Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction testers share game testing insights
Insomniac Games‘ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction”>Billy Parmenter and Brian Mathison, quality assurance testers for Insomniac Games’ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, shared insights into the nature of their work in a recent developer’s diary interview. Parmenter and Mathison talked about their methods of dealing with Ratchet and Clank’s in-game bugs and the relationship between game testing and gaming skill, among other things.
According to Parmenter and Mathison, game testing is a lot of hard work. They’ve likened their system to the scientific method, where in order to locate and identify bugs, they narrow down all the variables until they get to the base of the problem. Variables are also tested, Parmenter and Mathison said, to find out what doesn’t cause the bug. The two have also explained that their work hasn’t really made them better players. In fact, their skills with other games have suffered after having logged so many hours on Insomniac Games’ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Detruction.
While both Parmenter and Mathison have admitted that they have a tendency to dwell on the negative aspects of games due to their training and the tedious nature of their work, the pair have also acknowledged that once the final version of a game like Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is released to the public, they, too, are amazed at what they’ve accomplished.
Insomniac Games‘ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction”>Billy Parmenter and Brian Mathison, quality assurance testers for Insomniac Games’ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, shared insights into the nature of their work in a recent developer’s diary interview. Parmenter and Mathison talked about their methods of dealing with Ratchet and Clank’s in-game bugs and the relationship between game testing and gaming skill, among other things.
According to Parmenter and Mathison, game testing is a lot of hard work. They’ve likened their system to the scientific method, where in order to locate and identify bugs, they narrow down all the variables until they get to the base of the problem. Variables are also tested, Parmenter and Mathison said, to find out what doesn’t cause the bug. The two have also explained that their work hasn’t really made them better players. In fact, their skills with other games have suffered after having logged so many hours on Insomniac Games’ Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Detruction.
While both Parmenter and Mathison have admitted that they have a tendency to dwell on the negative aspects of games due to their training and the tedious nature of their work, the pair have also acknowledged that once the final version of a game like Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is released to the public, they, too, are amazed at what they’ve accomplished.
About The Author
