Understanding Agile Development

Agile development adopts a different approach to building software. It emphasizes iterative development, frequent releases, and continuous integration. This makes automation a natural fit to keep pace with the increasing demand for rapid development cycles.

In the gaming realm, agile development has become crucial in delivering high-quality and intuitive gaming experiences. By iteratively developing games and releasing gaming aspects frequently, developers can integrate player feedback and ensure the next release addresses players’ pain points and needs. The outcome? More engaging gaming experiences.

How Game Test Automation Facilitates Agile Development

Here are some key points on how test automation facilitates agile game development:

1. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

CI/CD is about continuously integrating and delivering new code into the central repository. This aligns with the agile principle of iteratively providing updates. But how does test automation facilitate CI/CD in agile development?

Test automation empowers developers to integrate new code continuously and deliver it to production faster. But how? The automated tests can be run on every build, ensuring new features do not introduce regressions or issues on the existing codebase.

2. Rapid Feedback

In agile development, rapid feedback loops are essential. Automated tests provide instant feedback on the quality of the code changes. This allows developers to fix issues faster and more efficiently in the early development stages. As a result, it reduces the risk of costly errors that may be discovered in the later development stages or live environment. Therefore, integrating game test automation in agile development ensures feedback is acted upon promptly, addressing game issues as they emerge.

3. Regression Testing

Have you ever released a new code in an initially working game feature, only for it to affect other aspects of your game? This issue is common in agile development, where games are built in iterations. Therefore, developers must thoroughly test each new feature to ensure it doesn’t affect other aspects of the game.

With each iteration, new features are added, which may potentially break existing functionality. So, how does game test automation help? Automated regression tests help identify such issues early, preventing them from reaching the production environment.

4. Cross-Platform Testing

The gaming industry has evolved significantly over the years. More devices are being used to play games. While this is an opportunity for developers to reach diverse audiences, it presents a major challenge, especially when it comes to testing. Game quality assurance (QA) teams must ensure the game delivers a consistent experience across all devices and platforms. This can be a challenging exercise, especially considering that each device has varying hardware configurations and versions.

Automated testing tools can help test games across different platforms. This ensures diverse test coverage across all devices and platforms. The outcome? A seamless gaming experience, regardless of the device or platform that players use.

5. Performance Testing

Ensuring optimal game performance is crucial in today’s highly competitive gaming environment. Since performance issues can occur at any development stage, iterative performance testing is essential. And that’s where automation comes in handy. Automated performance tests can help identify performance bottlenecks early in the development cycle. This allows for optimization before release.

Benefits of Game Test Automation in Agile Development

Besides accelerating time-to-market, game test automation offers numerous benefits in agile development. Here are some key advantages:

1. Enhanced Test Coverage

Automation speeds up the execution of time-consuming and repetitive test cases. Therefore, it allows for rapid feedback loops and reduces the overall testing efforts. This implies that game QA teams can execute more tests faster without delaying the release of the final product.

2. Early Bug Detection

Automated tests can be run on every iteration. This results in the early detection of issues and defects affecting the game’s behavior or performance. By detecting and addressing issues early, you can significantly improve the overall game quality. Also, it reduces the risk and cost of resolving issues in the later development stages.

3. Improved Test Efficiency

As initially stated, automation accelerates the execution of time-consuming and routine test cases. This results in faster testing, allowing testers to explore numerous test cases. The outcome? A thoroughly tested game with minimal chances of quality issues.

Best Practices for Game Test Automation in Agile Development

Game test automation in agile development offers numerous benefits. However, it poses several challenges, such as the shortage of skilled testers to create and run automated test scripts and the complex nature of gaming systems. Therefore, game QA teams must consider various best practices to optimize the outcome. These practices include:

• Create a clear testing strategy. Establish a clear testing plan, defining the testing goals and the automated testing frameworks and tools to be used.
• Identify suitable test cases for automation. Not every test case can be automated. Therefore, you should outline the right test cases to automate to optimize the benefits of automation.
• Build a scalable game test automation framework. Creating and managing test data for automated tests can be challenging in the gaming industry. Therefore, you should equip the test automation framework with resources like plugins and libraries to help locate and manage relevant test data for positive testing.

