Incorporating Game Testing Into the Design Process
 Duri Price presents, "Games Testing for Market Success"
It is extremely important to plan for testing in the early phases of game design. The complexity of hardware and high-end game features dictates early testing because unanticipated bugs or game player frustration can cost millions of dollars in wasted development. One undetected bug could cost as much as $100,000 to fix, and more importantly, damage the company's reputation and future sales.
In analyzing where to place testing resources, developers must consider which testing tasks are most critical. The most important test areas should get the majority of our effort, but it can be difficult to pinpoint those areas. To clarify priorities, write a short summary of functionality, interactions, testing, and questions. Review the document with the developer or designer and revise it until you agree on what the feature does.
Risk analysis plays a key role in planning testing activities. Complex features, features that depend on feedback from other features, new or different technology, third-party components, and late features all raise red flags for elevated risk. With each of these issues, analyzing the impact of potential failure can guide testing strategy. Is there a legal issue involved? Will it cause a hardware compliance failure?
In estimating the time necessary for testing, be sure to allow for multiple test passes. Correlate time estimates with risk analysis, and identify bottlenecks early. In solving bottlenecks, test tools, automation, code reviews, etc. can drastically reduce the time per pass and number of passes, but are also expensive so use them wisely.
Once you have identified and accepted risks, and then put test strategies in place to accommodate those risks, you can use your analysis as a baseline and continuously update the process. At the end of the project analyze the initial and ongoing risk assessments and the actual bugs found vs. high-risk features to make your future assessments more accurate.
This is an excerpt of material Duri Price, a Manager at VMC Game Labs, presented at the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose on March 24, 2006. Mr. Price is a 14-year veteran of the software and games testing industry. To view the full presentation, visit VMC News.
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VMC's Halstead Leads Discussion at Customer Contact Conference |
| Glenn Halstead, managing director of Customer Contact Solutions, will lead a discussion among contact center industry executives at the Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact 2006 conference April 23-27 in Orlando. This forum gives industry executives an opportunity to share best practices and discuss industry trends in outsourcing and the technology of call center management. For information and a discounted rate to Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact 2006 click here. |
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Case File: VMC University |
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VMC Showcases Games Services at E3 |
The Electronic Entertainment Exposition, also known as E3, takes place May 9-12 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It's the place to be for the latest and greatest in interactive entertainment, including next-generation games and hardware, massively multi-player online games (MMPOGs) and much more. Other important topics of the conference include: in-game product placements, new home consoles and handsets, mobile capabilities, and the rise of casual gaming. VMC will showcase its services as the largest independent games testing company worldwide and share how its many services can help you bring quality products to market.
Stop by the VMC Game Labs booth in Kentia Hall #6623. Learn more at www.vmcgamelabs.com. |
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