a tool available to the public at
www.satisfice.com/tools.shtml
that handles this for you. It is also provided on the
CD-ROM that comes with this topic. The Allpairs tool uses a tab-delimited text file as
input and produces an output file that includes a pairwise combinatorial table as well
as a report on how many times each pair was satisfied in the table.