Final Thoughts

Test automation is an indispensable part of agile game development. Through automation, developers can quickly test new features and integrate feedback into the next release. This ensures the release of high-quality games faster and more frequently. While test automation in agile game development provides many benefits, like early bug detection and enhanced test coverage, it can be challenging. Therefore, game QA teams must consider various best practices, such as creating a clear testing strategy and building scalable game test automation frameworks. This way, they can unlock the true power of test automation in agile game development.

FAQ’s:

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Traditionally, game testing was a manual process that required testers to handle every testing aspect. However, as the testing requirements and complexity increased, keeping pace with these demands became more challenging. This has resulted in the adoption of modern automated game testing strategies to enhance testing outcomes.

But how has game testing evolved? Why transition from manual to automated game testing? And have automated testing tools taken over every aspect of testing? Join us as we explore the journey from manual to automated testing and how it is reshaping the future of game testing.

The Age of Manual Game Testing

Before the advancement of technology, testers depended on manual testing processes. They would play the game carefully to identify and report glitches, bugs, and other gameplay issues. This approach offered valuable feedback, as testers would experience the game from the end users’ perspective.

However, as testing requirements and games became more complex, this process became more time-consuming and error prone. This affected the overall reliability and efficiency of the manual game testing approach. Even worse, the growing competition in the gaming world meant that developers needed to deliver games to the market faster than ever. This rendered manual game testing more impractical.

The Emergence of Automated Game Testing

As technology advanced, new automated testing tools emerged. These tools enabled developers and testers to leverage the power of technology to improve the testing process. So, what does the automated game testing approach entail?

As the name suggests, automated game testing involves automating various game-testing processes. Testers use scripts, tools, and frameworks to perform systematic and repetitive tests. These tools are powerful enough to simulate player interactions, check for bugs and glitches, and validate game mechanics. Therefore, they facilitate faster and more accurate testing.

Challenges of Automated Game Testing

It’s no secret that automated game testing has numerous benefits. However, it presents several challenges that must be addressed to ensure accuracy and efficiency in the testing results. Here are some common challenges of this game-testing strategy:

1. Scripting Complexity

Creating test scripts for automated testing can be challenging. It requires you to have an advanced skillset and mastery in game testing. Fortunately, the rise of machine learning and AI algorithms has helped create complex automated test scripts faster and more efficiently.

2. Adapting to Continuous Game Updates

The gaming environment is dynamic. Once a game is released, that’s not the end – developers must continuously release updates addressing different issues. The issues may range from performance fixes to updates that address players’ complaints. Adapting automated testing tools to address such updates is often challenging as you must continuously update the test scripts. This can be addressed by embracing advanced technologies like AI and machine learning to enable automated testing tools to adapt to evolving testing requirements.

3. Ensuring the Accuracy of Automated Test Results

It can be challenging to determine the accuracy of automated test results. If the testing framework is biased, it can lead to missed bugs or glitches that may significantly affect the end-user experience. To address this challenge, it’s vital to include skilled testers to evaluate the automated test results. Also, refining the automated testing framework can help enhance the accuracy and reliability of automated test results.

4. Finding the Right Balance

Automated testing is here to stay. However, it’s essential to note that it’s not here to replace human testers. Instead, the automated testing strategy is here to augment manual testing. The human element remains vital in evaluating gameplay experience, subjective factors, and usability aspects that cannot be easily automated. Therefore, gaming companies should strive to strike a balance between automated and manual testing approaches. This way, they can leverage the strengths of both game-testing strategies, delivering high-quality games.

