Roland
Nov 16, 2007, 01:46 PM
Beta Testing (Software Testing), as described by Wikipedia, is a process used to help identify the correctness, completeness, security, and quality of developed computer software. That means helping the developers to make a better application by looking at the work in-progress, then feeding back on how it can be made better. However, quality is not an absolute; it depends on the individual user. What you love, someone else might find really annoying! That’s why we like to get as much feedback as we can, so we can get as many people’s opinions as possible.
Have Fun! The number one most important requirement for Beta Testing is to have fun. We have fun writing and working on all these games and we want everyone that participates in our betas to have just as much fun as we do – preferably even more!
Post your first Impressions of the game Your thoughts and comments on game flow, quality, feel, and functionality are particularly important and help us judge how to make it look, play and function better. We might not always agree with suggestions, but please don’t take it personally – we consider every idea. Sometimes we just can’t implement ideas, because they are too complicated to program. Other times we need to stick to strict design guidelines, such as keeping the same appearance as a PC version we are basing the game on, and that too can limit what ideas we can use.
Try the unregistered version first This will give you a feel of what a new player will experience, and your feedback on the demo limitations is always welcome.
Explore everything! Browsing through the Menu is usually a good idea, going through all the different menu options. This helps you familiarize yourself with the game and to catch any mis-spellings or punctuation errors we may have missed, not to mention giving you a chance to check all the options and settings work as expected!
Take your time - be thorough You don’t need to rush to be the first to report what appears to be a bug. Obviously, the sooner we know, the more time we have to fix it, but what is most useful is if you can recreate the problem and give us a detailed description. Ideally, tell us;
(*) What exactly you have to do to cause the problem.
(*) A clear description of the problem that occurs.
(*) What you think should happen instead.
The more information you can provide, the easier it is to track down a bug and apply some much needed “correction” :D It is often worth going through the method of reproducing the bug in a list style, step by step, to ensure we do not miss any facet of the bug.
Please post the description in the appropriate forum for the version you saw this bug in – being careful to get the right forum for your device’s OS ;) These are where we keep track of all the issues you and your fellow testers are finding. We might not comment on all posts, but we do read and document all bugs reported in our own internal bug tracking system!
It can help to just check back to see if anyone else has reported the same problem in the past, and whether you can offer new information on reproducing it. Confirming the presence of a previously reported bug can be just as valid as finding a new one.
Be Courteous Be courteous of others on the forum. The beta forums are a small community – and being polite, helpful and friendly is important in any community.
Take out the Trash Uninstall any previous version of the beta you may have installed, including saved games with each new release (unless we explicitly state you can retain your games). During a beta, the format of the savegame may change without notice, causing old saves to have random effects and crashes. It’s very important to remember to do this, as it saves a lot of head scratching later! There are numerous ways to do this but listed below are the more common ways.
(*) Palm Devices: You can tap on your menu button and select Delete , then browse for and delete the application. This will (should) remove all your saved games and registration information.
(*) Pocket PC Devices: Go to Start -> Settings, and then select the System Tab. From here you can now select “Remove Programs” and remove the current beta version that’s installed. When asked, you should answer “yes” to Remove Saved Games.
(*) Windows Mobile Smartphone: Go to Start -> Settings, and page through the options until you see “Remove Programs”, then remove the current beta version that’s installed. When asked, you should answer “yes” to Remove Saved Games.
(*) Note that sometimes the installers themselves may not be finalised, so it also worth doing a quick sweep with your devices file explorer to check for any files (which if something has gone wrong, can usually be found either in the Root folder of the device, the My Documents folder or subfolders or the Program Files folder or subfolders)
(*) BlackBerry: Go to Options -> Advanced -> Applications. Highlight the old version of the game, press the Application key and select Delete. You'll need to reset your device before this takes full effect.
(*) S60: Highlight the application icon and press "C". This should prompt you if you wish to uninstall the application. Alternatively, you can open the menu on the left shoulder button and choose "Remove".
(*) iPhone: Tap and hold over the application icon and the icons should begin to shake and a small "x" should appear in the top right of the icons. Tapping this "x" will let you delete the application from your device. It's also worth deleting the old version of the application from iTunes.
Non-Disclosure Don’t share any information about any products that are in Beta, upto and including their very existence, until they appear on this preview page (http://www.astraware.com/preview/). Once they appear there you can admit they exist in public, but you should still not share any detailed information about the projects. If you have questions on what you can and cannot say or do, please refer to your NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) or email Kieren (Kieren.smith@astraware.com) - he will gladly answer any and all questions you have concerning this matter.
Screenshots Screenshots are extremely helpful when describing issues; as they say, a picture can be worth a thousand words! Whenever possible it is a good idea to upload screenshots when you’re posting the issue to the board, and there is information available in the General Beta area on good screenshot applications for each platform.
Cheats If cheats are made available please use them sparingly. Use of cheats can produce effects not normal to the game, but which won’t be present if the same situation is achieved normally. Not every game will have them and they are not always disclosed to you as a beta tester.
Helping Others (we love this!) Please feel free to post in the public forum after a game is released if you know an answer to another person’s request for help. But try to keep spoilers for puzzles to email or Private Messages as others may not wish to read the answer accidentally while browsing in a public area ;)
Any questions, then either ask the other Beta Testers (some of whom have been patiently beta testing for us for many years now – thank you!) or get in contact with someone in the QA team here – PaulS (paul.scorthorne@astraware.com) and myself (roland.glew@astraware.com) are prime candidates.
