Game Testing

Explore & Discover

Every game you have ever played was tested by someone before it reached you — and many still shipped with bugs. Start paying attention to bugs the next time you play anything. Notice glitches, freezes, collision errors where you fall through the floor, or text that cuts off on screen. Search YouTube for "funny game glitches" and watch how players accidentally discovered some of gaming history's biggest bugs. Check out the free website itch.io and play three small indie games — indie games often have more visible bugs because smaller teams build them. You're ready for the next step when you can describe two specific bugs you personally spotted while playing any game this week.

Learn the Basics

Game testers do not just "play and complain" — they follow a disciplined process. Learn the four types of bugs testers look for: crash bugs (the game stops working), visual bugs (something looks wrong), logic bugs (the game breaks its own rules), and balance bugs (something is unfairly too easy or too hard). Watch the free YouTube video "What Does a Game Tester Actually Do?" by GDC (Game Developers Conference) to hear from real QA professionals. Study the basic structure of a bug report: title, steps to reproduce, expected behavior, actual behavior, and severity rating. You're ready for the next step when you can write a properly structured bug report template from memory.

Build Your First Project

Download a free game from itch.io — look for something tagged "game jam" since those are built fast and tend to have more bugs. Play it for 30 minutes while keeping a bug log in a Google Doc or notebook. Write up at least three formal bug reports using the structure you learned: title, steps to reproduce, expected vs. actual behavior, and severity (low/medium/high/critical). Try to reproduce each bug twice to confirm it is real and not a one-time fluke. Screenshot or describe exactly where on screen the bug appears. You're ready for the next step when you have three complete, reproducible bug reports from a real game.

Experiment & Iterate

Now test a different game using a structured test plan — a checklist of things you check every session, not just whatever you notice by accident. Write your own one-page test plan with five categories: controls, menus, audio, visuals, and win/lose conditions. Work through your checklist systematically. Try "edge cases" — things players are not supposed to do, like walking into walls, skipping cutscenes, or pausing during loading. Many famous bugs only appear in edge cases. You're ready for the next step when you have completed your test plan checklist on a new game and documented at least one edge-case bug.

Advanced Techniques

Real QA teams use tracking systems to manage hundreds of bugs at once. Learn to use a free tool like Trello, Notion, or GitHub Issues to organize your bug reports into columns: Open, In Progress, Fixed, and Closed. If you know a friend or classmate building a game in Scratch, GDevelop, or Unity, offer to be their official tester and file bugs in a shared tracker. Watch "How AAA Studios Do QA Testing" on YouTube via the GDC channel to see how large teams handle this at scale. You're ready for the next step when you have at least five bug reports organized inside a tracking tool and at least one marked as verified fixed.

Final Project Showcase

Put together a "QA Portfolio" that shows your testing work: your test plan template, five or more polished bug reports, a summary of what you found and how you reported it, and a short reflection on what kinds of bugs you got best at finding. Share it in a Google Doc or post it on a free portfolio site like Notion.so. If there is a game jam happening in Salt Lake City — check Meetup.com or the Utah Game Developers group — volunteer to be a tester for someone else's submission. You're ready for the next step when your QA portfolio is shareable with a link and at least one real developer has seen your bug reports.