Final Thoughts

The evolution of game testing strategies from manual to automated approaches has revolutionized how we test games. The transition to an automated game-testing strategy has improved test accuracy, scalability, coverage, and efficiency. Also, it presents several challenges, such as scripting complexity and adapting to frequent updates. These challenges must be addressed to enhance the effectiveness and reliability of the automated game-testing strategy. While automated game testing seems to be taking over testing tasks, manual testing remains vital in evaluating the subjective aspects of the game. Therefore, as companies embrace automated testing, they must strike the right balance between manual and automated testing approaches. Doing so can help them achieve optimal testing results and deliver exceptional gaming experiences.

Are you struggling to transition from a manual to an automated testing strategy? iXie has got you covered.

At iXie, we boast an expert team of game QA Engineers. This allows us to offer clients the support they need to ensure their games hit the market on time. Contact us today for more information.

FAQ’s

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Automated game testing can transform your testing process and experience. However, you must use the right test automation tools to get the best outcome from automated testing. Join us as we explore the test automation tools, including their overview, pros, and challenges.

Game Test Automation Tools: Overview 

Game testing is crucial to building a robust and high-quality game. One of the ways to improve game test results is through automation tools. Automation tools enable you to run tests on different platforms effortlessly, regardless of their intricacy or complexity. This reduces your testing workload and enhances efficiency. 

Unlike human-driven tests, automated tests deliver more reliable results, as you can run them repeatedly. This makes it easier to identify errors or bugs in your game. Also, automated game testing tools help minimize the cost related to time-consuming manual testing approaches. As a result, they provide additional resources for other production areas.  

What’s more, automated testing tools help developers keep up with the dynamic gaming landscape. They enable you to quickly adapt to new testing platforms. Also, they ensure a seamless user experience (UX) regardless of the device used by the player. 

Top 5 Game Testing Automation Tools  

As a game developer, here are some top game testing automation tools you should know to transform your testing experience:  

1. Selenium 

Selenium is a powerful game-testing automation tool for testing web applications. It allows you to run automated tests on application programming interfaces (APIs), code, frameworks, and software shells. This tool helps quality assurance (QA) teams find and localize game errors and bugs. This capability is crucial in the world of cloud and cross-platform gaming. Its unique features work with Python and JS and support all internet platforms and browsers.  

2. Unity Test Framework 

Unity is a popular game development engine. This engine features one of the most robust built-in automated test frameworks. It is mostly used for testing Unity games. This test framework supports integration and unit testing, helping you identify performance issues and bugs.  

The Unity test framework has features like test fixtures, play mode tests, and assertions. As a result, it facilitates robust testing practices, ensuring the stability and reliability of Unity games. Also, this tool contributes significantly to maintaining code quality and improving the overall development process with the Unity environment.  

3. Appium 

Appium is an open-source game test automation tool. It is mainly used to test mobile applications and games across different platforms and devices, including iOS, Windows, and Android. This automated game-testing tool supports different programming languages. As a result, it supports a broad range of development environments.  

Appium’s flexibility and ability to interact with mobile, web, hybrid, and native applications make it a popular game test automation tool. These capabilities enable it to automate tests in the dynamic mobile game development landscape, ensuring seamless functionality across diverse devices.  

4. TestComplete 

TestComplete is a versatile game test automation tool that supports mobile, web, and desktop application testing. It provides many performance, regression, and functional testing features. Also, it offers robust recognition capabilities, enabling interaction and identification with game elements. This automated game testing tool allows testers to expand test coverage and maximize their efforts to provide high-quality games.  

5. Jenkins  

Jenkins is a popular tool for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) processes. However, it goes beyond its roots in CI/CD to support automated game testing solutions. This automated testing tool boasts a broad plugin ecosystem and great extensibility. Therefore, it enables you to seamlessly integrate different testing frameworks. This ensures robust quality assurance (QA) in game development pipelines. 

What’s more, Jenkins orchestrates the execution of automated tests. As a result, it fosters rapid feedback loops and efficient collaboration. Its adaptability makes it a cornerstone in streamlining game development processes and improving overall project reliability. 

