Bugs in the System
Now that is a E - Cosmetic bug.
What are bugs?
No they are not insects but they sure are as a nuisance as them.
Bugs within a game are basically something that has happened within the game that is unexpected to happen. Even if the bug happened to be absolutely hilarious to us or it's as small as a door flashing at a certain angle of a camera, they are all bugs and are all worth fixing.
Of course there is no such thing as a perfect game with no bugs. There will always be bugs in a game no matter what we do to fix it. After one fix there will be more bugs in the fix and the most game developers can do is fix the bugs that prevent us from enjoying the game. Even with a huge QA team, there will always be very small bugs that will not be found and eventually being released into the final game. These bugs generally does not affect gameplay so it's not that much of a problem.
There are different types of classification of bugs for game testers to use when writing the report for the bug. The types makes fixing the bug easier as it is prioritized and defined. Generally if the bug is not repeatable even after restarting the game then it is a completely pointless bug and not worth noting and fixing. Obviously if you can't repeat it then it really isn't that much of a problem at all.
Types of Bugs
A - Crash
This is a bug that effectively crashes the game or hardware when initiated. It could freeze the game, close the game down and dump the player to desktop or completely crash the machine and causes it to turn off/restart. Any of the above is the behaviour of a A - Crash bug. They should not make it into the final release at all! It is absolutely unacceptable.
Game breaking Crash bug that people has encountered in Pokemon Y. Saving in the town Lumiose is absolutely fine but loading in after saving in Lumiose freezes the player completely, nothing happens, you can't move, you can't use the touch screen, the buildings' textures are not rendered properly. This completely breaks the game and requires the player to restart from the start.
A Crash graphical bug in SimCity 2013 when the player looked at the Willis Tower they freeze up and completely crash. This however was not repeatable but the user did quote...
I've tried to replicate the bug to no success so i can't even test it again, however it plausible it's memory issues in the fact that its not removing certain aspects of the textures files, confusing them, inter-swapping them and so on them just clambering up together but other than that i personally think it was a glitch in the engine programming rather than memory. But again like you, nothing more than a stab in the dark.
This is most definitely a crash bug even if it isn't repeatable!
The infamous "Blue Screen of Death" could also appear after a A - Crash bug has been initiated.
B - Severe
A severe bug (to me is much more frightening than a Crash bug) and they basically stop the player from progressing within the story and that normally results in the player restarting the game completely right from the start unless they have an earlier save point but even then it is possible that the bug will stop the player from progressing within the story.
This bug could really be anything as long as it stops the player from progressing through the story. Some good examples is missing key items for a completion of a question, missing NPC for the quest, being trapped in an area unable to progress, over powered bosses and much more!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdIjVsHJX4E
Game breaking bug in Grand Theft Auto 5 where player can not take out their weapon and the mission doesn't dismiss. The player has to restart the game and reload the to be able to progress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YFVdgP2Dv4
In Portal 2 there is a bug when you finish the stage and you put Wheatley in the exit hallway and go back for the companion cube, the cube will disintegrate over and over and over and over and over again forcing the player to restart the level as they can not go back to the exit again.
In Portal 2 there is a bug when you finish the stage and you put Wheatley in the exit hallway and go back for the companion cube, the cube will disintegrate over and over and over and over and over again forcing the player to restart the level as they can not go back to the exit again.
C - General
A general bug is not as bad as Severe nor Crash but it is definitely notable as it still affects gameplay and could be frustrating for players. They generally consist of annoying bugs that requires the player put effort into doing simple tasks because it is so broken. For example trying to do something as simple as talking to an NPC and it become a struggle as there's something in between you and the NPC blocking you from clicking them but it's invisible and you keep trying to talk to the NPC but you can never click them because this invisible object is blocking you from the NPC but after 10 tries and the player clicks on the NPC or the NPC walks to a specific location and you can click them then that is a General bug as it s does not stop the player from progressing through the story but it is so annoying and frustrating that it affects the gameplay. Another example is trying to open the door but this door keeps on getting stuck but it is possible to glitch past the object that is causing the door to be stuck which means being able to progress but effort is put in to work around the bug to get past it.
A common General bug in InfestationMMO. As you can seen, the zombie glitched through the fence and killed the player. This is a General bug because it is affecting gameplay as it kills the player making them retrace their steps to get to where they have gotten.
In League of Legends, the champion Rengar goes completely invisible when walking against a straight wall. Even if the opposite team places a ward at the place where he goes invisible he remains invisible which is not possible. This bug is classed as General because even though it is a visual glitch, it affects the game play of specifically League of Legends because if the opposite side can not see Rengar and he is completely hidden then it is possible for Rengar to jump out and attack without the enemy team noticing making this a fustrating bug if it were to be reproduced during a ranked game.
D - Minor
A minor bug is very similar to a General bug except it is not as serious it is just strange and not something that should appear in the game but it still changes gameplay in such a way that if the player is becoming immersed within the game and then all of a sudden an NPC the player is supposed to talk to is facing towards the wall. This will pull the player back to reality and realise that this is a bug of some sort!
This glitch is from the Japanese Goldeneye game. When players tilt the game cartridge to the side whilst they are still playing the game then the characters within the game will start spazzing out and having a fit. The reason why this is a Minor glitch is before it's much too noticable to ignore. It doesn't really effect the gameplay but it's not a "still" glitch.
This is in FIFA 12 when sometimes character run into each other and start intimately engaging each other. This is definitely a Minor bug because this would not happen in a real football match and the main aim of this game is realism in football not realism in intimately engaging with other men. This not only ruins the gameplay but also may disgust some homophobic players.
This is actually a mod in Skyrim but something like this would be a good example of a minor bug (if it was a bug.)
E - Cosmetic
Most games have a lot of cosmetic bugs. They are basic graphics errors or texture errors within the game. The most common cosmetic bug within 3D games is clipping especially in an open world game, there will always be clipping with the character models and the environment. It is extremely common even in released games. There will always be cosmetic bugs no matter how much it is fixed. This is very difficult to completely get rid of as there is so much visuals in a game and to check every single square of the game world is not quite possible. Even if there was a designated person who looks for only cosmetic bugs they will not be able to find it all or it is not something that really needs to be spent time on fixing as it can be very easily ignored. These bugs generally does not affect game play.
Another great example of a Cosmetic bug is within Oblivion the guards that you kill near a door you can glitch them into the door and watch them have a fit against the door. This is a cosmetic bug because it doesn't affect the game play one bit just looks really out of place.
Thank you for the nice article here. Really nice and keep update to explore more gaming tips and ideas.
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