With the introduction of state of the art smart phones and mobile phones, newer avenues of game development have opened up. The games that are now developed for these devices come up with a string of value added features that make them all the more attractive to the gamers. Now, as these games get increasingly high tech, the testing techniques also get increasingly complex. Let us discuss some of the best practices that a tester is required to carry out, for evaluating these games.
User Interface and Functionality testing
When it comes to evaluating modern high end mobile gaming, the QA or Quality Analysis along with functionality testing is extremely important. They need to be extensive as it is imperative to test quite a number of parameters like UI and functionality, graphics performance, multiplayer experience, cross platform performance, consumption of the battery and last but not the least, memory leakage or usage.
Again, when we speak of functionality along with UI testing of the mobile gaming, the two main elements that need to be tested are visual appeal along with game play. Thus, the main aspects of a mobile game that need to be elaborately examined include:
Screen
It needs to be seen that the title screen is properly designed so that it never causes eye sore for the gamer as the individual logs in to play the gaming package in question. The first impression is always the best impression.
Menu Functions
This is another aspect that needs to be evaluated properly. It needs to be examined whether the menu functions are working properly or whether it is easy to navigate through the menu.
Flow of the Game and the rules of playing the game
The gaming package play needs to be absolutely progressive without any jerk and it is to be seen that the game itself is not too hard to play for it may deter the gamers. Again, a too simple game will cause boredom for the gamer. A right balance needs to be struck.
The parameters that need to be evaluated include the character models along with the levels of the gaming, designing of the scenes and secondary characters (if any), creation of the right ambiance, the opponents from the gamers’ perspective (in case of first person gaming), collectibles (if any) and how hard or simple it is to collect them, the variety of collectibles, their frequency, the scoring mechanism (it needs to be accurate as well as simple), the extent of social networking interactions, the background music along with the overall ambiance that is created. The finesse along with the compactness of the gaming package also needs to be evaluated as they play a pivotal role in keeping the gamers glued to the game.
If all these parameters are needed to be checked, there are other aspects of mobile game testing as well. Other parameters that are to be tested should include the graphics and the UI of the gaming package, the usability of the buttons as well as the navigational flow, grammatical texts as well as the fonts, special effects as well as the animation of the characters, the sound effects, screen orientation, screen resolution and the likes. Now that we have discussed the parameters that need to be checked, let us turn our attention to the other testing practices that are to be maintained.
1) Play the game first hand: Playing the game is not that easy for a tester. The first step of the evaluation is running a string of assessments, some of which are very specific and consists of a series of step-by-step instructions.
2) Identifying the bugs: Testing a mobile gaming package basically has two principle objectives. While one of them is detecting the defects that are embedded in the gaming codes as well as designs, the other is demonstrating the parts of the game that are functioning in a proper way. If the examination does not detect any glitch, the game “passes” the test and when the evaluation detects any issue, then the game “fails”.
3) Amplification: This practice involves narrowing down all the likely scenarios for a particular bug or glitch to occur. Now this can be performed in two feasible ways – early testing and checking all the points.
4) Notification: Once a glitch or a bug is detected, it is imperative that the developers are instantly notified so that it can be taken care of without any delay whatsoever.
Once that is done, the buck passes on to the developers who will take care of the glitch, eliminate it and send it back to the testers’ desk for another round of testing. If you are planning to hire service of game testing companies, you must evaluate them to see if they are sufficiently agile or not!
We provide Game testing services. If you would like to get your games tested by our Game testing experts, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.
User Interface and Functionality testing
Again, when we speak of functionality along with UI testing of the mobile gaming, the two main elements that need to be tested are visual appeal along with game play. Thus, the main aspects of a mobile game that need to be elaborately examined include:
Screen
It needs to be seen that the title screen is properly designed so that it never causes eye sore for the gamer as the individual logs in to play the gaming package in question. The first impression is always the best impression.
Menu Functions
This is another aspect that needs to be evaluated properly. It needs to be examined whether the menu functions are working properly or whether it is easy to navigate through the menu.
Flow of the Game and the rules of playing the game
The gaming package play needs to be absolutely progressive without any jerk and it is to be seen that the game itself is not too hard to play for it may deter the gamers. Again, a too simple game will cause boredom for the gamer. A right balance needs to be struck.
The parameters that need to be evaluated include the character models along with the levels of the gaming, designing of the scenes and secondary characters (if any), creation of the right ambiance, the opponents from the gamers’ perspective (in case of first person gaming), collectibles (if any) and how hard or simple it is to collect them, the variety of collectibles, their frequency, the scoring mechanism (it needs to be accurate as well as simple), the extent of social networking interactions, the background music along with the overall ambiance that is created. The finesse along with the compactness of the gaming package also needs to be evaluated as they play a pivotal role in keeping the gamers glued to the game.
If all these parameters are needed to be checked, there are other aspects of mobile game testing as well. Other parameters that are to be tested should include the graphics and the UI of the gaming package, the usability of the buttons as well as the navigational flow, grammatical texts as well as the fonts, special effects as well as the animation of the characters, the sound effects, screen orientation, screen resolution and the likes. Now that we have discussed the parameters that need to be checked, let us turn our attention to the other testing practices that are to be maintained.
1) Play the game first hand: Playing the game is not that easy for a tester. The first step of the evaluation is running a string of assessments, some of which are very specific and consists of a series of step-by-step instructions.
2) Identifying the bugs: Testing a mobile gaming package basically has two principle objectives. While one of them is detecting the defects that are embedded in the gaming codes as well as designs, the other is demonstrating the parts of the game that are functioning in a proper way. If the examination does not detect any glitch, the game “passes” the test and when the evaluation detects any issue, then the game “fails”.
3) Amplification: This practice involves narrowing down all the likely scenarios for a particular bug or glitch to occur. Now this can be performed in two feasible ways – early testing and checking all the points.
4) Notification: Once a glitch or a bug is detected, it is imperative that the developers are instantly notified so that it can be taken care of without any delay whatsoever.
Once that is done, the buck passes on to the developers who will take care of the glitch, eliminate it and send it back to the testers’ desk for another round of testing. If you are planning to hire service of game testing companies, you must evaluate them to see if they are sufficiently agile or not!
We provide Game testing services. If you would like to get your games tested by our Game testing experts, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.
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