Advantages of Game Test Automation Tool 

Automated game testing tools have become crucial in game development. Here are some benefits of these tools: 

• Game test automation tools facilitate faster and more accurate testing.  

• They facilitate 24/7 testing, delivering consistent results. This ensures smooth launching and running of games.  

• Automated game testing tools save on cost by eliminating manual steps and reducing the need for more testing staff or costly equipment purchases.  

• These game-testing tools deliver detailed test reports, which can be shared across departments. This promotes better communication and collaboration between teams. Also, it streamlines decision-making processes.  

Challenges of Game Test Automation 

While game test automation has many benefits, it has several challenges, including the following: 

• Introducing automated game tests into an existing test suite can be challenging. You must ensure the new introduction doesn’t compromise the current tests.  

• The gaming industry is ever evolving. So, developers must access different emulators and devices to effectively test their games across all platforms.  

• Accuracy is crucial in ensuring companies meet QA standards. Therefore, the automation tools should be robust enough to discover issues or discrepancies between multiple software versions or devices before launch.  

As a developer, you must understand these challenges to effectively use automated testing tools. In fact, it will help you save money and time while ensuring the tools deliver accurate and reliable test results.  

Conclusion 

Integrating game test automation tools into the development process is an effective strategy that ensures your game releases are consistent and quality. With these tools, you can identify and mitigate game issues during testing. This ensures you launch a game with maximum performance and minimal errors. Also, they help you deliver games that meet the players’ expectations. However, you must be aware of the challenges related to these automated testing tools. This will enable you to effectively leverage their power to streamline the game testing solutions.  

Frequently Asked Questions: 

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This introduction accelerates testing and release cycles while reducing the overall cost of testing video games. Embracing game test automation can significantly improve the game development sector today and in the future. However, it may present several challenges that must be addressed to ensure seamless test automation. Join us as we explore the benefits and challenges of automating video game testing.  

5 Potential Benefits of Video Game Test Automation 

Here are the top 5 potential advantages of automated game testing: 

1. Rapid Test End Times 

Testing games manually consumes a lot of time. Developers must create numerous test cases that can take days or weeks to complete. But did you know automating game tests can help you overcome this challenge? Leveraging automation tools allows you to automate many test cases. This eliminates the labor costs and time required to execute these test cases manually.  

2. Better Test Coverage 

Game test automation provides broader test coverage. It allows you to run multiple tests sequentially or simultaneously. Unlike manual testing, automated testing tools are not limited by attention span, possible oversight, or human capacity.  

Game test automation can also conduct load testing, long-duration tests, and stress testing. These tests are usually challenging to run, especially when executed manually. This is because they need to be run consistently.  

In simple terms, test automation covers all edges and branches of your game code. This ensures that many game mechanics, interactions, and features are thoroughly tested. As a result, it increases the chances of detecting issues in your game before its official release.  

3. Increased Efficiency and Reliability  

Game test automation allows you to execute time-consuming and repetitive tests automatically. This implies that manual intervention won’t be necessary. Also, it can cover many aspects of gameplay, such as edge cases and specific scenarios, faster. These capabilities improve efficiency and enable developers to discover and fix glitches promptly.  

Unlike humans, automated testing tools are not affected by mood or other human factors that may increase the likelihood of errors or missed tests during game testing. Instead, they are rule-based, implying that they will constantly execute tests as long as specific parameters are met. The stability and consistency that this provides helps improve test reliability and accuracy.  

4. More Testing Resources 

Game test automation allows for simultaneous testing across different devices and platforms. For instance, virtualization technologies and cloud platforms enable you to test your game in different environments at once. This ensures efficient utilization of resources.  

5. Improved Scalability  

The gaming industry has evolved with time. This trend will likely continue in the future. As the game’s scope and complexity increase with time, the number of tests needed will also grow. Game test automation allows for scalable testing by quickly modifying existing and adding new test scripts to address changes in the game’s content or functionality.  

