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Unlock the Power of Automated Cross-Browser Game Testing

As an avid gamer with a software engineering background, I‘m excited by the vast potential for test automation to transform game development. With games now spanning across an incredible diversity of devices, browsers, and platforms, comprehensive testing is critical for success.

Manual testing alone struggles to keep pace with the 6000+ new Android devices released annually. And with games representing a $175B+ market growing at ~10% annually, there is too much at stake. This is why intelligent test automation that can keep up with the release velocity has become a competitive necessity.

However, to enable rapid automated testing across the myriad environments games support, the full capability for remote browser test automation must be unlocked first. Native app testing boasts mature tooling with Appium, Espresso, and others, but for browser-based games, challenges remain.

Fortunately, by enabling a remote WebDriver in Safari browser, we open the possibility for scalable automated game testing across Mac, iOS, and any environment Safari supports. In this post targeted at passionate gamers and game developers, we’ll walk through everything required to set up comprehensive remote browser test automation for games using Safari and the TestProject platform.

The Critical Need for Cross-Browser Game Testing

Let’s briefly highlight why automated cross-browser testing is so critical for modern game development:

Diverse testing is clearly needed across this ecosystem spanning thousands of devices. Research indicates over two-thirds of game developers struggle with inadequate test coverage and budgets. Test automation is the only scalable way forward.

And given Apple‘s massive ecosystem footprint, Safari browser test automation is a major stepping stone. By tackling automation compatibility with Safari using WebDriver, a solid foundation for automated cross-browser game validation is established.

Step-by-Step: How to Allow Remote Automation in Safari

Enabling full remote automation in Safari only takes a few quick steps:

  1. Open Safari preferences and go to the Advanced section
  2. Check the option for “Show Develop menu in menu bar”
  3. In the new Develop menu in the menu bar, enable the option for “Allow Remote Automation”

That’s all that is required to permit remote WebDriver clients to fully automate every action within Safari on a Mac!

With Safari now ready for automation, the open-source TestProject platform provides the user-friendly WebDriver capabilities to orchestrate real-world user flows in games. Let‘s see a simple example…

Automated Game Testing with TestProject

Here is a sample TestProject test that could automate an in-game purchase user flow across Safari on both Mac and iOS:

@Test
public void testInGamePurchaseFlow() {

  //Open remote Safari browser on Mac 
  RemoteWebDriver macDriver = new SafariDriver("macOS");

  //Navigate to game store 
  macDriver.get("https://game.com/store"); 
  macDriver.findElement(By.id("login")).login("testUser");

  //Add credits package to cart
  macDriver.findElement(By.css(".credit-pack")).click();

  //Checkout with payment  
  macDriver.findElement(By.id("submit-payment")).enterCC(VISA_CC).submit();  

  //Validate credits received in game
  macDriver.launchGame();
  Assert.assertEquals(CURRENT_CREDITS, STARTING_CREDITS + PACKAGE_CREDITS);


  //Repeat on iOS device  
  RemoteWebDriver iosDriver = new SafariDriver("iOS");
  iosDriver.get("https://game.com/store");
  //Play through checkout flow on iOS...

  //Confirm credits match    
  Assert.assertEquals(CURRENT_CREDITS, STARTING_CREDITS + PACKAGE_CREDITS);

}

This demonstrates how Safari test automation can validate flows working properly across Mac, iOS and any other target devices. API calls could also automate backend testing as well for complete coverage.

Key Benefits of Automated Cross-Browser Game Testing

There are several key benefits unlocked by embracing automated game testing powered by WebDriver frameworks like TestProject:

Optimized Development Costs

Enhanced Player Experience

  • Find device/browser-specific crashes and rendering issues before players do.
  • Consistent UI, payments, analytics across platforms.
  • Less disruptions to players from quality issues.

Maximized Release Velocity

  • Execute on 6000+ new Android devices annually.
  • Maintain quality benchmark compliance amid constant device fragmentation.
  • Integrate automation into CI/CD pipeline for rapid validation.

Future Proofing

  • Flags compatibility issues early across emerging devices, OSes and form factors.
  • Critical for geo-specific device testing across global user base.
  • Prepares games for explosive growth of cloud gaming and metaverse.

And this is only the beginning. Advanced test automation techniques like AI test generation produce tests without any coding to exponentially multiply capabilities!

Additional Tips for Smooth Automated Game Testing

Here are some final best practice pointers for game teams embracing test automation across Safari and other platforms:

  • For testing complex WebGL scenes, leverage Selenium Grid for distributed testing using headless browsers.
  • Use mobile emulators for quick sanity testing, real devices for final validation.
  • Configure device labs through TestProject to test geo-specific app stores.
  • Start integrating automation in dev workflows with CI/CD pipeline commits.
  • Mix end-to-end, integration, unit automated tests for complete coverage.

Already it‘s clear that automated testing will define the next generation of gaming innovation. I hope this post has inspired fellow gamers on the crucial value prop of unlocked test automation potential in meeting this future!

Let me know if you have any other questions on your automation testing journey!