What are the best ways to perform regression testing in game development?

Streamlining regression testing in game development involves a smart approach—automation takes the spotlight. Automating tasks not only saves time and effort but also slashes the chances of human errors. Dive into tools and frameworks to set up a suite of automated tests, covering everything from units and integrations to functionality and performance. The magic happens when these automated tests join forces with your continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. Running them regularly provides swift insights into code quality and functionality, ensuring your game development sails smoothly through the waves of changes.

Pay a lot of attention to automation everyday\casual routines during testing games, because it reduces the time for setting up test cases for every developer in the future: * make the latest version of the game's build available every morning on every developer's computer, don't waste time finding and downloading it manually; * for online games, it's critically important to create a game account with a predefined state - enough hard\soft resources, all items in inventory, high level of the player character, etc; * for online games very important to simplify creating and updating testing backend environments; * for walkthrough games make it possible to automate walkthroughs to some particular chapter\scene;

In my experience, listing down each test case is practically impossible. But what you can do is change your mindset. Instead of thinking like a developer who is testing his code, think about how the consumer would use your product on a daily basis.

You can use various tools and frameworks to create and run automated tests, such as unit tests, integration tests, functional tests, and performance tests

In the dynamic landscape of game development, a tailored approach to regression testing is paramount—enter the art of prioritization. Testing everything at all times is impractical, so the spotlight shifts to critical and risky game elements: core features, gameplay mechanics, user interface, compatibility, and security. Navigate this terrain using risk-based testing, impact analysis, test coverage scrutiny, and invaluable player feedback. This strategic focus becomes a resource optimization game, ensuring that testing efforts are finely tuned to catch the most pivotal bugs and issues. It's not just about testing; it's about testing smartly to elevate the game experience.

You have to know the "critical path" of your player in the game - it's the most common step of all your players in the game. For example: Launch -> Login -> create game profile -> tutorial -> play online match -> purchase items -> change game character setup, etc. When you understand the "critical path", it helps you to prioritize what to test at all.

Of course check the areas where high priority issues were occurring during the last build. Prioritise the mechanics or levels and bugs which affect gameplay the most. A little bit monkey testing around the similar reproduction steps at different areas to make sure it doesn’t occur anywhere else. Exhaustive testing is not possible but previous reported bugs are filters which can help you understand the testable areas.

Yes, you should focus on the most critical and risky areas of your game, such as core features, gameplay mechanics, user interface, compatibility, and security. You can use various techniques to prioritize your test cases, such as risk-based testing, impact analysis, test coverage analysis, and user feedback.

Unlocking the power of regression testing in game development involves embracing test-driven development (TDD). This methodology flips the script by advocating the creation of tests before diving into code. TDD becomes a game-changer, aiding in efficient code design and implementation while curbing the influx of bugs and defects. Scripting tests upfront sets the stage, defining expected behaviour, functionality, and success/failure criteria. Writing code to align with these tests ensures that the game meets specifications without falling into the traps of over-engineering or unnecessary complexity. TDD becomes a compass, guiding game developers to craft robust, bug-resistant code from the get-go.

By writing code to pass the tests, you can ensure that your code meets the requirements and specifications, as well as avoid over-engineering and unnecessary complexity.

Test-Driven Development (TDD) in game development ensures robust and reliable code by writing tests before implementing features. It helps catch bugs early, improves code structure, and provides a safety net for continuous changes. In the dynamic and complex environment of game development, TDD enhances code maintainability, fosters collaboration, and facilitates rapid iteration, ultimately resulting in higher-quality and more stable game code.

Testing is one of the best way to ensure new content does not bring any new bugs. Knowing what can and cannot happen is impossible, but testing before your code is out can help a lot. Say, you add a new pet to the game. Have tests for all outlandish scenarios for the pet, what if you tame it, what if you defeat it. Every time you add a new feature like this, such as taming, add it to a list of tests for new features. Having this list of tests and constantly adding to it can help ensure the new pet cannot be stored in the inventory or used as currency. If you add a new feature and it isnt being used to test future features, you may get into a situation where an object can be interacted with the wrong way leading to bugs.

Agreed! Great idea to make test runs regular and share results with a team also regularly. This will add a bit transparency to this process.

In the dynamic realm of game development, the fourth pillar of effective regression testing is team collaboration—an ensemble effort rather than a solo act. Employ a toolbox of communication tools like chat apps, issue trackers, version control systems, and dedicated test management tools to synchronize efforts seamlessly. Embrace agile practices—daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and peer reviews—to weave a collaborative tapestry. Sharing progress, challenges, feedback, and ideas becomes the heartbeat of efficient testing. Team collaboration is more than a strategy; it's a culture builder, fostering a shared commitment to quality and continuous learning in the ever-evolving landscape of game development.

In game development, the fifth key to effective regression testing is learning from mistakes. Testing goes beyond mere bug fixes—it's a proactive journey aimed at preventing and diminishing issues. Dive into a toolkit of methods and tools for insightful analysis, including defect reports, root cause analysis, metrics, and dashboards. Harness the power of user feedback gleaned from surveys, reviews, ratings, forums, and social media as additional sources of wisdom. Each mistake becomes a stepping stone for refining testing skills, enriching knowledge, and honing game design and development. It's not just about fixing errors; it's about evolving and sculpting a superior gaming experience through continuous learning.

I think mistakes are our friends, the actually tells us the areas where we need to improve, without mistakes no one become pro.. Mistakes are actually the prove you're struggling. But issue is that some people don't learn from their mistakes and do the same mistakes again and again, which is not good and such kind of person never improve their self in future. Doing mistakes is not a big deal everyone do mistakes, but a pro person always learn from their mistakes. In Game development you may do many mistakes during your training or learning session, but don't worry learn from them.. Remember how in past you deal with this mistake and do better in present and do more better in future.

Performing regression testing in game development is crucial to ensure that new changes or additions to the game do not introduce bugs or negatively impact existing features.

Testing and fun can be very interesting. Especially in game design, testing new features can be a thrill. Giving your testers an extreme version of a feature can help them test it in edge case scenarios. Say you add a new weapon type to the game, bows. Normally you would add a few normal ones and test them, maybe a triple shot bow or a longbow. But what about the future of the feature? To test edge case scenarios and give the testers some fun, you might give them a 100-arrow bow or a bow that shoots cats. Giving the testers fun versions of new features is great to both test edge cases and take away some of the strain of testing 100 plants to see if each one grows correctly.

Disclaimer: AI Generated! but I think it properly explains what regression testing it. "Regression testing in game development, like in other software contexts, ensures new changes don't harm existing functionality. It involves identifying test cases, making changes (adding features or fixing bugs), rerunning tests to confirm existing functions still work, comparing results with the unmodified version, documenting and fixing issues, optionally using automated tools, and ensuring each update preserves overall game stability and quality. "

Be sure that all devs are writing the automated integration tests, not only QA :) All teammates must be responsible for the coverage, relevance of tests and their successful passing.

Regression testing is one of the most important things in testing. Players can duplicate items if a new inventory type is not tested with EVERY way to move items. If a player can auction or drop an item from anywhere, make sure it wont duplicate or delete items if say, someone else owns them or they're currently being enchanted. I've had a situation where, while testing, I was able to drop an item I was enhancing it. This duplicated the item because it added an enhanced one to my inventory and dropped the normal one on the ground. Adding a new way of moving or storing items is always going to cause issues, so having a list of both of these helps track down bugs when a new one is added to either list.