What’s more, automated testing tools can handle the testing requirements of large-scale projects. This ensures the game is stable across different devices and platforms. Also, automation allows you to simulate large player populations. As a result, it enables you to perform load testing and assess your game’s performance under different player counts and scenarios.  

Challenges of Video Game Test Automation 

While game test automation presents numerous opportunities, it has several potential deficiencies. Here are some challenges of automating game tests: 

1. Cost  

Game test automation has the potential to minimize the cost of testing games. However, the initial cost of test automation tools can be high. Also, companies need to factor in the cost of maintaining these tools and reviewing and updating automation scripts. This can raise significant challenges, especially for companies running on a highly limited budget.  

2. Difficulty in Simulating All Real-World Cases  

Game test automation tools may struggle to simulate all real-world test cases. Therefore, it cannot replace human testing entirely. Some test cases can be best handled via manual testing. These scenarios include multiplayer and graphic quality testing.  

3. Inadequate Expertise  

Creating automated test scripts requires expertise and practice. Being one of the recent introductions in the gaming industry, you may find it difficult to get experienced professionals. The available ones are in high demand and most work for well-established gaming companies that pay well. What’s more, not knowing how to deploy or use game automation tools can result in poor testing outcomes.  

How to Choose Which Game Testing Aspects to Automate 

Game test automation can be the best way to improve your game’s quality and efficiency. However, determining which game testing aspects where automation is best suited is crucial and demands careful deliberation. Here are a few considerations to help you select game-testing aspects worth automating:  

• Repetitive tasks. If your game involves many repetitive actions, automated testing would be more suitable.  
• Game type. Different game types benefit from varying levels of automated playtesting. However, testing of multiplayer online games can be massively automated as most actions are repetitive. Also, they involve significant client and server synchronization.  
• Reusability. Your game’s code changes frequently during the development process. Therefore, the test automation scripts should be modified accordingly. These scripts should be reusable across different game builds and versions. This will enhance efficiency and quality and save time during testing. 

Conclusion 

Game test automation has the potential to revolutionize how video games are tested. For instance, it accelerates testing, enhances efficiency, and boosts test coverage. However, it poses several potential challenges, such as lack of expertise, high setup and maintenance costs, and inability to simulate all real-world test cases. This implies that manual testing is necessary in some scenarios. As a result, you need to evaluate which game-testing aspects to automate to get the most value from your automation efforts.  

Consider automating repetitive testing tasks and ensure your test automation scripts are reusable across multiple versions. Also, ensure developers are knowledgeable about the selected test automation tools. This will enable them to build effective test automation solutions and leverage them to optimize your game’s quality and functionality.  

Planning to deliver engaging and highly immersive games to players worldwide? iXie’s would be the right choice with massive experience in the gaming industry over the past decade. 

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Automated game testing services help you test your mobile games rapidly. It enables you to identify defects faster, minimize manual testing efforts, and expedite the release cycle. As a result, it ensures the quality and reliability of your mobile games. However, mobile game test automation is easier said than done. Here are some best practices to consider when implementing test automation for mobile games to get the best results.  

1. Select the Right Game Test Automation Framework  

Choosing the right game test automation framework determines the success of your game-testing strategy. The selected framework should be flexible, easy to use, and compatible with your preferred testing platforms and programming languages. Some frequently used test automation frameworks are: 

• Calabash 
• Appium 
• XCTest 
• Espresso 

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Mobile Game Test Automation Framework 

Since this decision determines how well your mobile game test automation strategy will work, understanding the factors to consider is crucial. Here are some factors you should consider when selecting a mobile game test automation framework: 

Compatibility 

Ensure the selected framework is compatible with the application’s platform (iOS, Android, or both). Also, ensure it is compatible with the application development frameworks and languages. This will facilitate seamless mobile game test automation.  

