Debugging | A Game from Start to Finish

A Game from Start to Finish

08:Debugging

Putting functionality to the test

Once a game goes out into the world, chances are that lots and lots of people will be playing it.
But what happens if a problem suddenly comes up when someone’s playing the game, and it halts progression?
The player, who up until now was completely immersed in the game, is suddenly pushed out back into reality. In one moment, all the fun they were having goes down the drain.
Another scenario would be all of their game data and save files suddenly vanishing. Fun flies out the window, and the player is left bewildered and disappointed.
We create games because we want to bring people joy, and it reflects poorly on us and the game if we end up making them sad instead.
That’s why for the last step in making a game we need to check whether or not that game can be fully enjoyed all the way to the end.
We check the game, and if there’s a problem, we fix it. Reviewing and repairing a game is called “debugging”.

What’s needed for debugging

Debugging involves checking everything that occurs in a game and seeing what kind of player actions lead to what kind of game events. It’s hard work that requires a lot of patience.

However, if you just check things at random, you’ll overlook problems or check the same area countless times, and the job will never end. To check the whole game with efficiency, first of all you need to make a plan.

Following the plan you made, you must patiently check every part of the game one part at a time, and if there’s anything strange, you write up a report. Do that to check the whole game over, and you’ll make it a complete product that the player can enjoy without ever being disappointed. Debugging is absolutely mandatory in order to produce a quality game .

Actually, improving the quality of things is very important work that’s common to pretty much any job that people do.

How to build up debugging skills

Work hard at science

When you’re looking for the cause of a problem there are two patterns you’ll test out and compare: one where you take an action that makes the problem happen, and one where you don’t take that action.
By doing this, you can figure out what the cause is, so not only is fixing the problem easier, but you also cut down on the danger of making a “fix” that’s actually wrong.
This is exactly what is called a “control experiment” in science class.
The thought processes behind debugging and science are virtually the same. If you make sure to really pay attention when studying science, you’ll get good at skills also used in debugging, which is important in lots of different jobs.