BUILD | QA AND TESTING
“However, for serious mobile developers,
QA is even more important than previously. There is so much content available right now that quality, in terms of user feedback, has become a key differentiator. Companies who recognise this are willing to invest the time and resources to ensure quality.” For those mobile developers that do look
for quality, this has meant QA companies have had to adapt to the needs of smaller development projects, and become more agile and flexible to meet demands. Keywords’ business development manager Paul Vigneron says this has made things more difficult, having to deal with a large number of small games, and the challenge is making sure to stick to good testing practices, no matter what the title. “I think really the main challenge is to make
Proof that testing can be fun (top). Keywords International’s Paul Vigneron (middle) and VMC Labs’ Linda Lemieux
sure that you adhere properly to good QA processes. That’s very important. It helps move things on and means they can be applied to whatever platform you have to work on,” says Vigneron. “And this is important for consistency as
well because many times, especially now with bigger titles, they release on consoles, and have supporting mobile applications, like Mass Effect 3 for example. The game arrived on console and PC, but you also have an iOS app that goes along with it.” Vigneron states though that some iOS
projects can be nearly as big as triple-A titles on console, highlighting Square Enix’s Chaos Rings, for which Keywords did all the localisation, translation and QA. He says the fantasy RPG title included more than 150,000 words that needed to be checked and translated; a feat that could likely be more commonly repeated as developers become more ambitious with mobile platforms.
54 | MAY 2012
For many though, the current state of the mobile landscape is enough for it to be a huge part of their QA business, despite the inherent difficulties with scalability. Testology’s Robson says that a plethora of companies have continued to start up on mobile, Facebook and digital, and they have had to adapt their teams and prices to suit. “This has been a huge part of our business, as more and more companies are starting up,
I know developers still need QA on
smaller projects, which is why we have tailored our services
and rates. Andy Robson, Testology
and switching to mobile, Facebook, browser and digital,” states Robson. “We have had to adapt our services and fees to these groups, as the budgets aren’t as big as the triple-A titles. I know developers still need QA on these smaller projects, which is why we have tailored our services and rates to cater for this, as they still need to ship a quality title.”
A CONTINUOUS SERVICE As well as scaling for mobile development, testing services have seen an increased workload from triple-A projects in the form of downloadable content and various patches. Whilst console manufacturers often make the updating and DLC process somewhat prohibitive with high costs for implementation, many large studios are still keen to release expansions to extend a game’s lifecycle.
The likes of Mass Effect, Fallout and the Call
of Duty series have seen numerous downloadable packs long after their initial releases, but SQS India CEO Gireendra Kasmalkar believes that in the scheme of things, these updates have made little impact on how QA is performed. “DLC or downloadable content makes games more like other software apps nowadays, whereas they used to be more like movies in their releases,” says Kasmalkar. “The QA process can be more agile all year long, as the peaks and troughs of QA requirements are simply not there for DLC.” Whilst DLC has perhaps not had a great
effect on testing practices, VMC’s Lombardi says that QA is critical to the successful implementation of new content, as changes made can easily affect a game’s original coding and cause problems for users. “QA here is critical because downloads and
upgrades have to be high quality, or the consequences are extremely negative, not only for the new content, but also extended to the existing content that may have had high quality to begin with,” he explains. “Consumer perception is directly tied to the quality and performance of DLC and updates.” Testronic’s Harsant also says that the fundamentals of what is required for DLC work are no different than the work put into a title’s initial testing period for certification. But he states, however, that considerations need to be taken into account such as whether the original team can be moved to the project, and also the short turnaround times required for new content. “There are additional considerations such as
‘can we use the same team that checked the original build?’ Clearly having the operational flexibility to do this is a challenge, but we are
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