How Does the Video Game Build Process Work?

During the game development process, eventually there comes a time when the game is considered “ready for testing”. This usually occurs about 75% of the way through the development process. Producers and designers spend months or even years developing a game world and system, programmers spend months developing the core functions that will generate that world and animators constantly revamp and process imagery to bring that world to life. But, eventually, it all must come together in a functional, playable way that can be tested.

The First Builds

The first builds of a game are often in pre-alpha and are produced simply to see if the game can be compiled properly. Many times, major bugs will keep a production from even coming together in the earliest builds. After those initial builds are completed and the game is at least playable, however, it will go into Alpha testing and game testers will start the long process of testing and documenting bugs as they arise in the game world.

Alpha testing can last a few weeks or a few months and involves tracking any major game breaking bugs. At this point, the goal is to ensure the build can remain stable and the system active no matter what the player does. So, texture gaps or bugs are less important than major crashes.

Going into the Beta

Once the development team feels comfortable that all the major crashes and bugs are worked out, the builds will go into beta. Beta testing involves tracking and documenting smaller bugs that can range from annoying problems to major balance issues in the game.

For example, a missing wall in a level, or a menu combination that causes a character to appear without any clothes on are both major bugs that, while they don’t break the game, can be incredibly disruptive to the play experience. 

Finishing the Game

 

Beta testing will last as long as it takes to get those bugs worked out. Some games will have as many as 15,000 builds before they are considered ready for final consumer play. At this phase, the testing will go into QA where special scripts are used to try and find new ways to break the game. Testers will put the game through the ringer to find any remaining issues that might cause issues. If a game passes QA, it’s time to let it loose on the public once and for all. 

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