Assignments

Web Authoring Interim Assignment

ABOUT HTML

Hypertext mark-up language (HTML) is the standard coding language used when creating a web page and websites. HTML is based upon using different tags to declare what the web page is comprised of by using angular brackets, with the relevant tag inside of the brackets(<example tag>). These tags define the functions of a page, with the area between the start and end tags specifying what is displayed with the function. An tag used to end a function is identical to that used to start it, but has a forward slash after the opening bracket and before the tag (</example tag>)

HTML splits a page into 3 parts: header, which is represented by the tag <h1>.

Body, which uses the tag <body>

And footer, which uses the tag <footer>

The title of the webpage (seen in the pages tab) can be assigned with the <title> tag

An example of this would be:

<h1>

Here is a title

</h1>

The first page I made is very simple. The <!doctype html> is the very first thing that must be included as it is not a tag, but rather it is declaring the type of html being used in the code in order for it to be read by the browser. In this case, <!doctype html> means that the code is written in html 5.

The <html> tag, or rather, the text between them, defines what is in the web page.

The <body > tags define what is visible on the web page.

This simple piece of html code results in the following web page:

This is my second stage. This time the <title> tags are included to change the title of the document to what is written between them.

ABOUT CSS

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a type of coding language used within HTML to control the visual format of a webpage. Cascading Style Sheets can be internal or external; internal being used if the CSS is to be applied to a single document, or external being used if you want to use the same CSS across multiple documents.

Cascading style sheets are used to increase the functionality of HTML and give a greater level of control to the developers as to how the page will be displayed. CSS is different to HTML in that it doesn’t use tags, and also allows for a much faster and more efficient workflow by not having to rewrite code by simply being able to assign parts of the CSS to a given part of the HTML code.

In CSS, any given style starts with .name as this will define the styles name when it is referenced by html. The font family is the font you have chosen to use, and the font weight is any other modifier to be applied to the text, such as bold or italics. The colour of the text can be assigned by using an appropriate hex value.

Here are the 3 font styles in the CSS document.

The chosen font can then be applied to the html document with the code within the link tag, with href linking specifically to the CSS document, rel describes what the link is, in this case, being a style sheet.

In this next stage, several more tags have been added to the <body> section. The <p> tag is used to define a paragraph, so each section within the body has been given its own paragraph to keep it separate. The <strong> tags are used to make the text within display in bold, and the <em> tag makes the text italic.

The <br> tag creates a break, essentially splitting up each paragraph further. The <a> tag is used to add a hyperlink which can be clicked on, though I didn’t link the page to another, using href to declare what web page the link goes to, and the text after the href declaration being what is displayed as the hyperlink.

Finally, the <div> tag puts borders around the text, the size of which can be set and changed through CSS.

The image below shows what this combination amounts to so far.

Designing Tests for Computer Games – Testing Suites

A testing suite is a plan laid out which describes how you are going to try to test a part of a game (one of the operating regions) for bugs.

Pre-game:For the pre-game operating region, i decided to test the login system of the game, to see if using different browsers such as firefox, chrome and internet explorer or computers could potentially trigger a bug.

whilst other people in the class have claimed to have multiple issues upon trying to log in, I experienced none myself (or at least none until I was back in game) except for some slow performance when using internet explorer.

game start: the game start operating region is very small for this game, and as such the only way i could think to test it was to see if there was any way to break the intro movie which plays upon starting the game. I immediately encountered a bug whilst starting it with internet explorer as the player claimed that the video was unsupported. I also tested this in chrome and firefox, and in both of these browsers the video played fine. upon reporting this it turns out this is a known bug because the game hasn’t yet been properly optimised for internet explorer.

in-game: i plan on testing the tutorial section of the games cinematics and scripted sequences. i choose this section as with it being an early part of the game, i will be able to quickly return to any bug i find by creating a new account, should that be the only way to recreate it. i will try to test this by logging out during these parts or by clicking on different parts of the window to see if there is any effect on the sequences such as skipping parts out.

I did manage to find a bug whilst carrying out the tests during the “overwatch reboot” sequence, as the buttons to continue to the next part can be used before reaching the end of the animation, essentially skipping out the animation

post-game: in the post game operating region, i plan on testing whether or not the game is saved correctly. i plan on doing this in several ways. firstly, i will clear the cache and history of the browser after logging out, then logging back in, i will then also do this using multiple browsers (such as chrome, firefox and internet explorer), and then i will try switching between different computers to see if that has any sort of effect on the save.

