How Important Is It To Test Video Games?

Online gaming, console-based games and mobile gaming are, among consumers, at an all-time high in terms of popularity at the moment, and the demand for games isn’t set to drop any time soon. Tastes and demands of gamers the world over have evolved and continue to do so from an already high standard. Thanks to innovations in technology, playability, graphics rendering and online access, gamers don’t take too kindly to flawed games, so software testing for games is crucially for the commercial success of titles.

Thanks to these demands, the business of hiring of software testers is booming, and for good reason. One example of this importance is the case of Halo Reach, one of the fastest selling games of all time – it was developed with over 1,000 man hours being spent solely on testing. This is in addition to the design and concept development of the game, which puts the importance of software testing for games into perspective.

From eradicating ‘dead zones’ on modern third person perspective games, where the character should be able to go but can’t, to glitches in gameplay, discolouration and mistimed interactions – there are so many elements that can take away from an otherwise superb gaming experience. The mantra of the testing professional is to remove these flaws before release.

Other areas of games testing include testing and certifying that the certain levels load correctly, ensuring settings can be managed accurately, making menus intuitive to users, making sure auto-save prompts exist within the game, ensuring coherent online interaction and improving how games utilise the hardware, (such as graphics). All of these are areas that gaming testers are tasked with improving on a daily basis.

There are many careers to be found within software testing but one of the most enjoyable, if not slightly repetitive, is that of a games tester. The rewards, however, once fully tested and certified titles hit the shelves, speak for themselves.

The importance of testing a game thoroughly cannot be overstated, and there must be suitable people to do so. This involves them undertaking a software testing course to be taught the principles of this industry