Tag Archives: QA Testing

Train2Game News Tester Job Available

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A new job is available for Train2Game students who are interested in games testing.

F2P GAMES QA TESTER – Based in Milton Keynes

Games tester required to join a proven industry leading mobile games
developer. We need a few pragmatic and self-motivated individuals who can
work on their own initiative and function well within a team.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

   – _ Write and run custom and bespoke test routines as required
   – _ Compile games test results and data into concise bug reports
   – _ Complete test report tickets

OUR REQUIREMENTS

   – _ 1+ years experience, preferably in games or related field
   – _ Strong team player, eager to learn and share with others
   – _ Bright, flexible and able to work to deadlines and under pressure
   – _ Tech savvy with an interest in F2P game on mobile and console
   – _ Strong written and oral communication skills
   – _ Excellent attention to detail
   – _ Ability to follow processes and suggest improvements
   – _ A good understanding of the software development and testing
   lifecycle

EXTRA KUDOS FOR

   – _ Professional development experience of mobile and console platforms
   – _ An understanding of the F2P games market
   – _ A passion for playing games, particularly on mobile
   – _ Initiative and drive for problem solving

Please send job applications to jobs@train2game.com

Train2Game news: Family Guy Online enters open beta

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Train2Game students can now register to play Family Guy Online, which has now entered open beta.

The free-to-play, browser based MMO is based on the hit TV series, allows you to interact with Family Guy characters and other players in this game world version of Quahog.

Family Guy Online players create their own character, based on one of four classes influenced by the show’s central cast, as they take on quests to help the town’s residents. It’s written and voiced by the talent behind the TV series.

Train2Game students interesting in taking part in the Family Guy Online open beta can register on the game’s website.

Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. In a recent interview with The Train2Game Blog, Brawl Busters developers Rock Hippo told us that beta testing is “crucial” to the game development process.

For more on beta testing, how it’s useful for Train2Game students, and opportunities to get involved with it, keep reading the Train2Game blog.

What are your initial thoughts about Family Guy Online? Will you be signing up to take part in the beta?

Leave your freakin’ sweet comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Your chance to join Star Conflict closed beta

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Train2Game students have the opportunity to join the closed beta for space themed action MMO Star Conflict, which begins today.

Star Conflict from Star Gem Inc is described as “a game in which anyone can feel like the pilot of a combat spaceship, take part in fierce wars between intergalactic factions that are struggling to obtain the mysterious artefacts of an ancient race and write your name in chronicles of the Universe.”

Train2Game students interested in participating in the Star Conflict closed beta can register at http://star-conflict.com/en/signup You can see Star Conflict in action in the teaser trailer below.

Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. In a recent interview with The Train2Game Blog, Brawl Busters developers Rock Hippo told us that beta testing is “crucial” to the game development process.

For more on beta testing, how it’s useful for Train2Game students, and opportunities to get involved with it, keep reading the Train2Game blog.

What are your thoughts on Star Conflict? Will you apply to be part of the closed beta?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog or on the Train2Game forum

Train2Game news: End of Nations beta accepting sign-ups, begins soon

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Train2Game students can now register to take part in the upcoming End of Nations beta test.

The free-to-play MMO RTS from Petroglyph and Trion Worlds is scheduled for release later this year, but you can become part of the closed beta by registering your interest at http://endofnations.com/en/beta/

You’ll need to sign up for a Trion Worlds account to take part in the closed beta which will begin during Spring.

There’s much more information about End of Nations in this interview with Senior QA Tester Karl Tars, who even suggested that beta testing can potentially provide decent opportunities for breaking into the industry. Watch the latest End of Nations trailer below.

We recently spoke to End of Nations senior producer Chris Lena, who offered advice on getting into the industry. There’s more End of Nations news right here on The Train2Game Blog.

We’ll keep you informed about the latest beta testing opportunities.

So Train2Game, will you be registering to become part of the End of Nations closed beta? What are your initial impressions of the game?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: How testing changed Journey after leaving producer ‘disappointed in mankind’

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Train2Game students who want to see the impact testing can have on a game in development need look no further than PlayStation 3 title Journey.

