Created By: Game Audio Resource Ltd Date: 01/01/2018 Version: 1.00
In this chapter we highlight the basic roles of what a QA test does and some of the processes that may be tasked.
Video Guide
Written Guide
So, with that What is a QA audio tester?
Simply the role exists to test all audio triggers, tools and processes are working work correctly in game.
You will generally follow a testing schedule of audio content areas.
e.g. week 1 test environments, week 2 test dialogue, etc…
until a full sweep of all audio content areas are completed.
This ensures the game is continually fully tested throughout a project development. You will cycle the same content areas many times throughout a projects cycle.
The testing schedule will usually be linked to when the audio team will be implementing audio content to each audio content area, which can be reliant on other non-audio development teams like Animations, environments, etc…
There will be main project milestones with every project that a main audio QA full game wide test sweep will be completed. E.g. Alpha, Beta, etc…
This aids tracking bugs and overall audio status throughout the project.
As you find bugs in the game you will need to accurately detail where the bug exists & how to reproduce the bug. Then add the bug into a bug tracking software Like Helix (aka Test Track), JIRA, Bugzilla, etc…
if you are internal to a large development studio, you may also be assigned small tasks of audio dev work, like implementation, fixing bugs and audio editing.
Due to the amount of time that you are in game, you will gain a huge amount of knowledge about the game design and how the game works. Developers will not always have a huge amount of time to play the game as it is developed. So, you may need to assist requests of how to do certain things in game where needed.
QA audio testing is great place to get started to learn about the excellent world of game audio.
Many years ago, it used to be common ground to get your foot in the door at a game developer by starting in QA and then progress into a dev team.
These days, QA is seen as a dedicated career path, career progression can be quite hard from QA into development roles.
However, the more effort you put in, opportunity to progress may naturally happen
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