What do you do if you encounter a bug while developing a game?

Carefully observe the game's behavior when the bug occurs and take detailed notes. Attempt to reproduce the bug consistently by following the same sequence of actions(replication steps) to highlight the piece of code causes the error Utilize debugging tools, log output, and error messages to investigate the bug. Check the version control history for recent changes that may be related to the bug.

A simple yet essential advice for those developing Android games in Unity. Make sure you download the "Android Logcat" package from the Unity Registry in the package manager. It will give you all the log data you need when testing games on real devices.

If you're working in a team, the first thing to do is check with your team to see if anyone has already encountered the problem. This helps avoid wasting time on something that's already been discovered and also alerts others so they don't spend time working on the same issue. If it truly is something new, then document and share it on your work board.

Adding comment in crucial section of the code is vitals, it act as a bookmark for you to track your bugs and narrow it down when it necessary. When a game have thousands lines of code, you need to either run the game or debug features to find out where they are. But if the bug is not highlighted, one way is to run the game and see what the bug is. Then you gonna head to your code section base on the problems that occurs. For examples, the character models doesn't load in as it should. Or that level is unplayable, you can then search up the bookmarks comment.

When writing a remember the key points of a good bug ticket: - A clear title - A good description of the behavior - Very detailed reproductions steps - Include a record, gif, screenshot, etc

If I encounter a bug while developing a game, I immediately isolate the issue, identify its root cause through debugging techniques, fix the problem, and thoroughly test the solution to ensure it resolves the issue without introducing new ones.

Start by pinpointing the bug. 1-Can you make it happen again? You need to know where, when, and how the bug shows up. 2-Write it all down, the nitty-gritty details, the error messages, what you were doing when it reared its head. 3-Think of each bug as a puzzle; your notes are the pieces that will help you see the full picture and ultimately lead you to a solution. And remember, this isn’t just about fixing what’s broken; it’s about learning and making sure it stays fixed.

It is very essential to identify bug during development stage, from the side of user we have to check and spot the bugs. In most of the time bugs will improve your game and it becomes a reason for new ideas and changes for your game. So we need to understand the reason for bugs and sort it out before launching.

Firstly, reading errors always comes in handy. Ensure you have all of your debug tools enabled and installed. For Unreal Engine, make sure you've installed the editor debug symbols for the engine version you're using. It's important to keep track of and test for actions that could have caused the bug. It may be intermittent, it may be disconnected entirely from player input. It's important to identify what's wrong, but also when it's wrong.

Reproduce the bug to understand its symptoms and behavior. Determine the exact conditions under which the bug occurs and gather relevant information, such as error messages or stack traces.

It's always useful, after learning more about the bug, to write unit tests that capture the situation and fail. This makes it easier to ensure that the solution works and that the issue won't recur in future changes.

Greyboxes are critical for testing; isolating the affected class can narrow down how its interaction with other gameplay pieces informs to behavior of the bug. Codebase knowledge is critical here. It's important to know as much as possible about what functions are executed and what properties change at any given moment within an object. Take advantage of breakpoints, console logging, and unit testing. Ensure that you launch the project in debug mode during a bug hunting session.

Narrow down the scope of the bug by isolating the factors that contribute to its occurrence. This may involve disabling or modifying specific features or components of the game to identify the root cause of the issue.

Narrow Down: Once you have reproduced the bug, isolate it by minimizing the scope of code under consideration. Look at recent changes or specific components that could be responsible. Check Logs: Examine any error logs or debug outputs to find clues about the bug's location or cause.

The official documentation, online forums, and social media communities dedicated to your game engine can be very helpful in resolving the issue. Explore tutorials and guides available online . API documentation and bug tracking systems to see if others have encountered similar issues and if solutions are available. If needed, reaching out to official support channels(discord groups) provided by the game engine can help a lot. By tapping into these resources, you can efficiently troubleshoot and resolve bugs encountered during your game development.

A quick Google or conversation with ChatGPT could squash your bug, but it's also important to ensure you can effectively communicate and understand the root of the issue. "My mesh is acting weird when I shoot it" is not an effective question and will likely result in a dialogue tree of responses. A forum or Discord of fellow developers will ask for me detail in exasperation. Ensure that you can effectively phrase the problem, such as "My static mesh object is moving when I shoot it with a bullet, just like I want it to, but it's doing so in the wrong direction". This can help you and others narrow down the possibilities of what kind of code could be causing the bug.

I follow this sequence every time: 1 - Search in the repository to see if there isn't an open issue. Even if there isn't, we might find solutions for some use cases with people experienced in that library or engine. 2- Look in forums to see some solutions and what people say about these solutions. Sometimes something might seem to solve the issue but introduces other problems. 3 - Knowing more about the problem, I then analyze it with AIs, check the potential solutions they give us, and judge based on the knowledge acquired in the previous steps. 4 - Create the unit tests that fail in the case of the bug. 5 - Implement the most viable solution.

