UBM Tech - Game Network

My Shopping Cart

[ 0 ] items in cart

View Cart | Checkout

Game Developer Research

Research Reports

Gamasutra

Contractor Listings

GDC Vault

Individual Subscription

GDC Audio Recordings

App Developers Conference 2013

GDC Next 2013

GDC Europe 2013

	GDC 2013
	GDC Online 2012
	GDC Europe 2012
	GDC 2012
	GDC 2011
	GDC 10
	GDC 09
	GDC Austin 08
	GDC Mobile 08
	GDC 08
	GDC Austin 07
	GDC Mobile 07
	GDC 07
	GDC 06
	GDC 05
	GDC 04
	GDC 03
	GDC 01
	GDC 2000 & Before

Newest Item(s)

Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be a Game Developer

Ingress: Design Principles Behind Google's Massively Multiplayer Geo Game

Playing with 'Game'

Gathering Your Party with Project Eternity (GDC Next 10)

D4: Dawn of the Dreaming Director's Drama (GDC Next 10)

Using Plot Devices to Create Gameplay in Storyteller (GDC Next 10)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Making CounterSpy (GDC Next 10)

Luck and Skill in Games

Minimalist Game Design for Mobile Devices

Broken Age: Rethinking a Classic Genre for the Modern Era (GDC Next 10)

Storefront > GDC Vault Store - Audio Recordings > More GDC > GDC 2004

View larger image

QTY:

Automation Recipes: Automation Ideas to Save Project Time and Money
Price	$5.95
Adjustment
Type
Stock	Unlimited
Status
Weight	0 lb, 0 oz
SKU	GDC-04-057
Statistics

Description

Automation Recipes: Automation Ideas to Save Project Time and Money,
2127

Production, Lecture

Jennifer Boespflug
Software Test Engineer Lead, Microsoft Game Studios
Throughout the game industry, many people think automation means “not applicable” or “too expensive.” Game teams choose not to automate for several reasons: test lacks technical expertise, programmers prefer game coding instead of automation, or management does not have a cost benefit model for automation. However, several types of automation can reduce time or cost for many projects. This session introduces the concepts behind game automation and walk through a cost-benefit model. People walk away with the ability to evaluate if automation makes sense for their team, along with some useful automation recipes:

*Random Input: Idle computers mean wasted resources. The cheapest way to put these to work is with random input automation. It can take a developer 2 days to create a tool to send random input to the game. Run this tool at night on everyone’s machine to trap random crashes.

*Build Verification Tests: Broken builds and build verification tests can consume many hours over the course of a project. By writing automation that loads up each level, samples frame rate while teleporting to several locations in each level, and sends out e-mail with the results to the team, build stability increases and test time decreases. If a project lasts longer than a couple of months, money can be saved with some of these examples.

*Combat Matrix: How long does a combat matrix take to test? Many games never run a complete combat matrix of all character levels, all character classes, wielding all weapons, wearing all armor, casting all spells, against all enemies because there can be tens of thousands of tests. However, with a few simple test hooks, a complete automation matrix can become a quick nightly stress test within a couple of days.

Attendees leave this presentation with the ability to evaluate if automation makes sense for their team, along with some useful automation ideas. There are several types of in-game automation that are simple to implement and will save most all projects both production time and money. People learn how to implement a cost-benefit model for evaluating what types of automation will save their project money. People learn what types of testing tend to return the most value when automated (repetitive tasks like build verification tests, tasks requiring precision like performance benchmarking, localization).

Please leave this field blank.