There are approximately 2.5 billion gamers in the world today, almost a third of the world’s population. Out of this massive number of gamers, 1.2 billion play games on a PC, while more and more prefer to do so on the smartphone. Needless to say, the video game industry is very lucrative. The revenue of the digital games industry in the US alone was $35.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach over $300 billion by 2025!
Today’s games are bigger, faster, more realistic, and far more complex than they have ever been. A modern computer game is a sophisticated application that is unlike other computer programs and apps, and it is especially true when it comes to user experience. Since most games are played for fun, thrill, entertainment, or education, gamers have no patience to adjust or accommodate poor user experience design. Also, a video game is often criticized for being too difficult or too easy to play. Thus, a game design ought to be easy enough for new gamers to get used to, manipulating characters and progressing to new levels without a steep learning curve. At the same time, it should be difficult enough to challenge the player’s skill and abilities to keep up the entertainment value.
The types of bugs and imperfections are also things that set games apart from other kinds of software. In addition to functional defects which prevent a game from working properly, glitches are costly faults that are unique to games. Glitching is the practice of exploiting faults in a video game’s programming to achieve an unfair advantage over other players or non-player characters (NPC’s). Imagine a player being able to run through walls and thus defying the game’s rules. Game glitches can have a wide variety of causes, although the most common causes are errors within the operating system, defects in a piece of software, or problems created by computer bugs.
XBOSoft offers game testing services to help gaming companies come up with the next blockbusters! Below is a case study for Sago Mini.
XBOSoft – Game Testing Services Case Study for Sago Mini
Sago Mini is a Canadian subsidiary of Toca Boca that is the No.1 mobile-first kids brand video game companies in the App Store. Both companies have part of Spin Master, a leading global children’s entertainment company that creates, designs, manufactures, and markets a diversified portfolio of innovative toys, games, products, and entertainment properties. Sago Mini launched mobile games for kids in China and are available on iOS, Google Play, Kindle, and various other platforms.
Check out our Sago Mini Case Study to learn how partnering with XBOSoft enabled Sago Mini game developers to benefit from a wide range of XBOSoft’s mobile game quality assurance testing solutions and expertise.
A video game that is not flawless is quickly rejected by gamers, who have many other options to choose from. As a result, the role of game quality assurance testing is ever more critical for the success of gaming companies. It is a highly technical field requiring computing expertise, analytic competence, critical evaluation skills, and above all, endurance. To complicate matters more, many video games support a number of different online and offline platforms. Thus, any company that does video game testing well must necessarily also do multi-platform game testing well.
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Computer Game Testing
PC has been the biggest release platform for game developers of all sizes. Playing video games on the PC has many advantages over other platforms like the game console. For example, it offers higher-quality visuals and allows for more customization via various accessories and options that can enhance players’ experience. Computer game testing requires a strong game QA testing team because of the millions of hardware, GPU software, and driver variables involved, which are being released every few months.
Mobile Game Testing
A clear trend in gaming is the popularity of games built for mobile phones and tablets. Most people today carry a smartphone with gaming capabilities for which the CPU and GPU are specifically built for an immersive gaming experience. Mobiles have now become so powerful that they can process gigabytes of data in a fraction of a second. With over 700,000 apps live, you need a high game quality, bug-free, exceptional game in order to stand out among the “other apps”. In addition, your mobile game must work across multiple platforms if you want to reach a worldwide audience. Click here for more detail about mobile game testing services .
Console Game Testing
Video game consoles use proprietary formats which compete with each other for market share. A few types of video game consoles exist:, including home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, micro-consoles, and dedicated consoles. With better hardware game platforms have evolved tremendously in the past two decades. The following are some of the most popular game consoles in the market today: Nintendo Switch, DS, 3DS, Wii, WiiU, Xbox360, PS3, PS4, PS4 Neo, Xbox One, etc. Console game testing requires state-of-the-art hardware: test kits, 4k resolution machines, audio hardware systems, and dedicated networks.
VR Game Testing
It’s no secret that Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) are the next big thing when it comes to games experiences. They are one of the most immersive gaming experiences available at the moment. Testing of VR gaming products requires more attention since there are many aspects that need to be taken into consideration. The “presence effect”, or the illusion that you are in another reality, is the main goal of any VR game. During testing, it is important to evaluate and describe your feelings since every game has an audience with special interests and preferences. Another important peculiarity of VR games testing is time spent. To play more than 30-40 minutes is physically demanding – so-called “virtual-reality sickness” similar to motion sickness: headache, disorientation, nausea often appears after the prolonged playing of VR games.
Additionally, XBOSoft offers the following comprehensive game-testing services to our clientele:
Game Play Testing
Game Playtesting is a very generic technique for testing gaming apps and software. It is an important part of the gaming software’s design phase. Game designers must consider gamers’ expectations at every stage of designing.
Load and Performance Testing
It’s important to ensure that your GPU, CPU, and servers can handle the user load under normal and peak conditions for the smooth running of your game as intended.
Usability and Experience Testing
It’s critical to check if the user interface of the game is working per requirements across various platforms and devices to ensure a consistent experience. Downloading speed is also paramount to mobile game users.
Functionality Testing
Functional testing takes seemingly endless hours and requires attention to detail in a fast-paced environment. With so many variables, defects are easy to miss, and with the resources needed, it’s hard not to short-change it.
Localization Testing
The goal of localization testing is to ensure your translated game is as cool as the original and the gamers enjoy it as if it was created in their own language. It targets linguistic, visual, cultural, and functional issues and mistakes in in-game scripts and voice-overs.
Mmorpg Testing
Mmorpg testing is a form of multiple-player game testing. It stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing video games. It involves a very large number of players interacting with one another within a virtual world.
Multiple Player Testing
This is more common for PC games. In a multiple-player game, many players simultaneously are interacting with the game world, with computer-controlled opponents, with game servers, and with each other. So many things that can go wrong. And it often requires a whole team of video game testers. Many difficult risk-based decisions are to be made for many different scenarios. Understanding multiplayer game design, and how to test efficiently as a team is required knowledge for this type of testing.
Compliance Testing
Due to licensing approvals from regulatory bodies, game compliance testing is a vital and labor-intensive component of the video game industry. Each of the platforms that games can be released on has its own requirements that dictate things like error message formatting, memory card usage, and the use of trademarked or copyrighted material.
Compatibility Testing
Game compatibility testing is used to find whether a game is working properly or not with respect to the hardware, graphics, and software configuration. It is one of the essential mobile app testing services that check if a game title is able to run on specific devices. For example, the test may validate whether the app’s user interface renders correctly per the device’s screen size.
Automation Testing
More common for mobile game testing. To be agile, functional testing for mobile games should be automated. Functional testing – with help of test automation frameworks, can reveal issues related to the user interface, stability, game flow/mechanism, and integration of graphics assets for a plethora of devices of different generations and different operations systems.
Payment Testing
Payments for games depend on their platforms. In particular, mobile game payments are tied to Google Play, Apple App Store, and other game marketplaces. In China, many games are paid for through Wechat Pay. It is important for game companies to set up the payment system properly.
XBOSoft is a game-testing company that can help you with all these game types. We have a wealth of experience helping companies succeed in bringing exciting and delightful games to market. Contact us for more information about our Game Testing Service.
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