Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Aspects of game testing
There are several aspects of a game that need to be tested and different game
genres require different testing methodologies. A mobile game tester must accom-
plish specific tasks that depend on the distinctive characteristics of mobile phones
and handheld devices. Among them are the following:
•
Functionality testing
: This aims to look for general problems with the game
or its User Interface, in order to check for issues regarding stability, game
mechanics, and glitches (game asset failures).
•
Compatibility testing
: This is meant to check that the game works with dif-
ferent hardware and software configurations. It is a very important practice
for PC games and for mobile titles in particular. It is crucial to test the game
performances on low end and high end devices to check them.
•
Localization testing
: This checks that all in-game text and speech are cor-
rect in titles that are shipped in different languages. There is no need to say
that, to be a localization tester, you need to be native in the language in which
the game must be translated and at least fluent in the original language of
the game.
•
Stress testing
(
monkey testing
): This is meant to check how the application
responds to chaotic and unpredictable events. Mobile phones are subjected
to several kinds of such events: incoming calls and messages, updates, un-
desired button presses, screen locks, automatic standby, and so on. It takes
a lot of time to carry these tests over, especially if they need to be repeated
on different devices.
•
Compliance testing
: This is required to check if a game meets standards,
license agreements, and terms of use that are specific for each developing
platform. To ship a game on the Apple Store, for example, it must have a
unique name, refer to a certain category, must provide a link to the deve-
loper for customer care issues, it must not contradict the Human Interface
Guideline, and so on. All these aspects are the responsibility of the tester.
•
Beta testing
: This is done during the final stage of development; it refers to
the first publicly available version of a game. Public betas are effective be-
cause thousands of fans may find bugs that the developer's testers did not.
Mobile games don't usually go under beta testing though. It is a very time
consuming process and it needs licenses to be exchanged between deve-
lopers and testers in order to allow their devices to run the tests. We mention