I tried testing the by playing in different browsers and on different computers, however any changes or progress was saved successfully.

Capture2

Designing Tests for Computer Games – Testing Suites – Bug Report

The Bug I found in Year Zero is a minor bug which occurs during the In-Game operating region. The bug occurs early on in the game during the sequence which shows the “overwatch system” being rebooted (after completing the first tutorial level). The bug is only very minor as it essentially skips through the sequence similarly to skipping a cutscene, and is performed by clicking on the “Start” button at the bottom-right of the window, as well as by clicking on the “Continue” button in the same place on the next screen. this seems to be a bug because it isn’t until the animation on each screen has finished that these buttons change colour from red to green and you are actually told to push the button.This bug fits into the normal trigger category, as it is a bug in the in-game operating region and seems most likely to just be the result of an oversight. I repeated the testing of this bug several times by logging out before reaching the end of the sequence to reset it when i next logged in, and also by creating another account to see if it had been fixed in the time since reporting it (it hadn’t been).

designing tests for computer games – test phases

There are 3 phases a game will go through before and up to release; these are Alpha, Beta and Gold.

Alpha is the first playable stage of the game, and as such only contains the base gameplay elements in order to make the game playable. during this phase, testing is usually only carried out by developers or members of the development team, as alpha builds are prone to being extremely unstable, and will typically frequently crash or encounter other such bugs. The alpha stage of the testing cycle ends with a feature freeze, during which no more features are added and extensive bug testing is carried out to try to make the build as stable as possible before moving into beta.

Beta is the second stage of the testing cycle, during which the game will largely be feature complete, with only some minor or general changes to be made to the game itself, and focuses quite largely on bug testing. many games have started to have release beta builds released to the public recently, as it can provide a lot of feedback and bug reports due to the fact that the community for a game will probably be larger than the number of in-office testers.

Gold is the full, final version of the game, where it is ready to be released and nothing more needs to be added. at this stage in development, there should be little-to-no bugs remaining in a game which would need patching post-release.

designing tests for computer games – Operating regions

Operating regions of a videogame are the 4 stages that any given game will go through whilst being tested or otherwise interacted with.

not only does the game itself have operating regions, but each element within the game, such as items or NPCs can also have operating regions.

the four operating regions of a game are:

Pre-Game:

the Pre-game operating region is before the game has been launched, for example, this will be the period of time when the disc has yet to be inserted into the console, or when you are on the consoles dashboard before starting the game. it is possible at this time to influence the game before playing it, such as by changing settings on the console itself.

Game-Start:

The Game-start operating region is the period of time between launching the game and any gameplay aspect, such as a main menu at the start of the game, during the splash-screens showing company logos or an intro sequence. it is during this time that the game will be prepared for the player, whether or not the player is aware of this and it is essential to the proper performance and function of the game itself. It is only by reaching the end of this operating region that gameplay becomes possible.

In-Game:

the in-game operating region is when you actually play the game and have access to the vaious elements and mechanics within it. Depending on the element, these functions may be carried out multiple times throughout the course of the game, or just once.

Post-Game:

the post-game operating region takes place after you have played the game, usually when you turn the game off (with or without saving)

designing tests for computer games – triggers

There are 6 types of defect triggers within the operating regions of a game. each of these types of triggers are separate categories of game defects which can become an issue during testing.

the 6 types of trigger are:

configuration- configuration triggers are settings established before starting the game, such as system settings, language settings, date and time, etc.

startup- startup triggers are usually related to some sort of background operations carried out by the game, such as a loading screen

exception- exception triggers are code based, and therefore dependant on pieces of code within the game doing/not doing what it is supposed to do

Stress- the stress triggers are based on putting the hardware or software of a game under extreme conditions, such as changing settings to the highest possible value to see if anything breaks because of the strain.

normal- this takes place in the in-game operating region, and as such it is the most commonly used trigger type.

restart- this trigger is based on errors that occur after or during exiting the game

designing tests for computer games – Game test cycle

When games are being tested for bugs, there is a standard practice that exists within the industry. the first part of this cycle is planning the tests which will be carried to search for bugs, and these tests should be changed based on any build changes within the game, as the tests should check not just whether something has any bugs, but whether any different approaches to cause a bug will trigger it. the more thorough these tests are and the more detailed the plans, the more bugs that will be found whilst testing the game. another important aspect of the cycle that should be carried out whilst planning tests is preparation, most notably checking the bug database to see what bugs have already been found, and can ignore until they have been fixed, and which bugs have been fixed so that the fix can be verified via testing.

