QA Methodology - Dillon Lane

Welcome back to another post from Dillon Lane, your QA Manager here in the City of Abominations team!

In this post I've prepared a summary of the methodology we use for playtesting the game. 

1. Identify Playtesters
   1. This helps me determine who's been testing what. We divide people into teams to test in a normal scenario, but off-hours testing happens, and this eliminates the mystery of who reported what.
2. Assign a district
   1. Due to the nature of how we laid out enemies and level assets in the game, the most efficient way to test is to assign teams to specific districts. Graphical issues are also a district separated issue due to the level design's reliance on hand designed tiles, so this kills several birds with one stone.
3. Assign a primary focus
   1. Teams or individuals will be given a specific aspect of the game to test, in order to systematically evaluate each part of the game in search of issues or bugs. This also helps refine parts of the game such as combat or shadow mechanic usage, as extensive testing can reveal things that don't appear as issues at first glance.
4. Record Observations
   1. Simple enough, describe the play experience you had.
5. Propose Changes
   1. An optional step, used to see if there are any ideas the tester has to improve the experience. The change, if we think it's a good idea to explore, can be expanded on and possibly implemented.
6. Report a Bug
   1. The tester verifies if they found any bugs. If they did, they proceed to the assigned form.

and that's the gist of it! There's a bit more explanation to be had, but it's not necessary for a summary like this.

Next up on QA talk will be the report forms themselves! See you next time!

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