Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
See what happens when you try to purchase, acquire, or use items and abilities
that were designed for characters at a level much higher than yours.
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Try to be the first one to accomplish something “first�? in the game, such as
becoming the first level 2 character, the first to enter a particular town, the first
to win a match, the first to form a clan, and so on.
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Wear, wield, and/or activate as many stat-increasing items as you can at one
time, such as armor or powerups.
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Try to be the one with the “most�? of something in the game, such as wins,
points, money, trophies, or vassals.
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Likewise, you can conspire with other Beta testers to create situations that might not
have been foreseen by the game developers, or were impossible for them to test, such as:
Get as many people as you can to show up in the same location in the game.
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Get as many people as you can to log into the game at the same time.
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Get as many people as you can to join the same match at the same time.
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Get as many people as you can to send you an in-game message at the same
time.
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Create an in-game chat/message group with as many people as possible.
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Get multiple people to try to give you items at the same time.
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Get as many people as you can to stand within range of your “area of effect�?
spell.
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Get as many people as you can to cast stat increasing or decreasing spells on you.
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Who Decides?
Ultimately, decisions that relate to changing the design, rebalancing, adding (or cutting)
features, even delaying the release to allow more time for “polish�? are not made by
game testers. The testers' role is to supply the appropriate decision-makers and stake-
holders with the best opinions and information they can, so that the best decisions
can be made.
In this chapter, you learned that ad hoc testing is the mode of testing that best enables
you to explore the game, wandering through it as you would a maze. There are two
main types of ad hoc testing. The first is
free testing
, which allows the professional
game tester to “depart from the script�? and improvise tests on the fly. The second is
directed testing
, which is intended to solve a specific problem or find a specific solution.
