Getting started
Learning paths through this topic
Check that the on-screen buttons for a phone are big enough to hit
Buttons that look fine in the game's own small picture can be tiny once the game is scaled to a phone, overlap the neighbour or sit half off the screen. This entry measures them the way a thumb meets them and lists every button that will frustrate players.
Check that every jump in a level the AI built can really be made
An AI places platforms by eye, and some gaps are wider or higher than the hero can ever jump, so the level cannot be finished. This entry works out the real reach of a jump from the hero's speed and gravity and lists every step that is out of reach.
Build enemy waves that grow harder without being random noise
Asking the AI for more enemies each wave tends to give either an empty first wave, a flood of the strongest type too early, or a wave that never ends. This entry spends a number of points per wave on the enemy types allowed so far, in a way that always finishes.
Pictures and sounds load on my computer but are missing on the phone
A file that opens fine while you test can be missing in the published game, often because of a tiny difference in how the name is written. Here is a check your AI can run on the asset list that finds missing, misspelled and unused files before the players do.
One wrong number in my game settings file silently breaks the game
When the numbers that balance a game live in a file the AI edits, one slip, such as a number written as text or a minimum above a maximum, can pass unnoticed until the game behaves strangely. Here is a check that reads the whole file and lists every problem with where it is.
My small puzzle game is suddenly a huge download, what grew?
A game that started tiny can quietly grow until players on slow connections give up on the download. Here is a size budget your AI can check on every build: it says which kind of file is over its share and names the biggest culprits to fix first.
Players say my buttons are hard to hit on their phone
A button that looks fine on your monitor can be a fingertip-sized problem on a small, sharp phone screen, because pixel counts mean different physical sizes. Here is the conversion your AI should use and a check that finds every too-small button, plus how to fix it without redrawing.
The play streak resets even though the player did not skip a day
Streaks feel great until one is lost unfairly: the player simply has not played yet today, or missed a single day and had a protection item. Here is the counting rule that treats today as still open and spends protection days only where they actually save the streak.
I published the game with test settings still switched on
Cheat keys, test ad codes, a development server address: things that help while building are embarrassing or costly once players have them. Here is a last check before publishing that walks through the whole settings file and refuses to continue if anything of that kind is left.
After one bad update the game crashes at launch and players cannot recover
If something in the saved data makes the game crash while loading, every new start crashes the same way, and the only cure is deleting the app, and with it the progress. A small start-up counter lets the game notice the loop and take gentler steps before giving up.
The game is smooth on my phone but stutters on older ones
You cannot test every phone, so let the game watch itself and turn down its own effects when it struggles. The trick is to do it without flickering between settings every second. Here is a small governor with the rules for stepping down, and for stepping back up only when it is safe.
When should the game offer a hint to a player who is stuck?
A hint that pops up too soon spoils the puzzle, and one that never comes loses the player. Time since the level started tells you nothing; what the player has been doing does. Here is a simple rule that reacts to idle time and wrong moves, and gives stronger help only when the weaker help was not enough.