ConTEST NYC 2019

Applying testing principles to games is fun for the whole family.

Declan Huggins (a teenager) tests games, but he calls it "glitching".
He tries it with every game he plays. One favorite glitch is to set
the system clock back 30 days, restart the game, set the clock
forward, collect all the time-based rewards, then send a note to the
game devs. He says finding glitches in this way works in about half of
the games he tries. He'll even go and check new version release notes weeks or months later in the app store to see if they fixed it.

Jason Huggins (Declan's dad), makes test automation tools
professionally, but has a slightly different approach than his
youngest son when it comes to testing. Jason builds physical robots
for tapping on phones, tablets, and other touchscreens. When the
robots are run on a continuous basis, the goal isn't so much to
explore and find new glitches, but to hopefully verify that common
paths haven't been broken by app or system updates.

This talk will cover lessons Declan and Jason have learned in testing
from their different perspectives, and hopefully encourage attendees
to discover their own ways to find new glitches for fun and/or profit.
Declan and Jason's approaches to testing might be different, but the
goal is often the same, and could be yours, too: to have fun and learn
new things.