After planning and preparing for the bug testing, performing the tests is the next stage of the cycle. whilst carrying out tests, if any bugs are found, the bug needs to be “tested around”, to see if the bug can only be triggered in one way, or if it can be triggered by other methods. once this has been done, the nest stage of the cycle is to report any bugs found, with as much information about how to trigger the bugs, the severity, what they do, etc. so that the bug report can be as detailed and therefore useful as possible when the bug is being fixed.

The next part of the cycle is the bugs actually being fixed. once the bug report has been submitted, the bug needs to be confirmed following the details in the bug report, assuming that the report is correct. As shown in the diagram, there are several outcomes from this- the first is that the bug is found and fixed as planned, the next is that the reported bug is one that has already been found and reported, meaning that the report is essentially redundant. Another outcome is that the report is either incorrect in some way, or the bug was just a one-off, and the bug cannot be repeated, and therefore can’t be fixed.

Once the bug has been marked as having been fixed, the cycle is repeated by the testers to make sure that the bug really has been fixed, and to check that the patch didn’t cause any more bugs. If the bugs turn out to not have been properly resolved at this point, the bug is reopened, and the cycle is restarted.

http://gametesterlife.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/bug-life-cycle11.jpg

designing tests for computer games – bugs

Bugs are errors within a game usually resulting from a mistake made in the art or script of the game. For an error to be classed as a bug, it must be repeatable at the same point, which also allows for it t0 be fixed. When bugs are found, they are reported by the QA team along with the instructions on how to cause the bug in order for the games code to be rectified to remove the bug. There are several classifications for bugs, depending on the severity of the error

Crash: a crash bug is when something within a game causes the game to break completely and crash to desktop or lockup and completely freeze.

An example I have encountered in the game starbound is when you mouse over items such as the ice chucker or the bubblegun in an inventory, it causes the game to crash

another game-crashing bug is caused occasionally when using the search function at a crafting table in starbound.

Severe: a bug is classed as severe when it is impossible for the game to progress further , such as unkillable enemies, inaccessible areas, etc.

an example of this is in starbound how it was possible to activate the teleporter on the ship and trigger the teleporting animation, but not teleport off of it, rendering the player invisible and unable to interact with anything on the ship without quitting and reloading the game.

another severe bug was how it was possible to be knocked into a wall by monster npcs, which you potentially couldn’t break out of if you didn’t have any equipment in your inventory at the time which would allow you to dig your way out.

General: a general bug is something which affects gameplay, but not to the game-breaking extent of a severe bug, such as an npc having perfect aim with a weapon, items not having the affect they should or doors not opening when used.

An example I found of a general bug is in Super Meat Boy by falling through lava which should otherwise have killed the character, and can only be exited by jumping into the surface of the lava to die. whilst this isn’t too much of an issue in a game such as this where you die and restart the level on a regular basis, getting out of the intended area of a map is still a general bug for most games.

there are also some world generation bugs in starbound which can result in terrain being created badly, such as floating water ignoring its physics.

Minor: minor bugs have little-to-no effect on gameplay, but can still stand out in some small way, such as npcs not being where they are supposed to be.

A minor bug in starbound is when if you alt+tab the game whilst it is in fullscreen, the game becomes windowed and must be manually reset to fullscreen through the options menu

another minor bug is how npcs and enemies sometimes get stuck against small pieces of terrain (usually only bits that are one block high) and will keep running forward until they are knocked away from it.

Cosmetic: a cosmetic bug is something that doesn’t particularly affect the gameplay experience, but can be noticeable. it is often something along the lines of textures, models not loading properly, ui errors or spelling mistakes .

an example of this is how in Skyrim characters faces may not load their textures properly, usually when wearing specific types of hoods, and so show up only as black.

another example of a cosmetic bug in starbound is how npcs sometimes stand upright when they are sleeping, instead of lying in their bed as intended, though as this is only cosmetic, they still behave normally otherwise