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Autori principali: Gomez, Carlos Pinto, Petrillo, Fabio
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08834
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author Gomez, Carlos Pinto
Petrillo, Fabio
author_facet Gomez, Carlos Pinto
Petrillo, Fabio
contents Conventional debugging techniques used in traditional software are similarly used when debugging video games. However, the reality of video games require its own set of unique debugging techniques such as On-Screen Console, Debug Draws, Debug Camera, Cheats and In-Game Menus, and Data Scrubbing. In this article, we provide insights from a video game studio on how 20 seasoned industry game developers debug during the production of a game. Our experiments rely on the recordings of debugging sessions for the most critical bugs categorized as Crashes, Object Behaviors, and Object Persistence. In this paper, we focus on identifying the debugging activities that bottleneck bug resolution. We also identify the debugging tools used to perform debugging techniques. Lastly, we present how different disciplines collaborate during debugging and how technical roles are at the core of debugging. Our thematic analysis has identified game developers spend 36.6\% of their time inspecting game artifacts and 35.1\% of their time reproducing the bug locally.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_08834
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifying Video Game Debugging Bottlenecks: An Industry Perspective
Gomez, Carlos Pinto
Petrillo, Fabio
Software Engineering
Conventional debugging techniques used in traditional software are similarly used when debugging video games. However, the reality of video games require its own set of unique debugging techniques such as On-Screen Console, Debug Draws, Debug Camera, Cheats and In-Game Menus, and Data Scrubbing. In this article, we provide insights from a video game studio on how 20 seasoned industry game developers debug during the production of a game. Our experiments rely on the recordings of debugging sessions for the most critical bugs categorized as Crashes, Object Behaviors, and Object Persistence. In this paper, we focus on identifying the debugging activities that bottleneck bug resolution. We also identify the debugging tools used to perform debugging techniques. Lastly, we present how different disciplines collaborate during debugging and how technical roles are at the core of debugging. Our thematic analysis has identified game developers spend 36.6\% of their time inspecting game artifacts and 35.1\% of their time reproducing the bug locally.
title Identifying Video Game Debugging Bottlenecks: An Industry Perspective
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08834