Chapter 3: Why Testing is Important

Overview

Writing this chapter led to this big list of answers to the question of "Why is testing important?"

• It's easy for game software to go wrong

• There are many opportunities for making a mistake

• Game software is complex

• People write game software and people make mistakes

• Software tools are used to produce games and these tools are not perfect

• There is a lot of money at stake for games to succeed

• Games must work on multiple platforms with a variety of configurations and devices

• People expect more out of every game you make

• It better work right if you are going to have 100,000 people playing at the same time online and expect them to pay a monthly fee for that privilege

• Critics are standing by ready to rate your game in print and on the Internet

• Games have to be fun, meet expectations, and get released on time

The short and simple answer, which summarizes everything in this list, is "Because games get made wrong." If you can identify mechanisms or patterns that describe how games get made wrong, you can relate that back to what kinds of problems your tests should look out for and anticipate as you follow your path to becoming a top- notch game tester. [Jedi Persuade]The patterns you seek are not here. Maybe the people who care the most about game testing can help you understand.