Hey dudes and dudettes,
Just a reminder, if you have any questions for us for our next show, leave them in the comments. We’ll pick the best of the best to read and answer. Try to focus on process, testing, game development, or life at Microsoft. We can’t answer anything about unannounced release dates or features of upcoming games.
Ask away!
23 Comments
Can you go into depth about some of the things you do when testing, like when you were on major nelson’s podcast and starting talking about testing the physics, can you tell us some of the other things for other games?
What is the weirdest thing that has ever happened when testing a game?
When you test games for the 360, how do you run custom applications to do the testing.
Has anyone ever been hired from the community that found a unknown bug in a game after it shipped?
Hey you guys, has any of you guys ever had a testing crunch that required you to literally spend the night at the office over night or for even days on end in order to make it for ship.
Thanks
Hello, and first, thanks for this great podcast,
I just wanted to know how hard is it for a big company like MS or any other dev game studio, to hold secret about a relase until the right moment.
I can imagine for example that a LOT of people are involved during the development & testing of a game and I’m quite amazed that no more leaks find their way to the internet.
I take for example Diablo 3 : game in development probably for more than 2 years and nothing filtered until Blizzard decided to reveal it.
Thanks for your time
2 questions: first have you ever got stuck testing a game that you absolutely despised? second if i wanted a testers job would i have to move to the west coast where all the game deveolpers seem to be located?
Hey guys,
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask our questions to you!
Here’s my question:
Since you guys are testers, are you playing games (for fun) differently then you did before you got into testing? Do you look at them from another standpoint?
Thanks!
Thomas from The Netherlands
I emailed this a couple of weeks ago, but just in case that has since been forgotten I thought I’d ask here, as you have asked us to do so
Loving the podcast – thanks for opening the door on a side of the gaming biz that we would never normally get to see
Anyway, I have a question, if you would be so kind. Listening to you discuss the sort of things you do in both your cast and in Major Nelson’s podcast, where you explain how you will go in and give feedback to the devs about placement, interation and gameplay mechanics, I wondered…what happens when the game is an absolute lemon when it gets to you?
What I mean is, what happens when you are faced with a game that would need a rebuild from the ground up to make it into a fun game? Not mentioning any names here **cough cough Hour Of Victory cough cough **, the game was of such a poor quality (mechanically) that there was nothing about the game that could be considered “fun”. Everything was broken! How do you approach such a situation where you yourselves can see that just about everything is unbalanced or clunky or not up to scratch?
I can imagine that a lot of listeners would have the mindset that if a bad game ships, then some liability would fall to yourselves for that. but I would argue against that and counter with the point that you will have most likely offered feedback to the developers, but it was not heeded, and they merely ensured that the basics for certification were built in and nothing more.
Obviously I don’t expect you to comment on a specific game, but you will no doubt have come up against this more than once…so who’s right? I would imagine you can get quite frustrated by this…does it often feel like you are getting apportioned blame unfairly for “allowing a bad game to pass”?
I’d love to hear your side of the story
Do you ever get cheat codes to test on the games you working on? Also, do you know the status of any Frontlines DLC in test?
Hey I know your an Xbox 360 podcast but I am wondering should i sell my PSP for a DS im really stuck on this please help.
I’ve always been curious to what the environment is like working for Microsoft. is it an open office environment or a cubical maze. I always here stories that big companies like that seem to always have a cubical setting. But since this is a creative business I imagine it’s an open office environment much like the Graphic Design studio that I work for.
Just curious
Later
Have you guys ever been star struck at Microsoft?
What are some office activities at Microsoft? I’m not talking about testing a game. More a long the lines of how many gallons of Mountain Dew do you drink in a day or week?? Any stories about someone coming out of the restroom with toilet paper on the bottom of their shoe?
What is the hardest thing about being a Mircosoft Employee. But then again what are the advantages?
Is Major Nelson’s head as big as it looks on Inside Xbox…not talking ego just melon size.
Are there ever any jokes people play on each other..i.e. deleting gamerscore, changing screen names?
Do you guys plan on playing video games all your lives?
is there room for promotion with your position inside the company? In other words are you guys stuck as testers or can you be Peter Moore one day…by Peter Moore I mean head of something.
Thanks for your time great podcast.
Hey guys. This is kind of a simple question but I was just wondering what the most wicked awesome game you have ever tested was. Also, when are we going to see some PB v. Fans Civ Rev action?! Thanks. Love the show.
Sorry for the double post. Is becoming a Microsoft employee as simple as putting in an application?
Despite Xbox games your playing, what are your favourite games on the PS3 or Wii (if you have any) and are you looking forward to any up and coming games, or what would you like to see on the other formats
Did you guys ever get your hands on dark sector before it changed radically? If so was it much of a difference to what you played? If you played it of course
Great to find a site about the QA site of game testing.
I’m in the QA field myself and was really close to becoming part of the MGS QA staff at one point. Here are some of my questions, not all of them need to be answered of course:
1) On average how much automated testing is done and on what type of components of the game?
2) As games become more complex, how do you see automated testing become part of the QA cycle?
3) Generally, what’s the time between a bug being reported and it being fixed?
4) What’s the environment like for the QA and DEV teams from a third-party game? Do they usually have a small team of DEVs on hand to help with bug fixes? I only ask because at where I work, the QA and DEV team are really close. All I have to do is walk a few feet from my desk and ask a DEV if an issue is really a bug or for some clarification.
5) Other than “playing” video games for living, what’s are some reasons you enjoy the QA field?
You said somewhere before that you use “Test” as a group name to cover process and testing. I’d like to hear a bit about what else you’re involved in – for example, in my environment (defense & aerospace), we have QA (process) folks who sit in on work product inspections (code reviews, design reviews, etc) – do you get an opportunity to do that stuff as well?
Is it a matrix based organization? i.e. you may be a skilled team member one project and then reassigned to a lead role the next and then back to a standard team member as required by the work at hand?
Is there any jobs that you have seen or are aware of that martial arts can be incorporated into the games industry?
To be honest martial arts are the only thing that i am good at. i am 17 and i have been doing a range of different martial arts for about 12 years. i have won a few different competitions in and outside the uk, so im not just some kid flinging my arms and legs around. i could go into more but im not hear to boast, ‘just wanted to know if there is a way i can put it to some use.
thanks guys
Hey guys great cast heres my question
Do you guys haveppattent attornys in the gameing departmeny running around looking at new ips and making sure people dont infrenge and wat not. Also ones that l;ook at consels and consel updates??
My question is about demos:
When a developer has to prepare demos for events or just as a release on XBL, how does that effect the testers?
I’ve heard that demos can make it hard to meet deadlines and I figure it would be really hard on testers especially with events such as E3 where you are on a very tight schedule with very early builds of games (remember the Too Human demo??).
Well, kind of a late comment seeing as the show was last friday? (iTunes auto downloads it i have no idea when it is released)
Anyways, why don’t you try and do a show every week?
It shouldn’t be too hard, or is it?