Games testing

Games testing

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This weeks reading is on Game Testing. In particular Play-testing, which is a method of quality control that takes place at many points during the video game design process. 

Link 1:

The first link I posted was to a site called spritecloud (link to site here)which focused on the question "why games testing is important" in this write up  which focused on how to test games as well as the following types of testing for games

• Installation testing:Verifying that the game will load, install and runn on different platforms ( examples are Xbox or phones)
• Feature testing: test matrix's for different features for different players statuses 
• User Interface (UI) Testing:  Focuses on graphical elements and types of content
• Performance testing : Also called "Extreme testing", this involves running the game for a continuous 24 hour period , while increasing/ adding more players for testing the multiplayer aspect.

I overall found this reading quite helpful as it have me more insight into some of the different types of games testing in this design industry,as well as marked out specific things that make each of these types of testing unique and original for producing a finished game.

Link 2:

The Second link that I read was by The Closet Entrepreneur which was titled " Giving Criticism- the good, the bad and the Ugly"(link to site here) . This reading focused on the showing the positives of readings such as for example it can lend much needed assistance towards an individual if it is Constructive Criticism. This is different to normal/ sometimes harsh criticism as it offers valid feedback both positive and negative . It is normally applied when the person giving the constructive criticism is being unbiased in your feedback as well as giving credible and well- founded..

What I liked about this post mostly was how the writer wrote out examples of both  poor ways to give constructive criticism and good ways also . What I gathered overall from this reading was that we should not take offence to all criticism as it can also be not only helpful but someone trying to give useful and helpful feedback. This piece has also given me more of an understanding of why I was encouraged to use the wow, wonder, what if strategy when starting these blogs and I feel I wiil continue to use in future blogs to come.

Link 3:

The third and final link I clicked on was titled "Game Design and Target Market" by Gamasutra ( link to site here) This reading focused mainly on the following headings for target audiences.

• The Game Industries Average Target market
• The Need for freelance game design directors and designers.
• The perspective of the intermediate player/ gamer

From reading these however i feel as though they only focused on three types of markets .

1. The Casual game market which brings in cash because of its large customer base.But unfortunately limits things like creativity and forward thinking. mainly placing profit over these principals an unfortunate ting that has became a lot more frequent in recent years.
2. The Hardcore market which focuses on both the creative and the forward thinking aspect of the market but unfortunately brings little money to meet the financial demands of the game industry due to the small customer base these types of games seem to mostly attract.
3.  The Intermediate market which focuses on targeting the main appeal of intermediate gamer's and maintaining a balance of creativity and profitability. This would make this the realistic way to look at the market as it pushed growth on the game industry.

I feel this final reading had a lot to take in but overall gave me more perspective on these three types of game markets and how to tell them apart. which was quite beneficial overall.