Quality assurance testing on video games : The importance and impact of a misunderstood industry
Ruuska, Essi (2015)
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 Suomi
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015052811080
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015052811080
Tiivistelmä
The aim of this research was to provide a more holistic insight of the video game quality assurance industry to video game industry professionals and prospective employees in order to promote the importance and impact of quality assurance testing in video games. The motive for this thesis came from the author's work experience in video game quality assurance testing, and from realizing how little is known about the industry. The research question was defined as 'what is video game quality assurance, and what is its impact on an end product?' This thesis was executed as a qualitative research, as it used structured interviews as the main method of data collection. Other methods of data collection were an online survey, literature and Internet sources.
The results gained from this research were that quality assurance consists mainly of functionality quality assurance, localization quality assurance, and platform certification quality assurance. Quality assurance testing is an important part of game development, because it detects and reports defects within a game, which helps improve the product. Another result gained was that the future of the industry is expected to boom, as video games become the major form of entertainment, and thus the role of quality assurance will increase. Hence it is important to understand quality assurance testing as an essential part of game development.
The conclusion of this thesis was that quality assurance is an important matter in today's game development, but some game companies still do not view it as necessary for their games. With the time and money invested in quality assurance testing, the game companies could, however, avoid financial and reputation losses in the eyes of end users. By understanding the importance of quality assurance testing and investing in it on time, the booming future of the industry can also be secured.
Due to the author's signing of a non-disclosure agreement with their previous employer, confidential information such as intellectual property, any detailed information about the company, its clients or any other game industry company was excluded from this thesis.
The results gained from this research were that quality assurance consists mainly of functionality quality assurance, localization quality assurance, and platform certification quality assurance. Quality assurance testing is an important part of game development, because it detects and reports defects within a game, which helps improve the product. Another result gained was that the future of the industry is expected to boom, as video games become the major form of entertainment, and thus the role of quality assurance will increase. Hence it is important to understand quality assurance testing as an essential part of game development.
The conclusion of this thesis was that quality assurance is an important matter in today's game development, but some game companies still do not view it as necessary for their games. With the time and money invested in quality assurance testing, the game companies could, however, avoid financial and reputation losses in the eyes of end users. By understanding the importance of quality assurance testing and investing in it on time, the booming future of the industry can also be secured.
Due to the author's signing of a non-disclosure agreement with their previous employer, confidential information such as intellectual property, any detailed information about the company, its clients or any other game industry company was excluded from this thesis.