Last week, we had a guest lecturer, Georgia Mae Ayling, a seasoned game QA analyst. Georgia gave us an excellent overview of the critical work that testing performs for game development. Quality Assurance, or QA, is the process that ensures a game plays according to plan and doesn’t have any significant issues detracting from the playing experience. QA analysts specifically work to discover and document bugs, track their repair, and ensure everything within a game meets quality standards.
Georgia discussed some of the key tasks for a QA analyst, including writing and maintaining detailed test cases, conducting usability tests to establish overall user experience, testing patches for bugs, and writing software tests replicating the QA process. She emphasised proper documentation and communication during the testing process so that everyone on the team knew what was happening with the game’s status and the bugs discovered.
Following the introduction, we discussed the types of tests applicable to game development. Georgia highlighted a series of different kinds of tests, ranging from functional tests—where we make sure game mechanics work as they are supposed to, to localisation tests, which ensure that the game is localised adequately for different cultures and languages, compliance tests, which make games adhere to specific industry guidelines, developer QA which tests on quality builds for games, specialist field tests which get feedback from an experienced person, and software development engineering which overlaps into tests applicable to measures. Learning the types of tests was an eye-opening experience since they interact and rely on one another to support the overall game’s integrity. Following our playtesting session, the QA discussion was particularly pertinent. The discussion helped to reinforce the importance of proper QA procedures and gave us a better set of criteria against which to critique our game. We derived an increased understanding of the nature of the quality game and how to approach it.
This week, I encountered one minor hindrance when attempting to work using Aseprite, our pixel art software, for our assigned activity. It took me a steady learning curve to grasp its functionality and features, but I adapted to it through constant practice and perseverance. By the end of this week, I plan to show my completed work to my group, unveiling our work and the accomplishments I’ve gained throughout.