Why? Because in an interview with Siliconera, Thatgamecompany’s Robin Hunicke reveals Journey previously allowed more physical interaction between players, but it resulted in them trying to kill each other, something that left her ‘disappointed in mankind’

“We were doing play tests, where we invited players to come in and play the game. However, instead of cooperating and building a relationship each other, the players just kept attacking each other and pushing each other into the pit.” said Hunicke.

“At the time, I was very disappointed in mankind; we designed all the settings so they will help each other, but they still just kill each other, as if they don’t have any morality at all.”

The Journey produced added that she spoke to a child psychologist about the issue.

“When these guys enter the game, it’s a virtual space–reality does continue into it. When that happens, they become kids, and don’t know what they’re doing is bad. In that situation, the best way to handle that isn’t to shout or hit them, but to offer feedback.”  she told her.

So Hunicke decided to remove physics from Journey to encourage players to co-operate rather than hinder each other.

“So when I went back to the prototype, we removed the physics so they couldn’t push each other into the pit.” she said.

The Train2Game Blog has previously reported on Thatgamecompany’s views that testing is an integral part of game development. You can also get an insight into life at the studio and the development of Journey in this developer diary.

So, what are your thoughts on the impact playtesting had on Journey? Is it something you often do with your own games?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Beta testing “critical” to development says Planetside 2 Creative Director

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Train2Game students will be aware that developing video games can be a long and complicated  process, in which QA Testing is hugely important.

However, no matter how many QA Testers a game has, sometimes it’s a beta that’s really needed to eliminate bugs and problems. Indeed, it’s something that’s particularly important for MMOs and Planetside 2 developer Sony has label beta testing as critical for that genre in particular.

“For MMO games beta is critical. There is a lot we can do to test gameplay and mechanics in studio, but getting the massive scale needed to ensure the game really works requires getting real players in.” Sony Online Entertainment’s Creative Director Matt Higby told NowGamer.

“It’s also critical to determine if our player progression curves are too punishing or too lenient, find exploits, balance issues and so on. Beta for us as a company is an incredibly critical phase of development.”

Higby also told NowGamer that during the Planetside 2 beta, Sony will be keeping a close eye on player feedback and that big betas have great benefits to game developers.

“Once we get to beta, we’ll be looking both at players’ direct feedback via bugs and message boards, as well as analyzing data that will be collected and aggregated.” he said

“The biggest benefits to a big beta are load and stress testing, testing across a diverse collection of hardware configurations, getting large sample sizes to determine if weapons and vehicles are balanced, and so on. We won’t be shipping anything until we’re all proud of it.” he added.

Train2Game students can apply for a place in the Planetside 2 beta here.

The Train2Game Blog has previously posted about the importance of beta testing, with Star Wars: The Old Republic developer Bioware stating that beta testers can really help with game development.

Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. Not only that, but in an interview with the Train2Game blog, Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars said that beta testing is potentially a way to get into the industry.

Stay tuned to The Train2Game Blog, for the latest beta testing opportunities.

So Train2Game, are you looking forward to Planetside 2? Do you agree that beta testing is critical to the game development process?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Bioware would test more if they made Star Wars: The Old Republic again

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Train2Game students will be aware that Bioware launched their long awaited MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic last month, after many years in development.

Now, in an interview with TORWars, Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk has revealed that if given the chance, Bioware would do it all again, but in hindsight, there are things they’d do slightly different during development, including much more testing.

“I think we would definitely do it over again given the opportunity, or a time machine.” said Zeschuk, who along with fellow Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka spoke to The Train2Game Blog about the studio last November.

“I think we can see a lot of things we could have done differently given the benefit of retrospective vision, but I also don’t think we would have changed many decisions. It would more have been a process of refinement and fine tuning to our plans.”

Train2Game Blog readers might recall that Bioware put massive importance on testing Star Wars: The Old Republic, but Zeschuk believes they should’ve done even more of it in order to help develop the game.

“Certainly testing even more than we did, and doing so earlier would have been a good goal.” he said.

“ I also think in retrospect we would have been able to weight some of our technical decisions differently given that we ultimately knew what worked after the fact and what needed a lot of work; there was no way of knowing that in advance, but in retrospect that would have helped quite a bit.” Zeschuk concluded.

Of course, Train2Game offers a course in games QA testing, which you can find out more about here.

