Mitigating 8 software testing risks to enable a great immersive experience of AR/VR games
Why include software testing in AR/VR game development strategies and what risks to reduce to ensure the high quality of AR/VR-based software?
In the constant swirl of technological change, AR and VR have revolutionized diverse industries. The gaming world is no exception. With devices like Oculus Rift, the way people play games has completely changed. After putting on a headset, users immerse themselves in a new world, one where they are physically active, play in a multi-dimensional space, and enjoy enhanced opportunities for interaction during a game.
No wonder people are so carried away by AR/VR games. Check it out: during the first three months after its release, the AR-based Pokémon Go got 250 million downloads! Users’ curiosity about these technologies could not help but impact the market. In the gaming industry alone, VR is estimated to draw in over $90 billion by 2026; the overall market size of AR/VR technologies will reach more than $450 billion by 2030.
Despite such a surge of interest, AR/VR games are complicated, and numerous software defects may block impeccable user experience. In this article, I will cover the ways companies can improve the quality of gaming software with a focus on AR/VR.
Why include software testing in development strategies?
When implemented right, AR/VR can provide rich graphics and an engrossing experience for players, contributing to the ongoing revolution in the gaming sector. But what will happen in case of poor software performance?
The topmost danger relates to human health as an insufficiently tested AR/VR app can cause physical discomfort, ranging from dizziness to double vision.
Besides, lagging audio or slow loading times will not help to extend the client base. For instance, one of the recent updates of the headset carried a visual bug that provoked chromatic aberration (i.e., a situation when all objects got color fringes around their edges). Since this update is automatic, the only option users have until the next one is to avoid connecting to Wi-Fi, or simply to stop playing the game.
4 challenges to consider when ensuring the quality of AR/VR-based software
Testing a new technology like AR/VR may be compared to navigating uncharted waters. The process imposes certain difficulties on QA teams that cannot be ignored.
- Cybersickness. In a short period of use, people can experience eye discomfort, seizures, and neck and back pains as a result of a complication of movements by the weight of a headset and the disorientation due to the quick motion sequence in the game. So, I suggest that the engineers should include breaks every 30 minutes to prevent dangerous symptoms.
- Plethora of VR-related gadgets. The team should build a QA process that uses real device testing that includes mobile platforms, such as Google Daydream View or Samsung Gear, and the traditional ones, such as PlayStation or Xbox.
- Lack of space. The need for extra space is also crucial. The QA engineers will have to move around a lot, and it’s worth providing a safe environment so that each person has at least several meters to effectively test an app.
- Hygiene. Another vital point is to keep your set as clean as a pin. The eyes and face may be affected by bacteria and sweat, so it is a good practice to clean the lenses and device as frequently as possible.
Risks to mitigate with checking AR/VR-enabled games
You may never have a second chance after making the first impression. So, to avoid spoiling the fun of your end users, which will bring about negative reviews, you may apply QA to mitigate the following risks.
- Functional
Functional validation ensures that software meets desired business requirements. During this process, it is possible to detect generic issues in graphics, game mechanics, audio-visual, stability, and other aspects to prevent the game from crashing and freezing. After identifying defects and passing them on to the development team to fix, the testing specialists usually conduct regression verifications to confirm the faultless operation of the previously introduced improvements.
2. Compatibility
Despite the chosen platform or headset, a powerfully immersive experience with no desaturated colors or choppy graphics is a must for all players. Conducting compatibility testing helps confirm that an AR/VR-enabled game works properly with diverse hardware and gaming platforms. To do that, QA engineers check how the application responds across diverse environmental conditions by considering basic features like resolutions, audio, video, graphics, overheating, and others.
3. Motion
Successful user experience is impossible without processing generated digital data from users’ movements and correctly applying 3D models to impose them on an image. If failures occur in this workflow, objects in a game can float and change their required positions. So, while testing, QA teams should move unpredictably to verify that game characters do not walk through the walls or fall through the floor.
4. Accessibility
Both traditional and AR/VR games have much in common when it comes to accessibility issues. The first obstacle is a visual aspect. People with stereo blindness have difficulties perceiving 3D objects. Players with motor impairment belong to the second group. For interaction, VR implies using hands and legs.
According to Microsoft, around 450 million gamers have a particular disability. Accessibility testing is of high importance as disabled players can access experiences that are not available to them in the real world. So, testing engineers make sure that software meets international VR guidelines, such as the Virtual Reality Checks (VRC) from Oculus or the XR Accessibility User Requirements (XAUR).
5. Performance
The performance of an AR/VR-driven game is a vital factor that ensures that software can withstand a high influx of players or third-party processes fulfilled simultaneously with the game. During load and stress testing, the QA engineers verify that GPU, CPU, and servers can handle the user load under normal and peak conditions, and ensure that FPS (images produced in one second) rate is above 60 to prevent VR-motion issues.
6. Usability
Sometimes users spend more time identifying, for instance, how to handle controllers, than actually playing a game. Or they struggle to determine which buttons to press when options appear on the screen. Also, it is a bad practice when users have to rely on the help of outside instructions after studying the tutorial. Hence, QA teams perform usability testing to confirm that users are fully satisfied with interaction with a game and can easily utilize it despite poor gaming experience.
7. Localization & internationalization
To assess the suitability of content while considering the cultural and linguistic specifics of a particular region, companies may cooperate with localization testing experts before a global software roll-out. Within an AR/VR game, they analyze scripts and voice-overs to detect spelling or punctuation mistakes, lack of translation, truncated characters, problems in writing numeric formats, correlation of subtitles and audio, and so on.
8. Integration
Integration testing plays a crucial role in assessing software production readiness. It allows identifying any incompatibilities between a headset and a platform or issues within AR/VR gaming components at early development stages, thereby preventing costly defect fixing after the release.
For instance, if a game has paid features, it is important to provide hassle-free payment by ensuring proper integration with third-party payment gateway systems. Also, with the increasing popularity of social media that support online gaming, users may want to share gaming results with other peers, which means the QA engineers must check the integration with social networks.
Bottom line
AR and VR technologies have drastically changed the gaming industry, helping players feel a physical presence in any simulated 3D world. However, to ensure full immersion in the games, companies may strengthen their development processes with QA.
The first thing to do is to organize a testing process that will not endanger the health of the QA engineers. Afterward, they may focus on mitigating the common risks connected with software functioning, compatibility, accessibility, performance, localization, and so on.
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