Game Testing All in One (Game Development Series)

CHARLES P. SCHULTZ

ROBERT BRYANT

TIM LANGDELL, PH.D.

‚ 2005 by Thomson Course Technology PTR.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from Thomson Course Technology PTR, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

The Premier Press and Thomson Course Technology PTR logo and related trade dress are trademarks of Thomson Course Technology PTR and may not be used without written permission.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners .

Thomson Course Technology PTR and the authors have attempted throughout this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer.

Information contained in this book has been obtained by Thomson Course Technology PTR from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, Thomson Course Technology PTR, or others, the Publisher does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from use of such information. Readers should be particularly aware of the fact that the Internet is an ever-changing entity. Some facts may have changed since this book went to press.

Educational facilities, companies, and organizations interested in multiple copies or licensing of this book should contact the publisher for quantity discount information. Training manuals, CD-ROMs, and portions of this book are also available individually or can be tailored for specific needs.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004090735

Printed in the United States of America

04 05 06 07 08 BH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Publisher and General Manager: Stacy L. Hiquet

Associate Director of Marketing: Sarah O'Donnell

Marketing Manager: Heather Hurley

Manager of Editorial Services: Heather Talbot

Acquisitions Editor: Mitzi Koontz

Senior Editor: Mark Garvey

Marketing Coordinator: Jordan Casey

Developmental Editor: Dave Astle

Project Editors: Sean Medlock and Jenny Davidson

Technical Reviewer: Robert Bryant

PTR Editorial Services Coordinator: Elizabeth Furbish

Copy Editor: Kim Cofer

Interior Layout Tech: Shawn Morningstar

Cover Designer: Mike Tanamachi

CD-ROM Producer: Brandon Penticuff

Indexer: Sharon Shock

Proofreader: Kezia Endsley

Thomson Course Technology PTR, a division of Thomson Course Technology 25 Thomson Place Boston, MA 02210 http://www.courseptr.com

To my mother, father, and grandmother, for the sacrifices they made.

‚ Charles Schultz

To my wife Lisa, whose patience is boundless.

‚ Robert Bryant

For Cheri, Melissa, Sebastian, Sybil, Ted, and Jenny.

‚ Tim Langdell

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Charles Schultz

To start, I must acknowledge the work of the staff at Course PTR. You would not be reading my words if Mitzi Koontz had not taken time to chat with me at GDC 2004 and subsequently given me the opportunity to author this, my first book. Jenny Davidson and Brandon Penticuff also deserve special mention for polishing my work and taking my inputs at all hours of the day and night.

Many thanks to Dave Astle for his feedback, his encouragement, and for providing a home for the book's Web page at testbook. gamedev .net.

There is a special place in my heart for Schultz's Subalterns ‚ the people who have worked for me over the course of many years at Motorola, putting my testing ideas into practice. I appreciate all of the hard work and skill they have applied under my leadership. Their labor and their candid feedback have made the test methods in this book more effective and easier to use.

I would also like to thank my fellow game fanatics James Dusek, Danny Sanchez, and Ted O'Hare. As I was writing this book they acted as sounding boards for my ideas, logged multiplayer time with me, and provided me with new games to try.

My work at Motorola continues to be exciting and challenging due to the efforts of Arnie Pittler and Jacques Meekel. I appreciate their trust in my abilities and the new challenges they continue to provide me.

Nothing has changed my perspective on software testing the way the Orthogonal Defect Classification (ODC) has. My thanks go out to Ram Chillarege who invented ODC and has shared his wisdom with me on a number of occasions.

Most of all, I thank my wife, Mirta, for giving up many nights and meals we should have spent together so I could work on the book.

Robert Bryant

For my small part, I'd like to dedicate this book to Don DeLucia, who taught me what a bug is, and to Ray Boylan, who taught me how to fight to get it fixed. Also to Mark Burke, for picking me out of the chorus, and to John Bloodworth and Tuan Trinh, from whom I continue to learn every day. Finally, to my wife Lisa, whose patience is boundless.

Tim Langdell

My contribution to this book could not have been written without the kind support and assistance of several people. I wish to thank Anthony Borquez, Director of the USC Information Technology Program for his kind support. Thanks, too, to all my industry colleagues, just a few of whom I name here: John Hight of Atari; Michael Gilmartin, head of game testing at Blizzard Entertainment; Michael Gonzalez, head of games testing at Universal Vivendi Games; Shannon Studstill of Sony; Bing Gordon, Steve Anderson, and Neil Young of Electronic Arts; and Will Wright of Maxis. Last, but not least, my work would not be possible without the incredible support of my wife, Cheri, and of my ceaselessly amazing children Sebastian and Melissa.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

CHARLES P. SCHULTZ is an Operations Manager for Motorola's Global Software Group, working on software testing and mobile gaming. He has more than 20 technical publications to his credit and has spoken at industry conferences in the areas of personal robotics , software quality, and software testing. Charles has also developed and taught computing classes at various levels, ranging from children's programs at the Miami Museum of Science to graduate level university courses.

ROBERT BRYANT is currently Studio Director at videogame publisher Crave Entertainment, where he has also served as QA Manager and Executive Producer of such games as World Championship Poker , Pinball Hall of Fame , Future Tactics: the Uprising , Mojo! , Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, and Intellivision Lives! . He began his games career in the interactive division of Mattel, Inc., where he was lead tester on dozens of projects and co-designed Nick Click Digital Camera and CD-ROM . He is a frequent speaker on the subjects of game testing methods and management. He holds a BA from Washington and Lee University and an MFA from the University of Southern California.

TIM LANGDELL , a veteran of the game industry, is full-time faculty in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Information Technology Program where he chairs the Game Curriculum Sub-Committee, and teaches game design and game testing. Tim is also Chairman of EDGE Games, which he founded in 1979 ‚ one of the top games brands well-known for innovative games, games magazines, and games hardware. Tim has produced more than 180 games (including Garfield , The Punisher , Fairlight , and the hit 1980s cult classic Brian Bloodaxe ) and written several books on computer game programming, including The Spectrum Handbook . He is an innovator of games education: In 1992 he devised the first curriculum course in interactive entertainment at USC's Film School where he taught for several years. Tim co-founded the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, is a member of the IGDA, a member of the Writer's Guild of America, and a member of both BAFTA and BAFTA/LA (where he served on the Board of Directors).