Six Million Dollar Tester: Making QA Better, Stronger, and Faster Through Automation by Leander Hasty

Presentation Description:
Quality assurance isn't just for testers anymore; as the industry is expanding and the next generation of development begins, there is an ever-increasing need to avoid problems early, decrease iteration time, deliver better data about both the state of production and the mechanics of the game, and generally allow both testers and developers to spend more time focused on the quality of the end product. This presentation brings to light three areas into which teams can invest tools and automation efforts: prevention, detection, and analysis. Using this framework, teams should be able to identify and prioritize opportunities for future effort, assess techniques and tools used by other members of the industry, and hopefully arrive at a base set of common "best practices" for any game genre and team organization.

Idea Takeaway:
Quality assurance provides a rich potential for tools and automation to supplement, extend, and to some degree replace the traditional duties of test staff, allowing each tester to shift his or her attention to qualitative feedback, and decreasing the iteration time for key members of the development team. By establishing a QA tools and automation "roadmap" with a few distinct categories -- prevention, detection, and analysis -- test engineers can ensure their efforts cover all opportunities, and identify areas of high return for low initial effort. Attendees should leave with an understanding of automation practices in teams throughout the industry, and a framework in which to order and evaluate these in the context of their own projects, as well as specific ideas.

Presenter Overview:
Leander has been working on tools and development support structures for approximately five years. He was the first QA engineer to be hired by Electronic Arts LA and was embedded into the THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH team before moving on to support multiple teams at EALA. He also provided build and server support for Taldren during the development of BLACK 9 and the extension and improvement of SHADOWBANE for the Korean market. In August 2005, Leander went to 1st Playable Productions, where he supports a number of handheld and mobile game titles. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Albany Chapter Counter-Strike CS Mod Project: 'Holy Strike' lead by Bret Dunham

Bret's description of the mod project from this post on the Albany IGDA forum:

Hello everyone. Kicking off the new year is a game mod project for anyone that is an IGDA member. It will have opportunities for anyone that would like to make a video game and is intended to help expose many of you to processes and methods required for a present day quality product. How we measure this quality will outlined later.

The project will be based around the source engine (valve software). The subject matter will be a Counter Strike variant involving 2 asymmetrical teams (they use different tactics and weapons). This will of course be multiplayer only.

We will attempt to re-use as much original Counter Strike content as possible and focus on game play rules changes to create effectively an entirely new form of game play.

Game play will involve one side that uses conventional military weapons and tactics (grenades, rifles and handguns) versus the opposing team that will use unconventional tactics and weapons. This side will be referred to as the "Holy men". This holy side will use suicide bombing, RPG's, swords and finally "Holy magic" to counter the conventional side.

This core concept has been established and will not change. The supporting rules and game play are currently subject to creation and/or change. Any one joining the team will be given a chance to take part in the final Game Design Document (some having more say than other).

The goals of the project are actually simple. First to start and finish a mod project with in a 6 month time period (this is paramount). Second, delivery quality work with in the time frame. Third will be a product that we feel is worthy of our time spent on the project. This to me means I would be happy playing this game 2 years from now and have pride in the team that did it. Actually, the reasons that inpired this was a growing feeling that the IGDA Albany chapter needed some "buzz". And this is my response. (:

Regular milestone meetings will be held (some call this green light meetings). It is possible for the project to be cancelled before completion if the team believes the goals will not be met (no ones getting paid). On that note I would also tell you we will use a 2 tier approach for work assignments and responsibilities. Tier 1 team members will be assigned mission critical jobs while tier 2 team members will be assigned non critical assignments. All leads will be tier 1 while new comers OR members that feel they are unsure they can be 100% committed will be tier 2. Members will be allowed opportunities to adjust this based on THIER needs. This project is not meant to run your life (:

Any one interested may contact me at Demonhill@mac.com