Hi all,
So, since I’m a gamer on the testers.chat slack group (with thousands of other software testers around the globe), I naturally joined #recreationalgaming, our channel for chatting about games of all types.
Since we’re a bunch of software testers and gamers, the topic of video game testing comes up somewhat regularly, and some of us throw out our guesses, and in a few cases, small experiences.
One of these conversations focused around RPGs (role-playing games) and spilled over into the general chat and one of our fabulous admins, @heather_reid, asked the community for Resources For Games Testing.
Unfortunately, many NDAs in the industry make sharing testing techniques difficult, so I wanted to put out a call for any information we can get on testing one of my favorite types of games (some of my favorite games include the Pokemon series, Earthbound, and Tales of Symphonia).
Here’s some questions I had, and feel free to ask more below!
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Do methods like personas get used? (The narrative gamer, the min-maxer, the ‘never played a video game’ player, the gamer with fine motor control issues)
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If you use personas, do you have a hard time sticking with them? I think I would struggle with acting like a new to games player, but would be okay trying out being a min-maxer, even though I’m a narrativist.
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What happens if the demographic shifts? Maybe you start getting questions on your forums from a group of senior citizens who have taken a liking to your game, when you expected 20-30 year olds.
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How does this differ from other game testing? Most RPGs aren’t competitive (or even cooperative!), so is security and watching for hacks less important than, say, a shooter or a fighting game?
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Do any game mechanics cause particular issues? Is testing Real-Time Combat or Turn-based more interesting?
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Have you found a favorite bug? What was it, and how did you find it?