Task 1D - Game Test Phases

Preparation: When the software is first underway the company will usually prepare for the testing. They prepare by assigning a lead tester who will plan out the testers and their roles, prepare a test suite and more to ensure that testing is being done as proficiently as possible.

Alpha: When a game is in Alpha it is currently going through in house (and possible closed out-of-house ) play testing in an effort to create a polished beta test kit version of the game.

Beta: A beta test refers to the distribution of pre-release software to a select group of people so they can test the game in their own homes. A beta test is very close to the final version of the product but will be primarily used to find any bugs or glitches that the company can patch before launch.

Gold: The term “gold” for a game means when a game has finished its development and a publisher sees fit for it to be distributed to the public, when a game is being tested gold testing it is at last minute to ensure that no severe bugs are still in there. If any are then the developers will try to patch it as fast as possible before the initial release.

Certification: Certification testing is where a company will have to test to ensure their software meets certain standards such as technical requirements. If these standards are not met then publishers will turn the product down and send it back for more development meaning the developers will have to resubmit their product.

Regression: Regression comes after smoke testing and tests the individuals components within the software, instead of looking at it as a whole it will look at the components that make the software work such as the coding, graphics, audio etc.