This Introduction isn't all my own work, so thanks to mbaker for the original that I reworked and to the whole production department for proof-reading and editing :)
Have Fun! The number one most important requirement for Beta Testing is to have fun. We have fun writing and working on all these games and we want everyone that participates in our betas to have just as much fun as we do – preferably even more!
Post your first Impressions of the game Your thoughts and comments on game flow, quality, feel, and functionality are particularly important and help us judge how to make it look, play and function better. We might not always agree with suggestions, but please don’t take it personally – we consider every idea. Sometimes we just can’t implement ideas, because they are too complicated to program. Other times we need to stick to strict design guidelines, such as keeping the same appearance as a PC version we are basing the game on, and that too can limit what ideas we can use.
Try the unregistered version first This will give you a feel of what a new player will experience, and your feedback on the demo limitations is always welcome.
Explore everything! Browsing through the Menu is usually a good idea, going through all the different menu options. This helps you familiarize yourself with the game and to catch any mis-spellings or punctuation errors we may have missed, not to mention giving you a chance to check all the options and settings work as expected!
Take your time - be thorough You don’t need to rush to be the first to report what appears to be a bug. Obviously, the sooner we know, the more time we have to fix it, but what is most useful is if you can recreate the problem and give us a detailed description. Ideally, tell us;
(*) What exactly you have to do to cause the problem.
(*) A clear description of the problem that occurs.
(*) What you think should happen instead.
The more information you can provide, the easier it is to track down a bug and apply some much needed “correction” :D It is often worth going through the method of reproducing the bug in a list style, step by step, to ensure we do not miss any facet of the bug.
Please post the description in the appropriate forum for the version you saw this bug in – being careful to get the right forum for your device’s OS ;) These are where we keep track of all the issues you and your fellow testers are finding. We might not comment on all posts, but we do read and document all bugs reported in our own internal bug tracking system!
It can help to just check back to see if anyone else has reported the same problem in the past, and whether you can offer new information on reproducing it. Confirming the presence of a previously reported bug can be just as valid as finding a new one.
Be Courteous Be courteous of others on the forum. The beta forums are a small community – and being polite, helpful and friendly is important in any community.
Take out the Trash Uninstall any previous version of the beta you may have installed, including saved games with each new release (unless we explicitly state you can retain your games). During a beta, the format of the savegame may change without notice, causing old saves to have random effects and crashes. It’s very important to remember to do this, as it saves a lot of head scratching later! There are numerous ways to do this but listed below are the more common ways.
(*) Palm Devices: You can tap on your menu button and select Delete , then browse for and delete the application. This will (should) remove all your saved games and registration information.
(*) Pocket PC Devices: Go to Start -> Settings, and then select the System Tab. From here you can now select “Remove Programs” and remove the current beta version that’s installed. When asked, you should answer “yes” to Remove Saved Games.
(*) Windows Mobile Smartphone: Go to Start -> Settings, and page through the options until you see “Remove Programs”, then remove the current beta version that’s installed. When asked, you should answer “yes” to Remove Saved Games.
(*) Note that sometimes the installers themselves may not be finalised, so it also worth doing a quick sweep with your devices file explorer to check for any files (which if something has gone wrong, can usually be found either in the Root folder of the device, the My Documents folder or subfolders or the Program Files folder or subfolders)
(*) BlackBerry: Go to Options -> Advanced -> Applications. Highlight the old version of the game, press the Application key and select Delete. You'll need to reset your device before this takes full effect.
(*) S60: Highlight the application icon and press "C". This should prompt you if you wish to uninstall the application. Alternatively, you can open the menu on the left shoulder button and choose "Remove".
(*) iPhone: Tap and hold over the application icon and the icons should begin to shake and a small "x" should appear in the top right of the icons. Tapping this "x" will let you delete the application from your device. It's also worth deleting the old version of the application from iTunes.
Non-Disclosure Don’t share any information about any products that are in Beta, upto and including their very existence, until they appear on this preview page (http://www.astraware.com/preview/). Once they appear there you can admit they exist in public, but you should still not share any detailed information about the projects. If you have questions on what you can and cannot say or do, please refer to your NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) or email Kieren (Kieren.smith@astraware.com) - he will gladly answer any and all questions you have concerning this matter.
Screenshots Screenshots are extremely helpful when describing issues; as they say, a picture can be worth a thousand words! Whenever possible it is a good idea to upload screenshots when you’re posting the issue to the board, and there is information available in the General Beta area on good screenshot applications for each platform.
Cheats If cheats are made available please use them sparingly. Use of cheats can produce effects not normal to the game, but which won’t be present if the same situation is achieved normally. Not every game will have them and they are not always disclosed to you as a beta tester.
Helping Others (we love this!) Please feel free to post in the public forum after a game is released if you know an answer to another person’s request for help. But try to keep spoilers for puzzles to email or Private Messages as others may not wish to read the answer accidentally while browsing in a public area ;)
Any questions, then either ask the other Beta Testers (some of whom have been patiently beta testing for us for many years now – thank you!) or get in contact with someone in the QA team here – PaulS (paul.scorthorne@astraware.com) and myself (roland.glew@astraware.com) are prime candidates.
This Introduction isn't all my own work, so thanks to mbaker for the original that I reworked and to the whole production department for proof-reading and editing :)