Tips and Solutions

What are beta testers?
Beta testers are the second set of testers who look at a new game or plugin. First in line are the Alpha testers. The Alpha testers are often just the author of the work, and sometimes one or two others who try out the game or plugin as it is in development. The beta testers take over when the author thinks the work is done. Ideally, there are 3 to 5 beta testers using different kinds of equipment on which they test the game.

What do beta testers do?

1. They look for typos, misspellings, unclear text, and gaps in logic.
2. They find things that don't work right.
3. Sometimes they find things that make a game freeze or crash.
4. They find access problems such as places on the map where the character can walk under a rock or through a wall.
5. They point out places where the player does not know what to do next.
6. They report on how difficult it is to play the game.
7. They make suggestions about things which would improve the game.

Why can't I just test it myself?
Because we all make mistakes. The author also knows what is supposed to happen and knows where to go to make it happen, so it works for him. That doesn't mean it will happen for others. As the author, we know what we meant to say so when we read it we don't see that it really doesn't say that. We find a better place to put our cave and change it, but we forget that somewhere in an NPC's dialogue we told the player to go somewhere else.

As one of your moderators, I'm charged with the responsibility of checking out your submissions before they get placed on the Addons page. Unfortunately, this doesn't work as it once did before the boards were changed. We can no longer download your work directly from the page of pending files. I have to put a file on the Addons page before I can download it for checking. This means that others can also download a new file before it is tested. This makes beta testing all the more important.

I have recently had to remove three different files which were submitted with serious flaws, which in some cases prevented the game from working. I may not mind doing this once, but four times before a working file existed? Even then it still has some bugs which remain unsquashed.

I speak only for myself here, but in the future, I will immediately remove a game or plugin from the Addons page until it is checked out if I do not find credit given to your beta testers on your Read-Me file which must be included with your game.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Several of our members here are willing and able to help you with your testing. Please allow them to do so.

~RD

A helpful hint for testing is to help your testers identify your maps and Player position.

1. make a global called gb_mapname

2. In each map, LOCATION window, make an event

3. Change globals = gb_mapname is SET to "the name of your map"

(Not every global has to be a number. You can type words, too.)

4. Get out of your map location window.

5. Make an event, let's say "mapname"

6. In "mapname" event, place a dialogue

7. In the dialogue window, type The Player is in map (and then on the right pull down and select gb_mapname). Then type The Player is at (and then on the right pull down and select PlayerX and then PlayerY). Save the event and close.

8. In the options window, make a keydown. Use a key that isn't being used for anything else. When the events window comes up, select the "mapname" event.

9. Make sure your testers know the key to press to tell them the mapname and coordinates.

I can't emphasize alpha testing enough though. Developers simply need to be in the habit of testing everything they do in a game. Often (really too often) I have a very complex set of events to make something happen. It's a good thing to build a complex event in stages and test every stage. It saves a lot of headaches and helps you learn how to do things. Sometimes, though, you do need to wait until something is completed. For instance, I tested my employment array thoroughly. But then I just duplicated the array for all of the employment after testing it. Now that I'm testing the employment, I'm finding some mistakes, not of the event array, but because I chose something wrong. In other words, it's because I'm a person who makes mistakes. I fix it easily, then, and that's that. I made a crafting array that needed about 400 events and about 110 main locations to make about 100 items (100 event arrays), tested every one of the arrays by crafting each item, and found two mistakes. There's no race amongst people here, and patience pays off. Good luck to you!

Rubber Ducky, on Jun 26 2005, 11:15 PM, said:

What are beta testers?
Beta testers are the second set of testers who look at a new game or plugin. First in line are the Alpha testers. The Alpha testers are often just the author of the work, and sometimes one or two others who try out the game or plugin as it is in development. The beta testers take over when the author thinks the work is done. Ideally, there are 3 to 5 beta testers using different kinds of equipment on which they test the game.

Dear RD,

Why couldn't you create a "Beta Dump" area to contain add-on files that need to be tested? That way the authors could post the untested files and get feed back from more than 3 to 5 testers. Anyone downloading a file would know that it might be buggy, and the testing would be more comprehensive.
EasyEd

P.S. It's nice to see so much activity on the Board lately. It keeps hope alive.

