World of Tanks, War Thunder, War Robots, or you name it, multiplayer games have exploded in popularity because of their capability of hosting multiple players in real-time environments. However, it is not always easy to create and maintain a seamless engagement experience, especially when you aim to serve a global audience group. Though several factors can determine the success of a multiplayer game, the most significant among them is software testing.
Not having a proper testing strategy can lead to the failure of a game, no matter how interesting the game concept is. Whether it is a lag, crash, or other technical issue, any testing glitch can cause failure, especially when the player base scales.
In this article, we will talk about the software testing strategies for scalable multiplayer games. We will deep dive into the testing techniques that ensure smooth gameplay, secure environments, and stable performance, which can assist developers in addressing the unique challenges that multiplayer games face. On the contrary, if you have a game development company by your side, they can handle and strategize these testing strategies well.
Key Testing Strategy for Multiplayer Games
Functional Testing:
Testing the behavior of gameplay features, game mechanics and interactions falls under the functional testing criteria. Validating everything from basic player movement to more complex mechanics like combat is included in this.
Focus Areas:
Game logic: Test interactions between characters, objects, and environments.
Cross-device functionality: Ensure consistent performance across devices with varying specifications (PC, console, mobile).
Why Important: Even a minor bug can ruin the entire gameplay experience. This can frustrate the players and can overall affect their game experience, even if they are interacting with the best mobile games. Functional testing ensures that the game performs as intended in real-world environments.
Load Testing
Load testing ensures that the game can handle many players simultaneously. It simulates real-world scenarios where thousands of players can get engaged in the game at the same time.
Focus Areas:
- Simulating high traffic: Use tools to simulate large numbers of concurrent users to assess how servers handle stress.
- Identifying bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas where performance degrades under heavy player loads, like long loading times or lag.
- Server scaling: Ensure that game servers can scale automatically as more players join to maintain performance.
Why Important: During launch or major events, the multiplayer game platform is anticipated to witness a number spike. To avoid crashes or slowdowns and overwhelm its large audience group, it is imperative to do load testing.
Network Testing
Network performance plays a vital role in multiplayer game performance. It ensures that games perform well even in adverse network conditions like variable internet connections, low bandwidth, packet loss, high latency, etc.
Focus Areas:
- Latency handling: Test how well the game manages delays in data transfer (ping) between the server and the player.
- Synchronization issues: Ensure that all players have a consistent experience (for example, if a player moves, other players see this action in real time).
- Packet loss and recovery: Test how the game handles data packets that are lost in transit, ensuring minimal disruption to gameplay.
Why Important:
Certain gameplay issues like lag, desynchronization, disconnect, etc. can happen if a multiplayer game faces poor network issues. This can frustrate players and also cost the game’s reputation.
Cross-Platform Testing
Multiplayer game players can be from different platforms. In such a scenario, it is necessary to provide a seamless experience to them irrespective of the platform they are engaged with; this can be mobile, PC, or console. Supporting and performing well in cross-platform is thus an unenviable requisite for a multiplayer game.
Focus Areas:
- Device compatibility: Test the game on different hardware setups, screen resolutions, and operating systems to ensure the game runs smoothly on each platform.
- Cross-play functionality: Verify that players on different platforms can play together without experiencing issues like input delays, visual discrepancies, or crashes.
Why Important
Most of the games now have adopted the cross-platform feature, thus extending their reach to more players. Inconsistencies across platforms can not only alienate players but can also reduce the game’s reach.
Security Testing
Hackers and cheaters often target multiplayer games. Robust security in multiplayer games ensures that the game is protected against cheating, exploits, and hacks. With this, it also protects sensitive user data and transactions.
Focus Areas:
- Anti-cheat systems: Test for vulnerabilities that cheaters might exploit, such as speed hacks, aim bots, or item duplication.
- Server security: Ensure that game servers are resistant to attacks like DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), which can overwhelm and crash servers.
- Data protection: Verify that sensitive information, such as player profiles and in-game purchases, is secure, particularly in transactions involving real money.
Why Important
Once hacked, the multiplayer game can lose the trust of players forever. This can also cause reputation damage to the game, potentially resulting in players’ abandonment or lost revenue.
Real-Time Monitoring and Post Release Testing
Multiplayer games require continuous testing and monitoring even after. This ensures that the game is performing well and smoothly as per players changing behavior and numbers.
Focus Areas:
- Server monitoring: Continuously track server health, player latency, and traffic spikes to address performance issues before they impact the player base.
- Bug fixes and updates: Regular post-launch testing is needed to roll out patches, new content, and updates without introducing new bugs.
- Community feedback: Actively engage with the player community to identify issues and improve the game based on real-world feedback.
Why Important
Multiplayer games constantly need attention because of their live nature. New bugs, security threats, and performance challenges can arise long after launch as well.
Wrapping Up
No doubt, building and maintaining a multiplayer game is a complex process, but equally difficult is continuous and rigorous testing to ensure that the game performs well irrespective of the situation and circumstances. This is critical in delivering a seamless player experience.
Right from testing the feature and functionality to ensuring it is capable of handling network fluctuations, many such testing strategies need to be considered for a scalable multiplayer game.
And yes, not to forget the post-launch maintenance and testing to ensure the game does not encounter any bugs, threats, or security challenges. After all, a robust testing strategy is the key to keeping players engaged and encouraging them to come back for more.
About the Author
Asha Rajput is a CEO & Co-founder at 300Mind, a Game Design and Development Studio. With a background in visual arts and outstanding management skills, she – with the team, helps global clients get visually stunning gaming solutions that lead their gaming business to the next height.