Modders Should Personally Play-test Their Mods

[David Brasher]

Many modders already do a splendid job of play-testing their mods and providing gamers free content that looks great, functions perfectly, and is great fun. I really appreciate those skilled and dedicated contributors to the Oblivion community.

 

But then there are those other modders.

 

I download a lot of new mods by new modders and a lot of it comes across as worthless trash. That is the impression I get of it. If these modders had bothered to play-test their mods and debug them, then I would probably be endorsing them, posting favorable comments, and recommending them to other people to play. The basic mod ideas are often great, but if the mods can't be played because they don't work, or look so terrible that the gamer is completely distracted, then that makes them seem like bad mods instead of good mods.

 

With many of these small mods I test, the play-testing and debugging could be done in one to three hours by a skilled modder. For a new modder, it would take longer, but not long enough to delay release of the mod by more than a day or two. And people would love the mods and give out kudos rather than trashing on the defective mods and insulting the modders.

 

I feel that the minimum best practice is for the modder himself or herself to play clear through a new mod three times before releasing it. Fix bugs during and after each play-test except for the last one. The last one is the one where you don't find anything else to fix. You may have to play-test six times to reach the point where you don't find anything more to fix. Then you can feel confident that the mod works pretty good when you turn it over to play-testers or release it to the public.

 

If life pushes you into releasing your mod before it is ready, warn the public. Put a label on your mod such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, or WIP (Work In Progress.) Put lots of information in your readme. If you have not furnished the castle in your mod, then say so. Then people will know that that portion of the mod is still being worked on and they won't complain about bugs, your lack of decorating sense, or your laziness concerning the castle.

 

I believe all modders should provide technical support for their mods unless they clearly state in the readme that the mod is abandoned and unsupported. If you are releasing mods that are not in their finished state, then I believe it is extra important to read the comments on your mod and answer the Personal Messages people send you. The public may be play-testing your buggy, problem-ridden mod for free, so you should have the respect for them they deserve and read and analyze their messages and hopefully debug your mod and turn it into a good mod people love to download.

[Alastair91]

Well stated, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for posting this and being the only person to speak out.

[Argomirr]

I totally agree with you. Testing your own mods is not only important, it's also the quickest way of getting bugs fixed. If you spot the bugs yourself, it's a lot easier to fix it.

 

Updating my latest mod, Automatic Difficulty Increaser, took roughly four hours. Three of them were spent testing the code, then applying changes, then testing again. As a result, I can say that I'm almost 100% sure it's free of bugs.