The Three Phases of Game Testing

During the testing of a new video game, there are three phases in which testers are needed to go through, analyse a build and check for certain bugs. If you plan on pursuing a career in the game testing field, it’s a great idea to know well in advance what those testing phases involve and how much work you’ll be expected to do.

Alpha Testing

Alpha testing is the stage in which the game is at its most raw. For months, development focuses on producing the game systems and graphics. So, when the first builds are finally ready for testing, the game is about 75% of the way done.

As a tester, you probably won’t have a lot of fun in the alpha stage unless you greatly enjoy problem solving and helping in mapping out solutions (a big plus in this field). Your job will essentially be to sit down and play through a game repetitively and look for circumstances that can literally break the game.

Anything that crashes the software or the hardware needs to be documented, recorded and outlined so the programmers can reproduce and then fix it.

Beta Testing

Beta testing is the stage after the initial major bugs are all fixed. This is where a game most closely resembles the finished product. Yet, despite being so close to printing, the game is still very rough. You might find missing textures, broken menus, upside down maps, or any number of other major bugs that won’t necessarily break the game, but will very easily cause problems for the gamer if they are not careful.

QA Testing

The final stage of game testing is called QA testing and involves going through a game that is about 95% complete and looking for any last minute bugs. This stage is literally the “find a way to break it” stage. In this case, testers will be tasked with analysing levels as thoroughly as possible looking for ways to cause new bugs. Many times, that means spending hours going through menu loops or doing circles through a single level.

Game testing goes through many iterations. A good tester will transition smoothly between each mode, providing useful insights into the bugs that appear along the way.