mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Augmenting Automated Game Testing with Deep Reinforcement Learning

arXiv 2103.15819 ↗First posted 29 Mar 2021cs.LG cs.AIcited by 38

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

General game testing relies on the use of human play testers, play test scripting, and prior knowledge of areas of interest to produce relevant test data. Using deep reinforcement learning (DRL), we introduce a self-learning mechanism to the game testing framework. With DRL, the framework is capable of exploring and/or exploiting the game mechanics based on a user-defined, reinforcing reward signal. As a result, test coverage is increased and unintended game play mechanics, exploits and bugs are discovered in a multitude of game types. In this paper, we show that DRL can be used to increase test coverage, find exploits, test map difficulty, and to detect common problems that arise in the testing of first-person shooter (FPS) games.

Key facts. Cited by 38 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 7 of its 12 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 29 Mar 2021.

Builds on

7 of 12 references.

References · 7

  1. 2017Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithmscited by 14,441
  2. 2017Curiosity-driven Exploration by Self-supervised Predictioncited by 1,173
  3. 2019Emergent Tool Use From Multi-Agent Autocurriculacited by 308
  4. 2016Learning to Navigate in Complex Environmentscited by 192
  5. 2016Playing FPS Games with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 95
  6. 2018Imitation Learning with Concurrent Actions in 3D Gamescited by 18
  7. 2019Automatic Playtesting for Game Parameter Tuning via Active Learningcited by 9

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 3; 2022: 10; 2023: 7; 2024: 6; 2025: 9; 2026: 3.

38 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2021Direct Behavior Specification via Constrained Reinforcement Learningcited by 30
  2. 2022CLIP meets GamePhysics: Towards bug identification in gameplay videos using zero-shot transfer learningcited by 15
  3. 2023Games for Artificial Intelligence Research: A Review and Perspectivescited by 14
  4. 2022Towards Informed Design and Validation Assistance in Computer Games Using Imitation Learningcited by 13
  5. 2023Technical Challenges of Deploying Reinforcement Learning Agents for Game Testing in AAA Gamescited by 12
  6. 2022Automated Play-Testing Through RL Based Human-Like Play-Styles Generationcited by 11
  7. 2022Inspector: Pixel-Based Automated Game Testing via Exploration, Detection, and Investigationcited by 7
  8. 2021Predicting Game Engagement and Difficulty Using AI Playerscited by 5
  9. 2022Learning to Identify Perceptual Bugs in 3D Video Gamescited by 5
  10. 2024Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks to Detect Rendered Glitches in Video Gamescited by 5
  11. 2023Improving Generalization in Game Agents with Data Augmentation in Imitation Learningcited by 4
  12. 2021Distilling Reinforcement Learning Tricks for Video Gamescited by 3
26 more
  1. 2022World of Bugs: A Platform for Automated Bug Detection in 3D Video Gamescited by 3
  2. 2022A Comparison of Reinforcement Learning Frameworks for Software Testing Taskscited by 3
  3. 2022Go-Explore Complex 3D Game Environments for Automated Reachability Testingcited by 3
  4. 2023Generating Personas for Games with Multimodal Adversarial Imitation Learningcited by 3
  5. 2023Preference-conditioned Pixel-based AI Agent For Game Testingcited by 3
  6. 2024Return-Aligned Decision Transformercited by 3
  7. 2024Reinforcement Learning for High-Level Strategic Control in Tower Defense Gamescited by 3
  8. 2025Bayesian Optimization-based Search for Agent Control in Automated Game Testingcited by 3
  9. 2026Open-Ended Video Game Glitch Detection with Agentic Reasoning and Temporal Groundingcited by 3
  10. 2022Automatic Testing and Validation of Level of Detail Reductions Through Supervised Learningcited by 2
  11. 2023PlotMap: Automated Layout Design for Building Game Worldscited by 2
  12. 2025Synergizing Code Coverage and Gameplay Intent: Coverage-Aware Game Playtesting with LLM-Guided Reinforcement Learningcited by 2
  13. 2022Task Relabelling for Multi-task Transfer using Successor Featurescited by 1
  14. 2023Automatic Bug Detection in Games using LSTM Networkscited by 1
  15. 2024Difficulty Modelling in Mobile Puzzle Games: An Empirical Study on Different Methods to Combine Player Analytics and Simulated Datacited by 1
  16. 2024Aligning Agents like Large Language Modelscited by 1
  17. 2024A Benchmark Environment for Offline Reinforcement Learning in Racing Gamescited by 1
  18. 2025Leveraging Reward Models for Guiding Code Review Comment Generationcited by 1
  19. 2025Learning Representations in Video Game Agents with Supervised Contrastive Imitation Learningcited by 1
  20. 20254Hammer: a board-game reinforcement learning environment for the hour long time framecited by 0
  21. 2025A modular framework for automated evaluation of procedural content generation in serious games with deep reinforcement learning agentscited by 0
  22. 2025Runtime Failure Hunting for Physics Engine Based Software Systems: How Far Can We Go?cited by 0
  23. 2025VRScout: Towards Real-Time, Autonomous Testing of Virtual Reality Gamescited by 0
  24. 2025UBCL: A Reinforcement Learning Framework for Controllable and Diverse Player Behaviorscited by 0
  25. 2026CA2: Code-Aware Agent for Automated Game Testingcited by 0
  26. 2026Reward-Adaptive Iterative Discovery: A Case Study on Automated Game Testing for NHL26cited by 0