How are Game Testing Practices Beneficial to Game Developers

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How are Game Testing Practices Beneficial to
Game Developers?
The world of gaming does keep most of us engaged,
regardless of what age group we belong to.
Video Games, as the world calls them, have
been struck by technology to evolve in a bigger
and better way. You can now access games loaded
with Virtual Reality (VR) that have fueled the
popularity of mobile, desktop, web, and console
gaming to unimaginable levels.
Currently, the worldwide gaming community is 2
billion strong and is growing with each passing
day. It is expected that the global gaming market
will acquire a value of US 287.1 Billion by
2026 end, thereby delivering a CAGR of 9.24
during the same period. There is immense
pressure on gaming companies and game developers
to keep up with the latest trends and be
innovators of future trends. To ensure the end
gaming product is bug-free, these companies need
to rely on QA testing services. Otherwise, the
criticism from end-users can immediately hamper
business dealings.
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What is Game Testing? It is a type of software
testing for games that involve identifying bugs
and further optimizing performance. While
creating video games, you can implement testing
activities during the prototyping stage or the
development stage. It ensures the early detection
of discrepancies without reaching the end-users.
With the help of game testing services, you get
to assess, identify, record, and repair all
types of software defects, potentially
influencing the users gaming experience. It is
believed that for highly complex games, there is
a need for dedicated testing resources to upkeep
QA testing activities. The testing of such video
games should initiate from the first code
itself. In simple words, it involves a
DevOps-driven, continuous testing technique in
collaboration with CI/CD pipeline to ensure
timely release. Stages to Game Testing There are
primarily three stages for successfully carrying
out game testing. However, most game developers
talk about various challenges that hinder the
standard technique and leave them clueless about
starting or stopping the testing process. Let us
focus on the main steps of game testing for
better utility. Game Test Strategy To make
improvements within the game, it is necessary to
chalk out a game testing strategy. The most
basic methodology can comprise various segments
like the number of testers and testing cycles
and timelines, type of testing, service-level
agreements, risk-based testing, reporting, etc.
Having an entire strategy prepared does increase
your chances of successfully conducting game
testing for better outcomes. Design Test Case
Execution It is recommended to write down both
positive and negative test cases for spotting
maximum bugs and errors in a game application.
You can use different techniques for creating
test cases, such as critical path testing or
traditional testing methods like black-box
testing. For highlighting more defects, it is
sensible to execute game test cases in the
recognized environment using configurations of
software and hardware. Record Test
Results Comprehensive recording of tests is
helpful for thoroughly understanding the
identified defects and further reviewing them
efficiently.
Popular Game Testing Techniques for Game
Developers
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• To reduce stress, gaming companies and game
  developers rely on software testing companies to
  actively analyze their gaming applications. These
  methods are now gaining prominence at the global
  level. Some of these include
• Combinatorial Testing
• It can be seen as an experimental design that is
  majorly used for commercial software testing and
  the generation of test cases. Combinatorial
  testing with game testing does work to enhance
  test execution efficiency and deliver better
  quality at a reduced cost. Key features of this
  testing type include
• Identification of discrete elements which can be
  differentiated either in configuration or data
• Combinatorial testing includes category-partition
  testing, catalogue-based testing, and pair
  testing
• Methodically create a combination for testing
• Functionality Testing
• This particular testing is carried out to
  validate whether or not the end product satisfies
  the set specifications. Some of the main issues
  highlighted by functionality QA testers are
• Generic discrepancies in a game centered at user
  interface and graphics
• Stability issues, game asset integrity,
  audio-visual concerns, etc
• Performance issues such as crashing, freezing,
  and progression blockages
• User interface (UI) issues focused on both
  content category and graphical elements
• Clean Room Testing
• You can see it as a software development process
  that is planned to create gaming software using
  a confirmable level of reliability. The main
  aspects of cleanroom testing are

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• General testing or Ad hoc testing can be defined
  as a less structured approach for analyzing
  video games. It is randomly performed on any
  section of a particular gaming application.
• Important features of ad hoc testing are
• This testing category has three different
  segments, namely, Pair Testing, Monkey Testing,
  and Buddy Testing
• Ad hoc testing helps in recognizing defects using
  a random approach, and zero documentation
• The benefits of Ad hoc testing include the
  completeness of testing and identify hidden
• bugs apart from the planned testing
• Compatibility Testing
• The purpose of compatibility testing is to ensure
  a game functions properly when evaluated
  concerning associated hardware, software, and
  graphics configuration. You can consider it one
  of the essential mobile app testing services that
  verify a games seamless working on specific
  devices. Useful features of this test include
• Confirm whether or not the game user interface is
  compatible according to the devices screen size
• Ensure the product fulfills all essential
  requirements established by the game developer
  as well as the end-user
• Verify real compatibility amongst varied testing
  environments
• Conclusion
• If you look at the ongoing trend, the outsourcing
  of game testing activities is viewed as a viable
  option for several game-developing companies. The
  main benefits include saving time and resources,
  as you no longer have to struggle in managing an
  internal game testing team. Having a trusted
  software testing services provider with practical
  expertise in multi-platform games can indeed
  prove valuable for your business and customer
  satisfaction.
• ImpactQA is known to offer a complete range of
  game testing services covering all categories of
  multi-platform games. We specialize in the
  various game testing practices mentioned above.
  With an adept team of qualified professionals, we
  carry out a careful inspection of your gaming
  application to detect system bugs or errors at
  the earliest. Be it PC, console, mobile, or AR /
  VR devices, we maintain software testing
  proficiency of the highest order.