Game Quality Glossary

The criteria that a work product must satisfy to be accepted by the stakeholders.

The degree to which a component or system can be used by people with the widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve a specified goal in a specified context of use.

A group of software development methodologies based on iterative incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams. Operates under the core principles of: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, responding to change over following a plan.

A type of acceptance testing performed in the developer’s test environment by roles outside the development organization.

The degree to which a component or system is operational and accessible when required for use.

A type of acceptance testing performed at an external site to the developer’s test environment by roles outside the development organization.

A type of testing that can be done without knowing how the game is made, how the code works, how the system operates, or any other implementation details. Black-box testing is focused on testing the functionality of the software, ensuring that it meets the requirements and specifications. It is meant to validate the intended player experience. It is most commonly performed by professional testers; Testing whereby the user has no knowledge of the title’s design

An imperfection or deficiency in a work product where it does not meet its requirements or specifications or impairs its intended use.

The process of recognizing, recording, classifying, investigating, fixing and disposing of bugs

The process of recognizing and recording a bug – See Defect Logging

Documentation of the occurrence, nature, and status of a defect or bug

The degree to which the maximum limits of a component or system parameter meet requirements.

Legislation specifically aimed at protecting the privacy of children under the age of 13 in the US that requires parental consent before collecting personal information from minors.

The last stage of the fundamental test process. Closure activities involve reviews all testing tasks and test cycles, checking results, checking comments, and making sure all bugs found have been addressed through fixes or conversations at the defect triage committee level. May also include larger and more formal test reports required at major project milestones. This stage is when retrospectives may happen, and everyone has a chance to provide feedback and debrief.

An approach to testing that focuses on defect avoidance by collaborating among stakeholders.

The degree to which a component or system can exchange information with other components or systems, and/or perform its required functions while sharing the same hardware or software environment.

An approval process to ensure that a game meets a specific platform owner’s requirements.

A test level that focuses on part of a system that can be tested in isolation such as individual hardware or software components

The composition of a component or system, defined by its parts, their nature, and how they connect.

A electronic device used to play video games.

A suite of programs designed to simplify the usage of console dev kits and test kits. Console managers provide essential utilities for QA purposes, such as updating firmware, installing builds, and accessing files. They also offer features like launching executables, capturing screenshots and videos, remote video and controller input, target settings configuration (including dev settings and main console settings), and altering boot parameters.

Part of the prototyping stage of the game development lifecycle (GDLC) where the core mechanics of a game are tested. It focuses on fundamental rules, actions, and feedback loops that define how a game works and how players interact with it.

The degree to which specified coverage items are exercised by a test suite, expressed as a percentage.

Applicable to multiple platforms such as mobile, PC and console.

When ‘crunch’ periods, where teams are asked to work significantly longer hours than normal, continue for an extended time, impacting the well-being of those involved.

Short daily meetings with relevant team members to ensure that a shared understanding is maintained and continuous improvement is considered through the development, helping to enhance the overall quality of the game.

A field/heading in a test plan. Refers to the use of coverage reporting to ensure balanced testing of game levels and testing across supported platforms.

UK legislation that governs how organizations, businesses or the government processes personal data. The DPA is used alongside the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

A type/category of quality risk.

A type/category of quality risk.

A metric derived from bug data that gives an indication of how a team is doing at detecting bugs before they get to players. Also called the Escaped Defect Rate (EDR).

The process of recognizing and recording a bug – See Bug Logging

A stage in the fundamental test process, where QA analysts figure out the best ways to test, and usually write the tests or sample tests to give to the test team.

Specialized consoles with extended memory capacity designed for console testing. The function of the extended memory is to allow games to run before their content is optimized, and it provides an overhead for the additional logging and debugging seen in dev builds.

DevOps is a development model in the game development lifecycle (GDLC), that advocates combining and connecting the work of the pre-production roles, or developers, with the post-production or support roles, known as the operations or ops. roles, to increase cooperation between them. DevOps encourages developers and the player support or live operations teams to establish communication channels that facilitate two-way feedback to help ensure that player sentiment, business goals, and development plans are all in sync. The DevOps model is often used on live games or Games as a Service (GaaS).

A type/category of quality risk.

New content such as new levels, characters, or weapons, that players can download after the game’s initial release.

A more comprehensive prototyping approach, compared to rapid prototyping. Prototyping refers to a stage of the game development lifecycle (GDLC) where a game’s creative vision becomes tangible through prototyping of the design concepts and the mechanics of the gameplay.

Software used during testing that mimics the behavior of hardware.

A black-box test technique in which test conditions are equivalence partitions – a subset of the value domain of a variable within a component or system in which all values are expected to be treated the same based on the specification

A type/category of quality risk.

A metric derived from bug data that gives an indication of how a team is doing at detecting bugs before they get to players. Also called the Defect Detection Effectiveness (DDE).

All the necessary files bundled together in the platform-specific file format ( EXE, NSP, XVC, PKG, etc ) so that they can be launched on the chosen platform.

A stage of the fundamental test process where testing occurs.

The observable predicted behavior of a test item under specified conditions based on its test basis.

A test result which fails to identify a defect that is actually present in a test object.

A test result in which a defect is reported although no such defect actually exists in the test object.

A feature branch is forked or branched from the central working copy of the game code (main trunk) as needed for new features and functions to be developed. Feature branches allow multiple developers to work on different features at the same time without disturbing the work on other features or teams. Each feature team will have a branch off of the main trunk. Each feature branch is basically a snapshot in time of the main truck at the time of branching.

