Category Archives: starwars

Train2Game interview with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars – Part 2

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End of Nations is an upcoming MMORTS from Petroglyph Games and Trion Worlds. The game was on display at the Eurogamer Expo, and the Train2Game blog caught up with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars to find out more about the game, QA Testingand how to get into the industry.

In the second part of an in-depth three part interview, Karl Tars tells the Train2Game blog about the team behind End of Nations, the importance of beta testing during game development and how it can be useful for those with aspirations to work in the games industry. Read the interview below, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.

Part 1 is available to read here on the Train2Game blog.

Tell us about the team behind End of Nations

The way it works is Petroglyph Games are the developer, that’s a studio founded by a bunch of former developers from Westwood Studios, the guys who did Dune and Command & Conquer. So veterans’ of those games are designing and developing the game. Trion Worlds is publishing, we’re giving them the servers and a lot of the back end infrastructure that makes the game work. That’s the studio that’s behind it.

When is End of Nations scheduled for release, will there be a beta?

We have a beta coming up, so if you go to www.endofnations.com you can sign up for the beta right now. If you have an existing Rift account, that account will work for End of Nations as well. We’ll have more information in the next few months as we don’t have a confirmed time for that for the release, but it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to playing it on my own!

How important is the beta for the game development process?

Betas are really critical in terms of making sure the live servers can handle the real loads that players will put on our servers. We can test some of that in our labs but we certainly don’t have the manpower to try having 100,000 people connecting at once and with every single weird configuration of computer that’s out there. We don’t have the resources regularly do that.

Also, as clever as we are in QA, we’re not as good as every single player out there. We’re not going to be able to figure out all the interesting ways of using abilities that just break the game and make it un-fun for the other team. And so it’s also really important to have people go out there and try random things and finding ways of exploiting it so that we can tone those down or make them work within the system so it doesn’t feel unbalanced.

Is getting involved with beta testing a good way of getting a job in QA?

It can be. It used to be that was one of the primary ways of getting in in older days. However, more recently betas have become almost a marketing type of thing where the majority of people playing in a beta, they don’t really want to test, they just want to play the game early and see as they like it more like a demo than a testing environment.

However, if you can find a lot of good bugs and you can report them to the team in a good way, you can develop a fairly good rapport with some of the developers and that can get you in.  And if nothing else it gives you a chance to see these incomplete builds where it’s more likely to have bugs in it and so you can learn how to deal with that type of thing.

It’s definitely a way of getting in, but I wouldn’t say it’s a good way of doing it these days, but it’s definitely a good way to practice, get started and if you apply to the same company that you did a beta for, you can say ‘hey, I found this bug and these are the steps for it.’ That’s going to really impress the QA leads who are reviewing it and saying ‘This guy knows exactly how to write a bug report, he knows our game, he knows how to look for a bug and report it.’ That’s really what’s going to get you in.

Part 3 of our interview with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars will be available soon. End of Nations is scheduled for release next year.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum. Part 3 of the Train2Game interview with End of Nations Senior QA Tester Karl Tars is here.

Train2Game news: There will always be subscription based MMOs say Star Wars: The Old Republic devs Bioware

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Train2Game students may be aware that many MMO titles are switching to a free-to-play model, one wherein revenue is made by microtransactions rather than monthly subscription fees.

However, while many games in the genre are going free-to-play, the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic – scheduled for release in December – is going to stick to the traditional pay monthly model.

And while many developers are switching to free-to-play, SWTOR developers Bioware believe that gamers will always be willing to pay a subscription fee for a quality product.

“I think there will always be a place for premium content at a premium price and that’s one of the differences,” Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Industry Gamers.

“Free to play is very much about trial, about ‘Hey, I don’t know what this is, I don’t have confidence that it’s any good, but I’m willing to take a look at it,’ versus ‘I know this is good, from a trusted source, and it’s the biggest license in the world.’ So it’s a different value proposition,” he said.

Fellow Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka believes that increased competition from free-to-play titles is good for the games industry.

“There’s more competition for entertainment dollars now than ever before from social and play for free, and all sorts of entertainment, which I think is actually really healthy from an entertainment industry perspective”

However, he agrees with Zeschuk in that the subscription model will remain popular, but the games have to be worth it.

“But I agree with Greg that there’s a space for a certain number of premium products that are subscription based or whatever the premium pricing model is. But they have to merit it, they have to earn that from a consumer trust perspective and delivering and exceeding expectations.” said Muzyka.

Of course, he believes that Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of these games.

“I think The Old Republic is definitely in that triple-A premium category. That’s the feedback reading from the players and data testing.”

Earlier this week, the Train2Game blog reported on the importance of playtesting in the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

For an in-depth look at the development of SWTOR, read the Train2Game interview with Associate Lead Game Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi

So Train2Game, do you believe the subscription model for MMO still has a future ahead of it? Or will free-to-play titles become the dominant force?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game news: Bioware on the importance of playtesting during game development

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Train2Game students will be aware testing a game is an extremely important part of game development. But according to Bioware, it isn’t something that should be left to the QA Testers or Beta testers alone, rather the game developers should be constantly involved in the process too.

That’s according to Star Wars: The Old Republic project lead James Ohlen who was speaking to Gamasutra.

“The thing about it is, it’s important to get people to test your game, but the beta tests are more for finding out if your technology’s going to stand up, and finding some small tweaks and changes.” he said when asked about playtesting.

“But all the big changes that we’ve been making were planned from way before, because we’ve been playing the game ourselves. If we didn’t figure this stuff out, we’d be terrible game designers. So, internally we figured out a lot of the problems early on.

However, Ohlen pointed out that Beta testers still have a role to play in game development.

“But at the same time, it’s good for fans to feel like they’re having an impact, and sometimes they do”

“Sometimes they do point out information that is a little bit surprising, but nothing hugely surprising. There’s been surprises on the project, but mostly they’ve come from us playtesting this stuff.” the Star Wars: The Old Republic project lead concluded.

For a more in depth look behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Old Republic, check out the Train2Game interview with Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released in Europe on 22nd December 2011.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on testing games? Do you agree that it’s an important part of a game developers job, no matter what role they have in the industry?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game at Gamescom: Interview with Star Wars: The Old Republic Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi

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Train2Game was at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany from 17th August to 21st August. We caught up with Star Wars: The Old Republic Associate Lead Game Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi to discuss a variety of subjects.

These include, tailoring game design for an MMO, keeping the narrative in check with the Star Wars universe, the importance of community testing and the reasons behind PvP sport Huttball.

Lusinchi also revealed how he started in the games industry and gave Train2Game students advice on how to get in. Read the full interview below, or listen to it on Train2Game Radio. Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.