Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Let’s take a closer look at bug types:
C H A P T E R 7
� Text bugs Require fixes to misspellings, word omissions, rephrasing, or
language localization (translation of game text into different languages).
� Graphics bugs Can be very serious low-level (deep in the support code)
bugs. For example, characters might suddenly drop their texture information;
textures may become distorted and appear to be scaled incorrectly; model
geometry may display incorrectly; or an animation may fail (for example,
a character floats up a ladder).
� Gameplay bugs Interfere with the play of the game. For example, a
character’s weapon doesn’t fire when it should or fires the wrong projectile,
the character freezes after firing it twice, or the player cannot exit the level.
� AI bugs Cause odd, unanticipated, and unexpected character behaviors
(for example, a goalie who always moves to the wrong corner of the goal
when a shot is taken by the opposing team’s offense). Pathfinding problems
(how actors move from point to point with obstacles in between) are always
a good source of AI bugs. One common example might be monsters that
are tricked into running toward an impassable fence or boundary with the
player on the other side, instead of having the intelligence to walk around it.
� Interface bugs Often a subset of graphics bugs, these usually include failed
functionality in the interface support for the game. Maybe items collected or
picked up do not update or appear in the inventory, or perhaps the wrong
items are displayed on the interface when selected.
� Peripheral bugs Related to the use and functioning of game peripherals
like steering wheels, link cables, or maraca shakers.
� Installation bugs Involve errors in the installation process, ranging from
the point of inserting a game CD to the successful and complete installation
of the game onto your hard drive.
� Guidance bugs Related to interface or gameplay bugs, these often relate
to a player successfully installing their game and not knowing how to
proceed with playing it. For games targeted at newer players or young
children, interface and prompts must be very clean and obvious (no
extra-fancy embedded graphics with a game navigation message tucked
somewhere imperceptibly inside).
It’s important to understand that each of the bug types mentioned here can impede
the formal playability of the game. These bugs must be fixed in any case. However,
along with these formal bugs are the less formal bugs that often become “suggestions”
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Quality Assurance and and Play-Test Feedback