Part of the prototyping stage of the game development lifecycle (GDLC).

FLURPS is an acronym that stands for six different aspects of system behavior, each of which corresponds or maps to a particular type of testing: functionality, localization, usability, reliability, performance, and supportability

A measure of the rendering speed of a video game’s graphics, typically in frames per second. Also called Frame Rate

How the features of the game work based on their intended design.

The fundamental test process forms part of the game development lifecycle (GDLC) and is key to continuously improving a game from start to finish. The process aims to ensure that everything happens efficiently and that nothing is missed.

Similar to the software development lifecycle, the game development lifecycle (GDLC) provides an overview of the workflow involved in creating a game. The GDLC stages include: concept stage, prototype stage, pre-production stage, production stage, release stage and potentially the sustain stage.

Games with similar styles, mechanics, objectives, and core gameplay for example: action games, adventure games, casual games, role-playing games (RPGs), simulation games, strategy games, ports games, puzzle games. Different game genres warrant different QA approaches.

After the game has been launched, ongoing support and updates are provided to keep the game relevant and engaging for players. This could involve bug fixes, new content, or other updates, and the specific approach can vary depending on the game’s model

A law that imposes obligations onto any organization that collects, uses or retains data related to people in the EU and UK. It provides individuals with control over their personal information, such as requiring explicit consent to process their data.

A specialized electronic circuit that allows graphic display.

A middle-ground between black and white box testing. In gray-box testing, some knowledge of the internal structures and workings of the software is known, which helps in designing more precise and efficient test scenarios. This approach can be particularly beneficial when you want to test both the functionality of the software and its internal operations.

The different brands and models of hardware components that make up each PC.

A test level that focuses on interactions between components or systems.

The process of making a system suitable for a specific languages and cultures

Critical parts of the development process (Verticle Slice, Alpha, Beta, Master)

The process of recording and/or analyzing the behavior of the component or system.

Testing performed to evaluate that a component or system complies with non-functional requirements.

The degree to which a component or system can be transferred from one hardware, software or other operational or usage environment to another.

The stage where the game’s design gets fine-tuned, storylines are developed, and characters are designed. At this stage, the project is fleshed out but not fully realized.

A risk that impacts project success.

A stage where a preliminary version of the game is created, mainly to test the feasibility of the concept and gameplay mechanics.

The degree to which a work product satisfies stated and implied requirements.

A category of quality attributes that bears on work product quality.

A product risk or a project risk impacting quality management.

The degree to which a component or system performs specified functions under specified conditions for a specified period of time.

Document of the overall process of risk identification and risk assessment.

The process to examine identified risks and determine the risk level.

The measure of a risk defined by risk impact and risk likelihood.

The process for handling risks.

The measure of a risk defined by risk impact and risk likelihood in a chart to show how the values are achieved

A factor that could result in future negative consequences.

The degree to which a component or system protects its data and resources against unauthorized access or use and secures unobstructed access and use for its legitimate users.

A test approach to perform testing and quality assurance activities as early as possible in the software development lifecycle.

A component or system used during testing which behaves or operates like a given component or system.

Develops code or test frameworks to test the functionality of games via automation. This person will have a background in testing and programming.

The activities performed at each stage in software development, and how they relate to one another logically and chronologically.

A designated period of development, closely tied to the agil and scrum development methodologies.

A unique identifier for a product. In game development terms, this may be used to distinguish which region a title’s build is intended to be released in.

After the game has been launched, ongoing support and updates are provided to keep the game relevant and engaging for players. This could involve bug fixes, new content, or other updates, and the specific approach can vary depending on the game’s model (e.g., GaaS).”

A test level that focuses on verifying that a system as a whole meets specified requirements.

The manner of implementing testing tasks.

A set of preconditions, inputs, actions (where applicable), expected results and postconditions, developed based on test conditions.

The purpose for testing.

Documentation describing the test objectives to be achieved and the means and the schedule for achieving them, organized to coordinate testing activities.

A description of how to perform testing to reach test objectives under given circumstances.

A procedure used to define test conditions, design test cases, and specify test data.

The process within the software development lifecycle that evaluates the quality of a component or system and related work products.

The ability to establish explicit relationships between related work products or items within work products.

The degree to which a component or system can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals in a specified context of use.

A type of acceptance testing performed to determine if intended users accept the system.

A person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use or anticipated use of a software product.

All components of a system that provide information and controls for the user to accomplish specific tasks with the system.

A user or business requirement consisting of one sentence expressed in the everyday or business language which is capturing the functionality a user needs, the reason behind it, any non-functional criteria, and also including acceptance criteria.

Confirmation by examination that a work product matches a stakeholder’s needs.

The process of confirming that a work product fulfills its specification.

VFX are the visual elements that help gameplay feel more interactive or immersive. This could include things like smoke effects from an explosion or lighting effects that are part of a magic item.

This linear, largely non-iterative, approach emphasizes the (downward) flow from one development state to the next, i.e. Requirements, Design, Implementation, Verification, and Maintenance.

a testing method in which the internal structure, design, or other implementation details of the item being tested are not only known, but are often the primary basis of the test design process. What is tested is the implementation of the code and how it impacts the rest of the system. It requires programming knowledge and understanding of the internal structure and design of the game. It is most often performed by developers or testers having coding knowledge, and it can be frequently automated; Is where a tester has knowledge of the title (via internal source code or design documentation) to help inform their decisions for testing purposes.