Verifying builds without physical device

Development Discussion
#1

Hi fellow play date enthusiasts :slight_smile:

Wondering if there is any way to get a device build verified without actually owning a physical device?
As we all know, these are quite hard to come by as it is now.

It'd be great if there was a web-interface where you could upload your build and have it run through some auto-tests to verify if it will actually run on a real device as it is today, you can't really know. Sure, it works in the simulator but as well all know, things can be a bit different on a real device.

/Jimmie

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#2

I would say that the Simulator is a pretty wholistic representation of the physical device, within reason anything that builds in the Simulator will likely run on device.

The big question is just CPU, memory, and general performance stuff. I think if it were possible, they would have built tests and verifications to do this, but the hardware is so specific that it's not realistic to emulate its restrictions.

All that said, nearly anyone on this forum with a physical device is happy to download a build that you post and let you know how the FPS/performance is running. Just ask ! :slight_smile:

#3

I’ve been tinkering with this idea (essentially mirror but through a web browser and with a queue), what sort of “auto tests” do you have in mind?

#4

Sounds awesome if people are willing to run tests on physical devices.

You happen to know which subsection of the forum might be best to post a question for running a build?

I think I saw one along the lines of "try my game" so I guess that would be a good place to start.

Thanks for the info!

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#5

Sounds good, I bet a lot of ppl would like to have access to something like this.

Basic test would be to see if just runs at all without crashing or just shutting down.

After that would probably be some sort of performance test, some sort of read-out of fps for the first 15 seconds of the game.

Functionality testing would be good too but might be harder to figure out.

A simple "does the game run" at first would be sweet.
Maybe a video capture of the first 15 seconds? That would allow you to gauge how well the game runs.
You could tune your build so it just runs what would be sort of the main game loop with maximum output and get a video back of what it looked like.

#6

Honestly, asking anywhere is ok. If you're just looking to see if it runs, maybe ask in the #get-help channel? Otherwise if you feel like it's ready to show off, put it in #games and lots of us will test it out. :slight_smile:

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#7

That would be pretty possible. I’ll tinker with it some more. I have some hardware dedicated to exactly this.

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