The Pac-Man Problem of Game Testing

For those that don’t know, there is no actual ending to the game Pac Man (or many other classic arcade games).  The game simply freezes once you beat the 256th level.  Why is this?  Because the game developers never tested the game that far.

When I first heard this, I thought it is a funny and somewhat ridiculous story.  Now that we’re in the final stretch before releasing, each day involves testing the game through multiple times on multiple devices.  It takes a very long time and is fairly tedious.

So Pac-Man team: I forgive you!  I completely understand, now, why you didn’t test that far in your game.

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