Game News The end of bugs in video games? Microsoft wants to avoid Cyberpunk 2077 and Dying Light 2 cases
No Man’s Sky, Fallout 76, Anthem, recent video game history is full of pages listing works released in unsatisfactory condition. Dented, even cracked, they are being destroyed a little more on social networks with great reinforcements of murderous video clips posted by annoyed buyers. If the cogs of the video game industry sometimes give the impression of clutching, many safeguards are nevertheless established to avoid industrial disasters. On the side of developers, publishers and manufacturers, the hunt for bugs and various problems is essential. Contrary to popular belief, the verification procedures are numerous. From the alpha to the post-release patch, we come back to the steps that normally ensure the smooth running of the development of our games.
Bugs tracked down by professionals
With titles such as Fallout 76, Anthem, Cyberpunk 2077 or Dying Light 2: Stay Human, the recent history of video games has put the spotlight on projects that deserved more time – or expertise – in order to to come out in acceptable condition. If they are the misfortune of players sometimes forced to wait for a patch to continue their game, they inspire the joy of content creators who expose them on social networks, in general hilarity. Despite the multiple safeguards put in place, the video game industry often gives the impression that its cogs are racing. On the side of manufacturers, publishers and developers, the hunt for bugs and various technical problems is essential. No actor wants to be the cause of an industrial disaster that will be laughed at all over the world because of a cracked code.
In the world of video games, however, verification procedures are numerous. In addition to milestones frequent, we count the indestructible TRC, for “Technical Requirements Checklist”. This mandatory submission lasts a big week and is used to unearth strictly technical malfunctions related to the stability of the product during specific events ranging from the extended break to profile management. It also ensures that the Trophies / Achievements are unlocked, or that the texts are displayed without error in the different selectable languages. However, this certification is not there to track down bugs that would spoil the gaming experience. This task is rather entrusted to QA testers, who, throughout the production phase of a title, are responsible for detecting what is not working and notifying the developers capable of correcting the problems. encountered while assigning said bugs. The Playtesters, for their part, aim to make the teams aware of the blunders of game design such as too many enemies, eccentric rules, levels that are difficult to read or badly placed checkpoints.
Artificial intelligence to the rescue
Despite all the procedures put in place by the publishers, the big games continue to experience releases heckled by more or less significant technical problems. The day one patch, which was once just a patch, has become increasingly essential in order to prevent a work from being completely broken when it is launched. Players regularly feel betrayed, taken for beta testers forced to report bugs if they want a satisfying experience. Faced with broken apps, buyers indulge in review bombing while asking for refunds. A situation that could in the future be avoided according to Matt Booty, the boss of Microsoft Games Studios. Interviewed at PAX West 2022, he outlines his views for the next few years. “One of the biggest differences between a game and a movie is if you’re working on a movie and you’re told, “let’s edit this ending, edit this, cut this scene”, it does not normally break the beginning of the film. But in a game you’re about to release, a designer might tell you “i have this little feature i will just change the color on this thing”. And now the first 10 minutes of the game no longer work properly.
Every time something new comes into a game, the whole game has to be tested back and forth. Matt Booty, Director of Microsoft Game Studios
With these words, the gentlemangames” from Microsoft recalls that it is easy for a designer to break a game by changing a feature, or simply by wishing to correct another malfunction. The former VP Worldwide of Midway then goes further. “There’s a lot going on with AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) right now.” explains Matt Booty. He keeps on : “what i always say when i run into AI people is: “help me figure out how to use an AI to test a game”.
I wish I could run 10,000 instances of a game in the cloud. So there would be 10,000 copies of the game running, with an AI that spends all night testing the game, and in the morning it sends a report. It would be a transformation. Matt Booty, Director of Microsoft Game Studios
Although some players have taken the manager’s words for science fiction, it must be recognized that machine learning has made great progress in recent years. Additionally, on August 6, 2022, Lucas Pop explained having used original testing processes in this direction for his game Papers Please. He used a debug function to load a day, stamp documents, shoot attackers in order to make sure there were no memory leaks. ‘The creator added that this system was improved on the occasion of the porting on mobile devices of his famous software thanks to a real “virtual player””. The script was thus able to play up to the 20 endings of the game starting with the title screen, win all the tokens or even play a few minutes in Endless mode.
Creating this system took at least a good month of initial work and a fair amount of maintenance. It’s quite a long time, honestly, but developing and using it has allowed me to find and fix countless bugs in the game. Lucas Pope, creator of Papers Please, Return of the Obra Dinn
It now remains to be seen how far artificial intelligence will be able to help studios improve complex games set in gigantic open worlds, and if this evolution will really relieve the workload of QA testers… or replace them, at term.
