Mod Tester's Handbook tutorial - Crispy

Conclusion

So you've read the tutorial (or maybe you haven't and you're just wondering whether you should bother), here's a list of things you should be able to take away with you:
You are no longer a playtester, you are a QA tester
If I hope to have achieved anything with this piece, it's that your average person playing a mod and raising concerns is now attacking the game mechanics and finding ways to really break the game. I'd love to see the day when the average mod or addon you download doesn't have any blockers, any crashes, any missing files, any holes in levels, anywhere the player can get stuck... All of these can be found by actually testing the game. You now have the tools to do just that, so find a mod you like and see if they need any help testing!

Finally testers and developers see eye-to-eye!
Improve the communication between devs and testers! If any devs have read this they should hopefully be documenting their fix attempts and writing proper bug reports (ones that can be found by searching a bug database for keywords!). Similarly, any debutant testers should now have a good understanding of games development terminology and how to write clear and communicative bug reports. Both parties play a key role in a game's development, so it's of the utmost importance that they are able to communicate with eachother effectively.

Professional skills
Finally, all of the information in this tutorial is taken from QA practises used within the industry. By applying these to your mod you're really lifting the bar on your product, whether it's a single map release or a full-blown total conversion. It also means if you do decide to go for a testing job in the industry, with this information in your head you will actually know what you're talking about and you will actually have practised the same skills expected of you in a professional QA department.

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and can apply some of these points to your own mod projects. If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comments area below. Private messages can be sent via the Mod Database or to my email, which is given at the start of the tutorial.

About the Author:
The author has over 15 months' professional QA testing experience across 7 platforms to date. He has dabbled in game editors for over 10 years, from Red Alert to Half-Life 2. He's written a number of tutorials for the Mod Database, so check 'em out!

Extra reading:
'Testing your mod' (QA management tutorial, coming soon)