Investigate possible causes and solutions for the bug by consulting documentation, forums, and other resources. Search for similar issues reported by other developers and explore potential fixes or workarounds that have been successful in similar situations.

Nowadays there are a lot of resources you can look for. YouTube, forums like stackoverflow, IAs like chatgpt or githubcopilot (there are a lot more). Even there are many content creators on livesrteaming platforms teaching videogame programing.

Look Up Documentation: Check game engine and platform documentation to understand common issues and possible solutions. Search Online: Use search engines or forums for similar issues encountered by others and possible fixes. Consult Peers: Talk to colleagues or other developers who may have encountered and solved similar issues.

After fixing a bug, ensuring two points are necessary 1) The issue itself is correctly fixed 2) The fix doesn't affect the already existing which was working properly For this extensive test rounds are to be conducted including unit tests, inter-feature tests, regression tests ,Retesting should be done. After a potential bug is fixes, the code should be pushed with the bug fix name so that the versions can be reverted back when needed.

In this case, it's very important not only to have unit tests that cover all the scenarios where the bug occurred but also integration and regression tests to see if everything else remains unaffected. It's always good to stress the importance of testing in any project. If you have a team of test players, make sure they have all the information on how to cause the bug, so they can do their job effectively.

Implement and test potential fixes for the bug in a controlled environment. Verify that the proposed solutions effectively resolve the issue without introducing new bugs or unintended side effects. Test the game thoroughly to ensure that the bug is no longer present under various conditions and scenarios.

Ensuring that the problem is already fixed, is testing it on differents assets that can try the functionality. So you are 100% right the script is going well.

Apply Fixes: Once you have a potential solution, apply it carefully and with minimal changes to avoid introducing new bugs. Test in Context: Test the fix in the context of the original scenario where the bug occurred. Regression Testing: Ensure the fix doesn't cause other issues in different parts of the game.

Document the changes made to address the bug, including any modifications to code, assets, or configurations. Keep detailed records of the bug's symptoms, the steps taken to reproduce it, and the solutions implemented to resolve it. This documentation will help maintain clarity and accountability throughout the development process.

Some bugs have been long-standing and addressed with cobbled-together solutions. It's important to document all fixes for a bug, even those that aren't intended to be permanent solutions. This documentation will be critical during code-cleanups or any refactors that may involve relocating logic into other classes and dealing with the multiple segments of code that address a bug. Programmers will often avoid touching a piece of code if they don't know what it does, so documenting bug-fix code will give other programmers more discretion during optimization and refactoring.

Using git will make your life easier, setting up branches and commits with all the information you used to resolve porblems or adding notes about your new code makes easy to keep track about your working.

Reflect on the experience of encountering and resolving the bug, and identify any lessons learned or areas for improvement in the development process. Consider whether there are underlying issues or patterns that contributed to the bug's occurrence and implement preventive measures to avoid similar issues in the future.

What's most important about bugs is to learn why they occurred. Failing to account for various circumstances can often lead to bugs in game code. More often than not, careful consideration and design of code implementation will prevent unnecessary bugs and debugging time. With each bug you encounter, consider what you could have predicted or known that would have stopped the bug from occurring. Generalize that knowledge, and then apply it going forward. For instance, if a bug occurs when a player jumps and shoots at the same time, fixing the bug should teach you to consider what happens when a multitude of inputs are simultaneously triggered.

Remember to stay informed about all the changes that the software you use to code when it gets upgraded. Is always good to work on the last LTS version.

Analyze the Root Cause: Understand what led to the bug and whether changes to your coding practices or architecture could prevent similar issues in the future. Share Knowledge: Discuss the bug and resolution with your team to prevent similar issues and to learn from each other.

When encountering a bug, ask yourself in what testing stage this bug should be caught, and it didn't add that label. This will help you find what levels of testing could be improved

6 years ago my approach was different than what I follow today and that’s because of my learnings and experience over the years. But the one Strategy that remains valid for any stage of career is to use “RUBBER DUCK METHOD” at first stage. This method explains most of the time developers are stuck in an issue because they themselves does not breakdown the problem into pieces. So VERBALISING the problem to others, even to a rubber duck, clarifies most of the doubts.

Encountering bugs during game development is inevitable, often surfacing during builds or through rigorous testing. It's important to note that not all issues are true bugs; sometimes, they result from incorrectly applied behaviors we assumed were correct. By dividing the project into manageable blocks and conducting thorough tests after completing each, we can document necessary improvements and identify any errors or bugs early. Upon finding an issue, asking why it occurred and how to prevent future occurrences is crucial. Continuous testing is essential for effectively pinpointing and resolving these challenges, enhancing the game's quality.This methodical approach ensures a smoother development process and a higher quality final product

Every bug is a lesson in disguise. It’s a chance not just to fix something, but to improve, Each bug squashed is a step toward becoming a more seasoned developer.