Co-evolving scenarios and simulated players to locate bugs that arise from the interaction of software models of video games

Context: Game Software Engineering (GSE) is a field that focuses on developing and maintaining the software part of video games. A key component of video game development is the utilization of game engines, with many engines using software models to capture various aspects of the game. Objective: A challenge that GSE faces is the localization of bugs, mainly when working with large and intricated software models. Additionally, the interaction between software models (i.e. bosses, enemies, or environmental elements) during gameplay is often a significant source of bugs. In response to this challenge, we propose a co-evolution approach for bug localization in the software models of video games, called CoEBA. Methods: The CoEBA approach leverages Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) techniques to locate bugs in software models while considering their interactions. We conducted an evaluation in which we applied our approach to a commercial video game, Kromaia. We compared our approach with a state-of-the-art baseline approach that relied on the bug localization approach used by Kromaia's developers and a random search used as a sanity check. Results: Our co-evolution approach outperforms the baseline approach in precision, recall, and F-measure. In addition, to provide evidence of the significance of our results, we conducted a statistical analysis. that shows significant differences in precision and recall values. Conclusion: The proposed approach, CoEBA, which considers the interaction between software models, can identify and locate bugs that other bug localization approaches may have overlooked.