Testing a New Game as a Stage of Its Creation

Game development has seven different stages that most developers follow. These stages include:

1. Planning
2. Pre-production
3. Production
4. Testing
5. Pre-launch
6. Launch
7. Post-production

Testing, the fourth stage of game development, is one of the most important steps that a developer can take to ensure that their game is well received by their audience. If a developer skips testing, this puts too much risk on chance that their game will succeed.

Users are expecting high-end games that have been well tested. If your game is not well tested, it can mean the difference between becoming a hit or making no sales.

Gamers will complain if their games are riddled with bugs or if there are issues that make the game unplayable. 

Testing in Multiple Stages and in Multiple Parts

Testing a new game with integration testing services is a good start, but there are several ways the game can be tested. A few of these ways include:

Bug Identification

Bug identification will be one of the first testing phases to be done. What this phase will determine is what bugs exist, and what ones are high and low priority. There are different levels of bugs, and if a user is not able to exploit a bug easily, it may be put as a low priority fix.

A high priority bug is one that is easy to exploit and will be available when the player follows recommended paths.

For example, if a game had a jumping function that would, under certain circumstances, fail or cause an unnecessary action to take place, this bug would be a high priority fix.

Low priority fixes would be those that don’t cause a significant impact on the playability of a game. 

You’ll need to have both of these priorities listed in a manner that makes it easier for the developers to understand how these issues occur, and what steps they could take to replicate them. Once this is done, developers can go in and begin fixing all of these bugs.

Feature Exploitation

Feature exploration is a part of gaming that can be a lot of fun for the players. There are groups of players who will just start playing a game and try anything they can to exploit the game in a way that the developer did not intend.

This has been done in some of the world’s biggest games, including World of Warcraft, where gamers would exploit boss mechanics or have the boss glitch out so that they could be beaten easily.

There also feature exploitations that allow you to jump walls or do something that is not intended by the developer.

Assess Game Difficulty

Game difficulty is one of the biggest concerns for testers. When a game is too difficult to play, it will lead to players leaving the game. Difficulty is often corrected by either having multiple difficulty modes or tuning the game down so that it is more playable.

There is a fine line between a game that is too easy and too difficult. But, when a game is too difficult, it could be a major detriment to your sales and to players. Players want to have fun, and if a game is too difficult to play, this may cause them to put the game down not play again.

Determine if the Game is Fun

Is the game fun, or is it boring? Players want to play a game that is engaging and fun, and sometimes, developers miss out on some of the elements of the game that can make the game fun.

For example, the developer may know what buttons to press or what actions to take to complete a quest, but if there is no direction on how to achieve these actions, it can be very frustrating for a player.

Testing will be a top priority, and it is one of the most important stages in the development of a game.

If you’re developing a game, it can be easy to skip the testing phase and jump right into deploying the game to players. Players will have a major role in the testing process during the beta testing phase of the game, but they shouldn’t have a game that is untested at their disposal. You will want to do some testing before allowing others to play your game.