As video games get bigger and better, so do the errors and glitches. Regardless of how many hours your game development team spends polishing the video game, some technical glitches are bound to occur. Unlike typical glitches that may require a reset or interrupt tasks, the worst glitches can cause significant problems and may not be fixed easily. So, before launching your next game, it’s crucial to test the worst video game glitches to avoid harming the players in the long run.
But why do video game glitches occur? And what are some of the worst video game glitches to test before launching your next game? Let’s find out.
Why Do Video Game Glitches Occur?
Video game glitches can happen due to various reasons. Usually, they occur due to issues within the code or faulty animation controls. As a result, you must manage your game’s code during development and even after launching it.
Also, consider patching and releasing new updates for your video game to remove bugs and glitches from the previous versions. This ensures your game is sustainable and free from bugs in the long run.
10 Worst Video Game Glitches to Test Before Launching Your Game
Here are some worst video game glitches you should test before launching your next game:
1. Game-Breaking Crashes and Freezing
Crashing and freezing are some common glitches that occur due to system overload. These glitches are the most critical that can cause your game to crash, forcing players to restart. These glitches have a significant impact on the gameplay experience. In fact, they can lead to players switching to alternative games. Therefore, as a developer, it will ruin your reputation and lose your market share.
But what are some issues that may result in game-breaking crashes and freezing? Well, such glitches stem from various problems, such as:
- Corrupted game data
- Memory leaks, and
- Improperly handled exceptions.
Therefore, before launching your next game, conduct rigorous testing to identify and rectify any scenarios that lead to game-breaking crashes or freezing. This ensures your game runs seamlessly and offers a stable player experience, free from frustrating interruptions.
2. Save File Corruption
Imagine playing your game and later finding that your progress or data wasn’t saved. This is perhaps a player’s worst nightmare. Always ensure that saving and loading game progress works correctly to prevent data loss.
3. Infinite Loading Screens
Infinite loading screens are a common glitch that significantly impacts the gameplay experience. Instead of the game opening as it should, players are stuck with loading screens. Therefore, you should prevent such glitches before launching your next game, as they trap players in a limbo state.
Thorough game testing is essential to ensure reasonable loading times to prevent frustrations related to infinite loading screens. Also, test the game to ensure it transitions seamlessly between multiple sections. This enables players to enjoy a smoother, more immersive gaming experience and improves overall satisfaction.
4. Character Clipping and Collision Glitches
A video game entails characters interacting with each other. However, their interaction may be faulty, leading to objects or characters getting stuck in walls, terrains, or on each other. This can break gameplay and immersion in your game. Therefore, before launching your next game, perform rigorous collision testing to ensure characters behave as they should after a collision.
5. Texture and Model Glitches
Errors in the texture and model of your game can significantly detract from the visual appeal of the game. This impacts player immersion negatively. For instance, texture glitches may involve gaming assets failing to load appropriately, leading to missing or blurry textures. On the other hand, model errors can result in misshapen or distorted in-game objects.
Thorough texture and model testing is crucial to identify and rectify such issues. This ensures that all in-game assets, from textures to 3D models, render correctly. As a result, they deliver a visually polished and engaging gaming experience.
6. Audio Bugs
Sound is crucial for the gaming experience. Glitches in the game sound affect the player’s experience and engagement. These glitches may include missing or incorrectly triggered sounds, audio looping issues, or dialogues that are out of sync with character actions.
Perform thorough testing to identify and mitigate audio inconsistencies before releasing your game to the public. With a polished and coherent audio experience, you can enhance your game’s emotional impact and immersion.
7. HUD and UI Glitches
Heads-up display (HUD) and user interface (UI) are crucial game elements. They determine user feedback as players directly interact with these components. So, check for problems such as missing HUD elements, incorrect information display, and overlapping UI components before launching your next game.
With error-free and well-designed HUD/UI, players can engage more with your game’s mechanics. Therefore, they can enjoy a more immersive and enjoyable experience.
8. Physics Glitches
In gaming, physics engines can sometimes generate bizarre results. This affects the overall gameplay performance, whereby the game produces unrealistic results. Therefore, you should thoroughly test your game before releasing it to ensure objects do not behave unrealistically, like falling through the ground and floating in mid-air.
9. Quest and Mission Progression Issues
Before releasing your next game, ensure missions or quests can be completed while storylines flow correctly without any game-breaking issues. Players should never get stuck in a quest loop, as it affects their experience.
10. AI Problems
If you’re about to release a game with AI-controlled characters and enemies, they should behave realistically. Check for issues, like non-player characters (NPCs) getting stuck in terrain, failing to respond according to player actions, or acting unpredictably.
With that said, extensive testing of non-player characters is crucial to identifying and mitigating such glitches. This will help ensure all your NPCs behave appropriately, delivering a seamless playing experience.
Final Thoughts
Video game glitches are pretty common. However, their severity may vary depending on their impact and have far-reaching consequences on your game’s success. Therefore, thoroughly test these worst video glitches before deploying your next game. Consider automated testing and employ experienced game QA testers to ensure your game is free from glitches before release. Regular updates and patching can also ensure glitches are addressed even after launching the game to the public.
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