In 2020, the mobile gaming industry saw a massive spike in engagement and revenues, growing more than 13% year over year. With game quality and performance being of critical importance to stakeholders in the space, improving it has become the top priority for mobile game development and QA teams globally.
Mobile game testing is very different from normal mobile app testing. Effective mobile game testing derives from a very well-structured and systematic approach.
Normal mobile app testing is pure biology, whereas mobile game performance testing is biology with extra mathematics. This is why mobile game testing is a complex process where a QA engineer should understand where and when to apply specific testing methods.
A software tester thinks that their testing experience of several years and knowledge of automation testing could be enough for them to fit in the game testing role. Most of the recruiters might also give you the same feeling. But it's not what you think or has experienced as a mobile or web app tester.
Game development today has been more complex than ever. There is constant pressure to innovate using Augmented Reality (AR), video, touchscreen gestures, personalization, audio, and many more. Working with these features is a tough task. Even more if it falls within a hard schedule requiring frequent updates then the testing becomes more prominent to make it less prone to bugs.
You think you can always automate the repetitive part if you only consider mobile app testing, but in game testing, it's a big NO. Manual testing is always the first priority in game testing. No automation tool can simulate various human interactions in a single gameplay.
For example, there is a parking game, and we need to park the vehicle in the designated parking spot. The way we drive to that parking spot depends on me, you, or some third person. There could be numerous ways to reach that parking spot which is near impossible to simulate using an automation testing method.
The testing methodology and principles for both types of testing remain similar. However, there are areas of mobile game testing that need more effort since they are far more complex than standard mobile apps.
1. Functional Testing
This is extremely common and constitutes the majority of app testing. With mobile games, functional tests are important, but not all encompassing. Automated functional tests help testers reveal when performance is low and graphics do not render accurately, as well as gauge the stability of the interface across devices.
2. Compatibility Testing
With an app, it is enough to test if each page renders appropriately without missing information. However, with games, testers need to not just ensure the game performs on different devices, but that it works with external devices accurately (such as game controllers or VR gadgets). Further, most games are tested on high-end devices; however, as a game gets more popular, support for low-end devices becomes mandatory.
3. Performance Testing
This is an area that cannot be ignored by either apps or games. With games, however, the user experience is a very important factor in ensuring the continuous use of the game. Sluggishness and poor performance will definitely break mobile games. Users have so many options that this could be a major deal breaker!
4. Localization Testing
Just as support for low-end devices becomes increasingly important as your game gets more popular, language support is also just as essential. More language support means a larger market, and a larger market generally attributes to greater longevity of the mobile game itself. There are very few games that offer this, so if you're a game producer, this could be a key area to improve upon.