Game Testing: Importance, Types, Techniques, Tools and Benefits

The game development process is incomplete without the game testing because it helps identify and document defects/bugs that your game contains, such as functionality bugs, in which some functions of the game don’t work correctly. For example, the game app crashes when you just open the settings. Let’s check out some game bugs that help you know why it is vital to get a test before launching your game application.

Game Bugs that Prepares your Mind for Game Testing:

• Interface bugs: Game graphics are misrepresented, meaning the game elements are not at the right place. The space that is allotted for the text doesn’t fit well.
• Technical bugs: Due to an unstable internet connection, the game doesn’t work appropriately. For example, you are unable to connect the app with the server on 3G networks.
• Localization bugs: The errors are found in untranslated strings or texts. For instance, there are placeholders like “germany_text_001” rather than translation.
• Compatibility bugs: The game is designed for both Android & iOS users. Due to critical errors in the game, it only supports one device and not other devices.
• Performance bugs: The application runs very slow. The game’s frames per second (FPS) remarkably decreases on high-end segment devices during a character attack animation.
• Balance & logic bugs: The game logic and balance settings don’t allow gamers to complete tasks or protect the game from being completed.

What will Happen If Bugs are not Fixed in the Game?

• Bugs can affect the popularity of the application. The rating of the game can be down in app stores.
• Bugs can affect your business. For example, if the game is played by users every day, but it gives a hang issue. Due to that, your users don't want to invest money in the game anymore.
• When the functions don't execute in the game, which was suggested by the team, bugs can affect the development team because your users don’t know anything about how the app is created or how much money it takes to build the gaming app. All they want is entertainment. If you don’t test the gaming app's functionality, it may affect the app’s revenue.

Thus, game testing is a subcategory of game development and is a software testing process or QA process that is taken into the plan for detecting bugs and reporting the issues in the game. It also plays an indispensable role in assuring that the game is suitable to give the best user experience.

Moreover, game testing is crucial for game developers because the competition is very high. The entire market is flooded with a wide range of games, including role-playing games, video games, strategy games, puzzle games, simulation games, and many more. Due to the increasing number of smartphones, mobile games revenue is expected to reach $311.2 billion by 2023. Winning in the game app industry is crucial for developers and much more critical for business owners, especially for those who want to make a million dollars from the game app. To attract worldwide users, game testers should produce quality applications and get their jobs done effectively by doing the following things:

• Define the requirements based on the targeted audience & the intended purpose.
• Understand the user and requirements of the game. Game testers should appropriately understand the functional, non-functional, and domain criteria.
• Check if the functional requirements are consistent, comprehensible, and complete.
• Understand interdependent requirements, conflicting & customizable requirements.
• Identify the game characters, theme, animation, camera view, gameplay, AI, and cinematic.
• Identify targets and measures for functional & non-functional requirements, testable & non-testable items.
• Prioritize the needs as per the game app’s criticality, complexity, and uniqueness.

Game Testing Types

Game testing companies consider various types of testing for game testing services. For example:

Functionality Testing

QA testers for functionality testing aim to fix the stability issues, game mechanic issues, or check the problems if it is found in the game’s graphics and content. Testing the game's functional elements is a complicated job because it takes too much time to identify audio-visual and graphical issues.

Furthermore, various things one need to check while testing the functional elements of the game such as menu structure, font size, alignment errors, screen orientation, screen resolutions, background checking, colors monitoring, dialogue messages, animation, loading time, sorting, confirmation messages, timeout and display, audio elements, etc.

Compatibility Testing

Other than game testing bugs, thinking about the compatibility issues is another concern for game testers because it is essential to make the app compatible with various devices such as PCs and mobile phones.

Graphics troubleshooting, timely detecting, hardware, or software are the main things that help users get a good gaming experience. You need to verify the compatibility of the game on different gaming platforms. The more your app supports various devices, the more you will be able to generate more revenue.

Localization Testing

Localization testing is an important concept when it comes to targeting the game for global markets. From game content, texts to titles, you should test everything on devices. It should be easily readable by multiple users from different countries. For this, you can get the help of test automation and cloud-based device access to test the game app quickly.

Game testing test cases should be well prepared for the localization test. It should be particular to the MENA region (Middle East/North Africa), Pseudo-localization testing, Arabic localization (Right-to-Left text support, Bi-directional displays), and local time/date, address formats, currency, and local requirements.

Security Testing

Security testing is one of the powerful game testing techniques that you need to consider for checking weaknesses and security issues in the game. If your gaming app includes any third-party codes and these codes support the application's main functionality, security testing is necessary.

In this case, the reason to get security testing from game testers is that third-party codes are known as very sensitive and may contain so many bugs that need to be eliminated on-time. Otherwise, it can cause crashing issues or hack by hackers.

3D Testing

If you think about why game testing is important, then the answer is modern games are more realistic, especially the mobile ones that include real-to-life features to create addiction in game players.

For example - 3D games involve several realistic animations like replicas of the main characters, natural phenomena (waves, wind, clouds in the sky), bullet movement, etc. To verify the performance of 3D objects or whatever the models are present in a mobile game, QA engineers must have experience and desirable training before conducting 3D testing.

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing examines or checks whether your gaming app meets all the standards, regulations, and requirements of specifications. It is also called conformance testing. If you develop the game for European countries, you can use a PAL conversion for testing.

If you violate the rules, your game can be rejected and can cost you additional amounts for resubmission of your app on app stores and testing. If your game contains objectionable content or inappropriate things, then it needs to be examined and reported.

Installation Testing

The game should be installed in simple ways. Whether it is designed for beginners or experienced players, the installation process should be fast and easy for everyone. If your app takes time while installation, no one will take an interest in it because similar apps are already available in the app stores.

Regression Testing

Regression testing is required for re-testing of the unchangeable parts of the game. For this, you need to prepare test cases based on understanding the previous working of the app’s functions.

You need to check the errors or bugs after making the new changes in the game that can help you maintain quality or run the application based on high standards.

Video Game Quality Assurance Tools to Remember

Some game testing tools to remember right now:

• TestArchitect Mobile Plus
• Appium
• Ranorex
• Neoload
• Experitest
• Sikuli

Game Testing Benefits

Here are some game testing benefits:

Easy to Navigate Interface

Game testing companies know how to give emotional experiences to game players. They know the behavior of your target audiences. Based on that, they offer an intuitive interface that is easy to navigate and user-friendly.

Superior Game Functionality

Game testers eliminate the app's most common defects, such as game freezing, progression blocks, and system crashing. One bug in the game can have a wrong impression on users. After getting the game testing service, you can improve the functionality of your application.

Complete Test Coverage Assurance

Game testing tools and technologies like Robotium, Calabash, and Appium ensures that your game is tested inside out. Game testers prepare various test cases to provide the complete test coverage for the gaming app.

Conclusion

The game testing critical risk is that it doesn’t create compelling experiences for the relevant and targeted audience. You should carefully follow the game development life-cycle at the beginning, which includes three phases of pre-production: production, testing & deployment. Always consider different game testing types like compatibility testing, functional testing, security testing, compliance testing, localization testing, 3D testing, and interface testing as game testing is a repetitive process. Every new build can have so many bugs that you need to test thoroughly.

If you want to get the help of an experienced and reputed independent game testing company, you are always welcomed by BugRaptors. We have excellent proficiency and useful experience for game testing. Whether you want to run your game app on tablets, mobile devices, cloud, or desktops, our pool of certified game testers takes care of your unique business needs and provides cost-effective testing solutions.

Let’s talk with our professional game testing expert regarding your game app’s requirements.

Also Read: Case Study on Motion Sensor Game Testing