Game Testing

At the time when the concept of video games was established, the developers of the games were given the responsibility to test their own applications. Nowadays, there is a stiff competition in the gaming industry. Several games are launched every day, since the demand for games in on constant rise we get to see that game developing companies have started hiring resources for Quality Assurance and Assessment of their products.

The game testers are in great demand. Although, the pay package of a game tester is not very great but amateur game savvy individuals can make a decent earning doing what they like to do the best – playing games. A game tester should ideally be someone who loves to play games and has tried his/her hand on various games at various platforms. The tester must be fast at grasping the specifications of the game and must be able to provide detailed report regarding the bug. A game tester must be able to test the application well within the time frame.

Quality Assurance has become the most important aspect of the gaming industry. In case of games coding and testing go hand in hand which means that testing starts as the coding begins. As the code progresses he testing process becomes even more complicated. The Testing team will track the performance of the game right from the time the coding begins to the time when the game is launched. Sometimes the testing members are increased as the game begins to approach the alpha stage. Like in case of software testing or web based testing maintenance of bug report is important. As of now there are no rules defined for game testing but certain software testing approach can truly help in improving the quality of the software.

Job of a game tester can be quite stressful as it is very important for any game to be bug free. The tester must be able to creatively play the game to uncover the hidden bugs. Some bugs can be easily reported but there are some bugs that show up under certain circumstances in such a scenario the bug must be reported effectively which means the bug reporting must give the details of the circumstances in which the bug shows up. This is done so that it is easier for the developer to detect the faulty code and fix the issues.

As compared to software and web-based testing, game testing is a less technical job. Many game testers have no technical background and have not even attended college. As of now there are no standards defined for game testing but looking at the rate at which gaming companies are employing testers it is quite evident that very soon game testing would become a great career option for many youngsters. The game testing methodologies are being refined and every company is following its own set of rules for quality assurance. Many companies are now trying to implement the common software testing procedures for game testing as well.