Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra
 
Re: If you actually want to pay cash money by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2012, 7:20am PDT
Fullofkittens wrote:

...there's a "crowdsourcing" testing service called uTest where you pay an upfront fee to the service and then the testers get paid by either the test case or by the bug.

I use this service as a component of an overall testing strategy at work and it's a nice addition. It's very painless to set up. My experience has been that the testers you get are about 25% professional legit QA moonlighting for beer money who submit awesome bugs and do good work, and 75% onshored Indian morons who won't bother to read a single paragraph of instructions. (The system is set up so that the idiots don't get paid.)

I doubt this is how indie games are testing their stuff though.


This is perfect. I think this is exactly what I am looking for.

It's tough because I do QA Automation as my job. I absolutely have a hole in testing my own stuff. What seems to work for me is to try to test a piece a few days/weeks after I have completed a scene.

(MM's take on beta testers offering free testing is a good one, but I don't think I'll ever get that kind of audience.)


Did you ever consider making a graphical adventure game (like, Kings Quest with more swearing and dongs)? With today's tools it's probably stupid easy, and I'm sure you could get an army of volunteers to help make it in XNA or whatever.


Well, I definitely want to mold the next game as an RPG with text game element. For instance, in Wasteland you would navigate a menu in order to use a skill. Like S)kill then 2) for the second character then scroll down until you get to E)xplosives. Whereas with the game I am making, I want to be able to let the player say, ">blow up dam". But I otherwise want the 3D view when walking through places like in Bard's Tale.

AGS is an amazing system for making Sierra-style SCUMM games. I think the reason I have never given it a try is because I'd be going back to square one when it came to art assets, whereas I am well on my way towards writing the million words of crap an author must write before writing something lasting. I'd have to do the equivalent for background scenes. A million GIFs of crap or something. But I do like those kind of games, as long as the player character's movement speed is fast. I like everything about Gemini Rue, for instance, in what little I have played so far.


ICJ
PREVIOUS REPLY QUOTE
 
Third party beta testing departments by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/25/2012, 11:17am PDT NEW
    Indie "places"? Indie developers, I mean. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/25/2012, 11:20am PDT NEW
    Preorder customers get alpha access, give feedback, pay bills. NT by Mischief Maker 06/25/2012, 11:40am PDT NEW
    Re: Third party beta testing departments by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 06/25/2012, 5:15pm PDT NEW
        Re: Third party beta testing departments by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2012, 7:14am PDT NEW
    If you actually want to pay cash money by Fullofkittens 06/25/2012, 7:06pm PDT NEW
        Re: If you actually want to pay cash money by N 06/25/2012, 8:38pm PDT NEW
        Re: If you actually want to pay cash money by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2012, 7:20am PDT NEW
 
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