Read Also: The Trends of Automated Game Testing 

Integration Capabilities 

How fast does the selected framework integrate with existing processes and tools? Some mobile game test automation frameworks can be challenging to integrate. This makes them infeasible and unsuitable for specific automated testing scenarios. Choose a framework that easily integrates with your existing processes or tools.  

Availability of Resources and Community Support  

Mobile game testing frameworks can be complex, especially for novice users. They will need some guidance and support to automate mobile game tests. So, when choosing a framework, check the available resources and community support. 

Some frameworks offer numerous resources, including online guides, forums, and tutorials. Also, they boast robust online communities with experts and professionals who provide extensive support to newbies, and anyone stuck with mobile game test automation. This support helps you address issues encountered in your game test automation efforts.  

Your Preferred Programming Language 

Which programming language do you wish to build your automated test scripts in? Each mobile game test automation framework supports specific programming language(s). Therefore, you must select one that aligns with your preferred language.  

2. Create a Robust Test Automation Strategy  

Automating mobile game testing can be complex. For instance, how do you determine which tests to automate and those that will be run manually? Therefore, you need a well-structured test automation strategy to guide you through the process and help you achieve the desired outcomes. Your test automation strategy should include the following: 

• Clear objectives and goals. Why do you want to automate tests? Set clear and measurable goals to monitor progress and performance.  
• Test case selection. Determine the test cases where automation would be most suitable.  
• Test case design. Develop concise tests with minimal steps to break down complex tests into smaller and more manageable ones.  
• Test coverage. Leverage analytics to gain valuable insights on which tests to prioritize and cover in your automation efforts.  
• Test environment. Determine how you will execute your automated mobile tests.  

3. Implement Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Integrating CI/CD is crucial for effective mobile game test automation. It allows you to implement automated tests into your CI/CD pipeline, enabling you to create a seamless process. This implies that the test suite will be automatically executed whenever changes are made, whether by individual developers or as part of a broader team effort.  

Early and frequent testing helps discover and address problems in your mobile game’s functionality and performance. As a result, it facilitates rapid feedback and minimizes the chances of critical defects reaching production.  

Some frequently used CI/CD tools include Travis CI, CircleCI, and Jenkins. You can leverage these tools to manage automated testing workflows. This ensures reliability and consistency throughout the game development cycle. Also, it saves time and resources while maintaining a high level of game quality.  

4. Monitor, Analyze, and Iterate 

Automated testing doesn’t end at generating the test reports. Instead, continuous improvement is vital in ensuring the long-term success of mobile game test automation. Here are some practices to consider to ensure continuous improvement: 

Track test results. Regularly monitor and review the automated test results from the CI/CD pipelines. This will help identify trends and patterns in test failures. 

Analyze test data. Leverage visualization and data analytics tools to gain valuable insights into your test execution.  

Create reports. Generate comprehensive reports based on the test analysis results.  

Iterate and improve. Adjust your mobile game test automation strategy, test scripts, and framework based on the analysis and reports. This will help improve their efficiency and effectiveness.  

5. Test Across Multiple Platforms and Devices 

Mobile devices and platforms have increased significantly with time. This has led to more devices, network configurations, and operating systems, making mobile game testing daunting.  

So, when implementing automated mobile game testing, you must ensure the tests cover multiple mobile devices, configurations, and operating systems. Doing so helps identify compatibility issues. Also, it streamlines your game’s performance across various devices.  

Final Thoughts 

Automating mobile game testing can save the time and effort needed to test your game. These best practices can help you get the best outcome from mobile game test automation. However, it’s crucial to monitor the performance of your test automation suite, maintain an organized and clear environment, and regularly update your automated test scripts to accommodate game changes. Also, continuous improvement and adaptation are vital to successful mobile game test automation. 

Planning to deliver engaging and highly immersive games to players worldwide? iXie’s would be the right choice with massive experience in the gaming industry over the past decade. 

FAQs for the blog: 

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