Two Rules of Game Testing - Game Testing All in One - page 14

Bill: “Well we just redid the logic for the Fuzzy Sword quest, so we definitely want that
looked at.�?
Figure 1.6 Our world (left) and the tester loving world (right).
You can get more clues by mentioning parts of the system and seeing how people
react. Rolling eyes and pauses in response are giveaways that there is some doubt as to
how good that new weapon will work or if multiplayer will work as well as it did
before the latest changes.
Note
In Chapter 3, you find out why testing is important to the health of the game. It covers many factors
that contribute to making things go wrong and how you, the game tester, should deal with them.
Give and Take
If you've been paying close attention up to this point—and you should as an aspiring
or working game tester—you would have noticed an apparent contradiction between
the testing approach to counteract panic (“don't treat this release like it's the last one�?),
and the “trust no one�? approach of treating each release like it is the last one. A sports
analogy might illustrate how these concepts can co-exist.
In baseball, one batter can't step up to the plate with bases empty and put six runs on
the board. Instead, batter by batter and inning by inning, the team bats according to
the situation, producing the most runs it can. The batters and base runners succeed
by being patient, skilled, and committed to their manager's strategy. If every batter
tries to hit a home run, the team will strike out a lot and leave the opposing pitcher
fresh for the next inning.
At the same time, when each player is at bat or on base, he is aggressively trying to
achieve the best possible outcome. He is fully analyzing the type and location of each
pitch, executing his swing properly, and running as fast as he can once the ball is hit.
He knows that it contributes to the team's comeback and that his one run or RBI could
mean the difference between a win and a loss for the team.