EasyEd, on Jun 28 2005, 11:34 AM, said:

Why couldn't you create a "Beta Dump" area to contain add-on files that need to be tested?
View Post

That's a nice idea, EasyEd, however I have no say in the set-up of these boards. Any author who wants to have multiple testers can announce on the boards that their work is available for testing and direct us to a site where it could be downloaded. This has been done in the past. The problem I forsee with that is that he may get twenty emails all reporting the same problems.

Testing is work if it is done well, more work than most people realize. My ideal test team includes some who know PoG well if it's a plugin being tested, some who know Coldstone well, at least one member who uses a Windows PC, a good proofreader, and those who like to try things in different ways.

Before CS and PoG were taken off the market, there were many anxious players who would sign on and then produce nothing. The problem I've seen recently is that some of the younger authors don't seem to see the need for testing. And it shows in the end result.

If you're making a game or a very extensive plugin, you should probably get a web forum (at http://www.proboards.com , if you have no other options) so that you can support a bigger testing team without duplicate bug reports. It would be a private board where testers could post bugs and you post responses. It works very well, actually (I speak from experience).

OK, as mentioned in this thread, I've created a directory on my webserver which is, in effect, a dumpbox for Coldstone created files that require a host for beta distribution. I've put together a list of rules to be followed in using the server here, as well as general information.

To access the server for upload purposes, you will require an ftp client. If you're running OSX, I recommend Panic Software's Transmit; if you're on OS9 or earlier, Fetch is another decent client. These, and other ftp clients, can be found at VersionTracker.

The server details are as follows:

Address: ftp.andiyar.com
FTP User: coldstone@andiyar.com
Password: csupl0ad

NB: yes, that's a 'zero' in the password.

Note that browsing the directory via http has been blocked, in case people would like to use it for private beta testing. The files can, of course, be viewed via ftp and downloaded if required that way, but at least the list can't just be casually perused in a web browser.

After uploading a file, the required link for your file, that can be downloaded by your testers, would take the following form:

http://files.andiyar.../coldstone/your file name here

Simply send out the link (replacing your file name) to your testers, or whomever you'd like to see the file (try not to slashdot me ) and you're done!

Now, for the fun part, the rules and terms of usage. Please don't just skip these - they're rather important. ^_^

1. This server is provided for beta testing purposes only, and only for plugins or small games. It is not to be used as a final copy file host, but rather as a method for distributing in progress copies of your work to your testing crew. Any finalised products should be submitted to the relevant Addons page here at ASW, or uploaded to your own servers etc. Depending on traffic, I can't really act as a total hosting solution.

2. The maximum filesize I am currently allowing is 25MB. Any files larger than this that are on the server will be summarily deleted. If you absolutely must upload a larger file, then ask me first (andiyar at andiyar dot com) and I might make an exception. Currently, the directory is limited to 250MB in size although I can increase this if necessary.

3. Only files of the following formats should be submitted: .BIN, .HXQ, .SIT, .SITX, .ZIP, .GZIP (or .GZ). Creation of folders, or uploading of any other filetypes (images, movies, apps etc) will result in those files or folders being deleted. Other compressed file types may be allowed, on request.

4. When uploading a new copy of a beta file that is already on the server, you must delete the old versions online. If, for some reason, there is a flaw in the new version and you wish to redistribute the old version, by all means you may - as long as you delete any newer versions of your file. Only one copy per game/plugin, regardless of version, on the server at once. This will help to keep the space consumption down.

5. Try to name your files for web use - ie, delete spaces and odd characters from the names of archives. Browsers tend to dislike some odd character combinations, so keep it simple - underscores for spaces if you so wish, and plain letters or numbers otherwise.

6. Since the directory is publicly viewable (via ftp, anyway), if you wish to keep your files private in terms of testers, using a password is recommended. .SIT and .SITX support this, as does .ZIP. If you don't protect your files, anyone will be able to access them - which is normally not desirable, unless the beta is a public one.

I hate to sound like a possible nag, but please do follow those rules - and play nice. Don't clutter up the server, clean up after yourself, don't just delete other people's files if you hit an 'out of space error' - contact me and I'll fix that. If the service is abused (multiple copies, huge files, uncompressed file formats etc) then there's every likelihood I'll simply sigh and deactivate the account and directory. So, remember, play nice - it's free for you, after all, and will hopefully prove a boon for everyone involved.

-Andiyar