A introduction to five guidelines and techniques every analyst should test by
These five principles provide a foundation for testing throughout the QA test cycle, helping us identify issues that can impact the quality, reliability, and overall experience of a game.
1. Responsiveness
Immediate UI feedback and timely processing of player actions.
Guideline: Verify that player actions and game events, such as claiming rewards or earning XP, produce immediate and accurate feedback in the UI.
Example: Earning enough XP for a reward after a match should immediately trigger the reward and display the updated state to the player.
2. Permutations
Complex, extreme, and unexpected combinations of states.
Guideline: Test a wide range of possible states, conditions, and combinations, especially where multiple systems interact or depend on one another.
Example: A guild leader disbands a guild while other members are online. Verify that those members are not left in an unexpected state, such as being stuck in a loading screen.
3. Order of Operations
System Sequencing and the logical order of events.
Guideline: Verify that game systems process events and state changes in the correct sequence, and that dependent UI updates occur only after the underlying operation is complete.
Example: After purchasing an item from a shop, verify that the transaction completes before the inventory and currency systems update to reflect the purchase.
4. Race Conditions
Unexpected behavior caused by overlapping or competing events.
Guideline: Test scenarios where multiple operations occur simultaneously or in rapid succession to ensure the game handles competing inputs without hanging, duplicating actions, or entering an invalid state.
Example: Rapidly tap or click the same button multiple times, or trigger two actions simultaneously, and verify that the game processes the input correctly without duplicating the action or becoming unresponsive.
5. Exploratory
The unhappy path. Testing beyond predefined scripts using your intuition, creativity, and domain knowledge.
Guideline: Stray from expected user flows and deliberately introduce unusual conditions to uncover problems that scripted testing may not catch.
Example: Test disconnect and recovery scenarios by closing and relaunching the game at different points during an operation. Verify that the game recovers gracefully and returns the player to a valid state.
Additional Notes
Cheats
Cheats are critical tools for efficient testing, but they must be reliable functional. Broken cheats should be reported immediately, as they can create false positives and lead to invalid bug reports. Whenever practical, testers should prioritize natural reproduction methods rather than relying solely on cheats.
Tutorials
Ensure that only the intended elements are tappable or interactable during tutorials. Pay close attention to input-blocking layers, as they can unintentionally prevent players from progressing and cause soft-locks.
When a player disconnects during a tutorial or guided experience, they should generally return to an appropriate checkpoint rather than becoming stuck or losing progress.
