I Spent a Month Beta Testing Video Games
“Game testing is a great way to get your foot in the door of the game industry.”
I’ve heard this advice echoed by professional game developers everywhere. It’s a fun way to gain some experience in the industry while also learning more about the craft.
But this comes with a problem. Just about anyone can play video games. That means the candidate pool is very large. And a lot of companies seem reluctant to hire anyone who doesn’t already know his way around game testing.
So how do you become a game tester when you need experience to get the job and the job to get experience? Participate in open beta testing. Over the course of this coming month, I’m going to help beta test a variety of different games over different platforms and document what I learn.
Weekly Updates
My project starts off here! Using G.Round and Jira, I began testing a variety of indie games and created mock bug reports.
I experimented with creating new ways to make my bug reports accessible to developers! I even learned a few lessons regarding game design.
The week of multiplayer games! A few tough lessons were learned, but some successes were had as well.
The final week of the project! I focused exclusively on mobile games and had quite the adventure as a result.
The Tools I Used
G.Round
A PC game testing platform. Users can test a wide assortment of indie games and send feedback directly to the developers. Points are given for the work done which can be exchanged for gaming gear!
Google Play Store
While not an official game testing platform, it offers access to open beta games. Developer availability varies on the game company however. Ads are also a frequent (and annoying) occurrence during gameplay.
Jira
Professional bug reporting software! Used by a wide variety of different game development studios to manage their bugs.
Notion
A note taking software platform that allows users to create spreadsheets, templates, and webpages! I used this to create my own bug spreadsheets to send to developers.
Blog Posts
5 Times Non-Horror Games Spooked Me
An Introduction to Game Testing
5 Video Game Academia I Wish Were Real
The Games I Tested
Dark Swords: Firelink (Lair Games Studio)
Batboy (Sonzai Games)
Path of Kami: Journey Begins (Captilight Games)
Chronicles of Two Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath (Infinity Experience)
Abyss Protection (Exbyte Studios)
Lords of Ravage (Synthetic Domain)
Catch Me! (ByteRockers’ Games)
Hitori Kakurenbo Online (Infinite Thread Games)
Singularity Runner (Trik Soft)
Doom Simulator (ICLOCKWORK)
Blocky World — Fantasy Quest (LaBird Games)
Umbra Amulet of Light (Storms Publishing)
What I Got Out of it
Many lessons were learned over the course of this project that will allow me to more professionally test games. Here’s my newfound collection of knowledge:
- How to create bug reports using Jira
- Notetaking while testing the gameplay saves valuable time
- Bug reports should be detailed, easy to understand, and easy to access
- Game testing requires feedback about the overall game experience as well as bug reporting
- Games that are strictly multiplayer require a team of people in order to effectively test them
- The more complex or random a game is, the more difficult it is to isolate bug cases without special tools
- Effective game testing requires deep concentration
Final Thoughts
This project had very little in the way of roadblocks. A welcome change from my previous project where I created four indie games in four weeks. Challenges came primarily in the way of isolating bug cases.
Games come in many different shapes and sizes. Finding and replicating bugs can be very easy or very difficult depending on how it plays. In some cases, playing the base game will be all a game tester needs. In cases where the gameplay is a bit more random, specialized tools are needed to properly track down and squash the bug.
And sometimes, one tester just isn’t enough. In games that require multiple people to play, an entire team will need to get together and collaborate in order to properly test it.
In the end, the needs of a game developer will vary depending on what kind of game he is creating. Game testers must adapt according to these needs.
Game testing may seem like it’s all fun and games (and sometimes it is), but it’s a very important part of development. Because game developers work so closely on their creations, they can fail to see certain flaws in the code or gameplay. A game tester’s job is to sniff them out!
Want to talk? Shoot me a message!
If you like what you’ve seen here or just want to chat, send me a message! You can contact me through the following:
Gmail: DavidAStaat@gmail.com