For more about the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, read our interview with Bioware Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi right here on The Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Zeschuks comments?  What do they say about the importance of testing throughout game development?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: TORWars via VG247]

Train2Game news: CS:GO beta begins tomorrow

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Train2Game students who were lucky enough to pick up keys at The Eurogamer Expo can get involved with the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta from tomorrow.

As reported by the Train2Game blog, Valve’s beta test was supposed to start in October before being delayed after feedback from professional players. However, those with keys will be able to begin beta testing from tomorrow, with Dust and Dust 2 the first maps available to play.

Valve plan to expand the CS:GO beta as it goes on, with the idea that it’ll eventually become the full-game. In an interview with the Train2Game blog at the Eurogamer Expo, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said that beta testing is an important part of the game development process for CS:GO, and ultimately it’s player feedback that’ll drive the eventual full release date.

It’s really important to us because we’re going to let that drive the release date,” said Faliszek on beta testing.

“Because we’re really looking to get the feedback from the community over the changes we’ve made. We’ve brought over some stuff that was good from Counter-Strike: Source and we’ve brought over some stuff that was good from 1.6, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the communities react.”

Beta testing is good way for Train2Game students to test their bug finding skills, and according to Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars in an interview with the Train2Game blog, it’s also a potential way to get a foot in the door of the games industry.

There’s a lot more about beta testing and its importance to game development, here on the Train2Game blog.

So Train2Game, are you going to be involved with the CS:GO beta test? What will you be looking for?

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

Train2Game student blog post from Daniel Parkes: ‘Back on Track’

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Train2Game student Daniel Parkes has posted an update on his blog, detailing his latest progress on the Train2Game QA Tester course.

In his latest blog post, Daniel writes about coming back strongly from a minor setback to his course progress to score 90% in his most recent TMA. Daniel also adds that Train2Game is fast becoming very important to him.

“This is my chance and gateway to have a better life, and I’ve found this course with Train2Game is quickly becoming one of the biggest things in my life and it gives me a positive kick.” he said.

Read Daniel’s full post, Back on Track, on his blog.

For more information about Daniel Parkes, check out previous posts on the Train2Game blog. His blog has even served as an inspiration to others!

More information about Train2Game is available at www.train2game.com

Train2Game news: CS:GO beta delayed, but here’s a reminder of the significance of beta testing

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Train2Game students who picked up Counter-Strike: Global Offensive closed beta keys at the Eurogamer Expo will need to a bit longer to get involved because it’ll miss the planned October launch.

Valve’s Chet Faliszek  – who spoke to the Train2Game blog at Eurogamer last month –  says the delay comes after feedback from professional players.

“They gave us a lot of feedback on things we should get in the game before we release it, otherwise we’re going to be getting a lot of bug reports or a lot of feedback and it would just be redundant,” he explained

“There’s going to be things we’re going to release it with knowing we need to add more, we need to do more. But just knowing there’s some feel and some just operating the game issues that need to be resolved first. We want to get those done first.”

Faliszek said the beta will accommodate 10,000 players, it has no official end date and it’s the beta testers who’ll say when CS:GO is ready to be released.

“We have no mandate from anybody of when we have to ship this. So we’re more than happy to just keep working on this until it’s ready to ship.

“By the end of it, everyone will be playing the game. It will be the released game that you’re playing and then at some point we’ll say, ‘OK we’re going to officially release it.’

His comments on beta testing and a release date echo those he told the Train2Game blog at the Eurogamer Expo.

“It’s really important to us because we’re going to let that drive the release date,” said Faliszek when asked about the importance of beta testing to game development.

“Because we’re really looking to get the feedback from the community over the changes we’ve made. We’ve brought over some stuff that was good from Counter-Strike: Source and we’ve brought over some stuff that was good from 1.6, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the communities react.”

The Valve man also told the Train2Game blog that modding is a ‘really good way’ to get into the industry. Meanwhile, End of Nations Senior QA Tester Karl Tars told us that beta testing is potentially a good route into QA.

Train2Game students will be aware that beta tests are used by many developers to tweak their games, but as the Train2Game blog reported last month, Battlefield 3 developer DICE believe some gamers misunderstand the meaning of ‘beta test’

What are your thoughts on the CS:GO beta? Are you going to be involved? If so, what are you looking for?

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

[Source: CVG]