Does your AAA game have pre-commit tests? It probably should.
Pre-commit testing - sometimes called “buddy build” or “gauntlet” or “smoketest” - is a tried and tested strategy for making your software as high-quality as possible. It’s also useful for making sure you don’t crater the build and ruin other peoples’ day.
But with long build times and stateful caching on build machines, can AAA games utilize pre-commit testing too? Sure!
You might find yourself making trade-offs though, depending on what your goal is. Maybe you decide to run an incremental build on a pre-warmed build machine. That can give engineers a moderate level of confidence in their change, but the lack of determinism can quickly erode all trust. Did your pre-commit fail because your change is bad, or did the last person who ran pre-commit leave a landmine?
What about non-engineers? Artists and Designers can benefit from pre-commit testing too.
Alternatively, you could choose to run every single test you have. The full shebang test may take several hours, but an Engineer (or even a Creative type human) can confidently go home for the evening without fear of leaving a broken build behind for others to deal with. The determinism acts as a safety net, and some people feel the wait is worth it.
Realistically, most studios seem to choose somewhere in the middle of the “Speed vs. Determinism” slider. Where do your pre-commit tests land?