Where is the quality game testing? - BroMontana82's Blog

BroMontana82's Blog

Where is the quality game testing?

Posted on August 18, 2009 at 02:12 PM.

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A lot of sports games these days have major bugs or glitches when they're released. Some turn out to be minor annoyances but some really affect the game-play. How does this happen? Aren't there QC teams and game testers that are looking out for these things? People who are essentially paid to play videos, test them, and look for bugs? I don't mean minor things like "when I use the Shotgun formation with the Cowboys, Roy Williams' jersey numbers get bigger" or something along those lines - the things that are noticed randomly by a few individuals. I'm talking about major things that are so obvious, it's hard to understand how they were not noticed or addressed.

These are just a few examples that bothered me from NBA 2K9 and Madden 10, both games which are really good and maybe the best ever on next-gen. systems but had some major problems right from day 1.

NBA 2K9

1. In NBA 2K9, the developers supposedly got rid of the FT lag where the first FT attempt would have some lag. Was this based on too much crowd being on the screen? Too much going on in the game to be processed so the frame-rate took a hit? It doesn't matter. The problem was that either this was discovered and neglected before the game went Gold, or it was flat out missed. Were game testers and developers not trying free throws?? Even after the fix in the patch, the problem still creeps up at times, particularly in certain stadiums.

2. Similar to this problem were the frame-rate / lag issues when using the 2K Cam, arguably one of the most popular camera angles to play the game on. Once you hit half court, the game went into slow motion with terrible lag. You could tell the game was struggling to keep up with what you were doing. Was this camera angle not tested by anyone? I mean, come on, really??? Again, even after the fix, there were still problems, although they weren't as bad.

3. The Online lag is self explanatory. The online experience was horrendous from day 1 as everyone knows. Especially during Team Up games. I even stopped trying after the fix but was told it's better. Correct me if I'm wrong but the problem again, was that this even happened. Was this tested? I mean, I understand if the 2K servers were just 1 personal laptop in some guy's house but that's another issue in itself.

4. People complained about simulation stats and they were addressed in a patch. However, only the scoring stats were addressed and nothing else. Specifically, rebound stats were neglected and this has been complained about for years by the community. One issue with the total numbers is that boards off of blocked shots are not counted. How these things were not notices or addressed is pretty bad. When the scoring stats were fixed, couldn't a simple change also be made to the rebounding?? Even without addressing the shot block issue?

Madden 10
I'm sure a lot of people can come up with a lot of other issues and may or may not agree with these being the most important but I chose these because I feel like they are so obvious that I don't believe they were overlooked.

1. Kicking game - holding calls and CPU quick snap. The high number of holding calls during kicks is very annoying. Almost equally annoying is the CPU snapping the ball before you can even choose a player. When the game was being tested did no one notice either of these? Did no one at some point say, hey this is annoying the ball is snapped really quickly? Really???

2. Yes, the pass rush is better than last year or NCAA's pre-patch but in my opinion, it looks nothing like it does in those videos Ian posted awhile back addressing the community being worried about the lack of a pass rush in game-play videos. In order to get a realistic pass rush, you need to control the pass rusher and make big changes to the sliders, at least in my experience. Although this was addressed, I have to wonder whether or not it was tested out using various scenarios - CPU vs. Human, Human vs. Human, CPU vs. CPU. Are those videos CPU vs. CPU? I'm not really sure but it would make sense to test the game with various settings and scenarios. Is this not being done?

3. After about 20 years of Madden, the CPU rushing game is still pretty lackluster although it might be the best ever this year. In order to get them to have a realistic and consistent running game, you need to make major changes to the sliders. At least I do, and I'm not saying I'm great at defense or anything like that. A lot of people have been compalining about this for years but it still really hasn't been addressed as much as it should. I think the problem here having to do with testing are the sliders. They are definitely more effective this year but even with CPU run blocking at 100, I can still stop the run easily. Did anyone try putting human rush defense at 0 and CPU run blocking at 100 and play? Any other variations? Wouldn't testers notice that maybe the CPU run block slider should be a little more effective? You shouldn't even really have to change it too much in the first place though.

4. For me, one of the biggest annoyances is the tackle
stat glitch. Total tackles are not being calculated as Solo + Assist. This leads to unrealistic tackle numbers which angers sim players and could effect progression. How was this not noticed? Did anyone ever think to look at post game, season, and career statistics and see that something didn't match up?? How can someone have 1 assist but 0 total tackles?? Also, where can you see solo tackle stats other than in the in game statistic pop ups? For example, you can see a players "Tackles" and "Assists" in his season statistic information etc. Where is a column for solo tackles?? This is one of the biggest complaints on the boards so far.

I am absolutely not hating in Ian and co. Not only did he do a great job, but the interaction and community involvement this year was unprecedented. Finally, there's a lead developer who really cares about a realistic game and community feedback, then implementing that feedback in the game. for the most part, I think Madden is really good - probably one of the best, if not the best ever. It's just really hard to believe things so obvious are overlooked or missed by whoever is testing the game out.

Does anyone know what their process is? Are they not trying out different match-up scenarios (testers playing each other, the CPU, CPU, vs. CPU)? Do the games go gold to meet a scheduled deadline with the producers aware of these issues and planning to address them in a patch? Maybe they should have some well known people in the community test out beta versions - free. I know this happens to some extent such as E3 and so forth but a larger sample is needed since not everyone can spot everything and people notice different things.

There's definitely an answer for this out there. Maybe it's as simple as they aren't very good or they don't think about these things from the same perspective as the hardcore game fans: both game-play and statistical / simulation problems that come up. What do you think? Any thoughts? Agreement, disagreement, or any other insight is welcome.