John Christopher
John Christopher is a Quality Assurance analyst for Tukko Labs and a frequent contributor to the Tukko Report. He has the auspicious honor of testing over 120 game titles. Everything ranging from AAA MMOGS to the most basic casual game, to everything else in between. He is taking that experience and providing some of his unique QA insight to the ever changing environment of social game testing.
Tukko: So John, how long have you been gaming?
John: A pretty long time.
Tukko: Can you quantify that?
John: I’ve pretty much been playing games since 1986. We were fortunate enough to have seen the evolution of both pc and console gaming. The earliest PC title I can remember playing was Castle Adventure, and then moved on to popular arcade titles like pac-man and frogger. Then we saw better graphics games when the Nvidia TNT first came out and we were able to play such titles like X-Com, Flashback, up to the first iterations of the RTS genre with titles like Dune 2 and Warcraft (1).
John: My parents then thought that it would be cheaper to just maintain a game console rather than constantly upgrading the pc. Boy, were they wrong! Me and my brother ate up time in front of the TV from that point with Pong, then the Atari, then the Nintendo Familicom, Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), Sega Saturn, PC Engine, Super NES, Gamecube, Playstation, Dreamcast… so on and so forth.
Tukko: It looks like you had a pretty good childhood. Did you realize that you were going to be testing games for a living back then?
John: No, Actually I thought I was growing up to be a useless bum. I was three years into a Veterinary Medicine course, then shifted into a course in Theatre Arts, then moved on to Communication Arts. Back then I couldn’t really figure out what direction I wanted to go in life.
Tukko: When exactly did you realize which industry you belonged to?
John: A friend of mine, who owns a software development company (2002), had asked me if I could help him out. I was then working on what seemed a dead end job in a CRM center, so the extra work would have helped out my pocket for the then tabletop game addiction; Magic: The Gathering, Vampire: The Dark Ages, mostly RPG type tabletop gaming published by White Wolf.
John: So the specific task my friend had for me was to test out some homegrown personnel and inventory tracking system. He had asked me to spend about 200 hours in the application, creating data and finding out if there were any problems regarding the software’s navigation, online functionalities, and bugs. In return, he gave me something even more valuable than money… A 30 day package for Final Fantasy Online, and said “John, did you know that what you did for me was called UI functionality and bug testing? Did you know that games are software that needs testing too?” My jaw dropped. He was right. If there was a skill I was good at, it was fiddling around with stuff. So we experimented with some of the possible angles in the gaming industry. We’ve tried RMT (but we failed since we were too busy playing rather than farming). Eventually it just fell into testing games for bugs.
John: That’s what pretty much got me into the industry. One interview turned into another, and I finally got my first professional stint testing a closed beta for Guild Wars. I was just another one of those bug testers, back then, but through perseverance and hard work, it finally went somewhere and I’ve been pursuing my interests in this industry since.
Tukko: Would you recommend this profession to anyone?
John: Sure! I think it’s really fun. But I also do have to say that it’s a really tough job. It’s not for everyone. Most of us play games for leisure. Try playing a game under extreme time pressure because you’re chasing after a deadline for the game’s release. Not to mention, you have to figure out the proper feedback despite not all the graphical assets being there and even playing with just wire-frame models that lack most animation. But if you have the drive, and the pure love of gaming, then I do think that this is something people should get into. It’s a tough world though.
Tukko: Do you have anything to say out there to the developers and people trying to follow a similar path that you’ve taken?
John: Yes I do! Forget deadlines. Forget press releases of your intended commercial release. Just think about the game. Infuse it with the love and fun needed for it to be a really polished, and rich product. Take your time with it, and let it mature into something from just storyboards and a few template pieces of code. It’s also important to let the gamers test your game. Get their feedback. Ultimately, they’ve already been your customers and they want to see a really good product. Don’t just sell us on a game. Sell us on a really good experience! If the game ain’t fun, no one’s going to play it. And if you’re not having fun making that game, scrap the concept and keep hopping onto the next good idea until you find something that truly defines the word “fun” for you.
Tukko: Where do you see the future of Social game QA / testing headed?
John: Well with the way trend is going, development houses still need to focus on the basics. No amount of synthetic testing would be able to compensate for the basic gamer run-through feedback. Bot’s or automated synthetic load systems can’t quantify fun and simulate a real user environment. The big question is who’s got the best gamers under their wing, with the most relevant feedback.
Tukko: What do you foresee as some of the major QA / testing pitfalls for Social Game developers?
John: The market is ultimately unpredictable. It appeals to fads, but the income tapers off once the fad is done. The question is, how can you predict that next fad and capitalize on it when the wave crests. The boom of Social Media in itself is a fad. Right now, consumers are now learning the pitfalls of having your online profile as a safety risk. That’s right! Facebook has been a popular tool for criminals to use to target their victims. With that in mind, the developers should only view SNS (social network site) functionalities as possible console platforms. The same way they do with Xbox 360 and PS3 titles. There’s also the question of mobility. Can such new games travel with you wherever you go? Or are the pocket consoles the next possible tool for social networking? It’s all up in the air right now since it’s still a race between hardware manufacturers, ISP’s and developers each choosing a platform.
Tukko: With that said, aren’t there some trends or emerging fads that could prove to be interesting? Or rather, what’s the next platform that you think might pop out as a new emerging market?
John: Right now, if we take a look at the trends I’d have to say it’ll be in mobile gaming as well as a mobile online experience. In a recent symposium we attended, we were exploring some of the emerging possibilities between Google’s big push into the space. Of course, there will always be the pocket platforms such as the DSi’s as well as PSP’s, but between those consoles as well as the rich browsing experience Google currently provides, we’re definitely going to see another fad or market emerge. I don’t think it’s all about converting facebook users to mobile computing users, but rather it’s just a matter of time before the next big game will have that functionality on a mobile platform.
One thing’s for sure, the Unity Engine is pretty much the platform fad that the developers are using. It allows them to construct almost any kind of game for its own platform, the web browsers, as well as java phones like the iphone. It’s only a matter of time before we see the next hit emerge there. For now, what we’re waiting for is the market to conform into the new mobile computing platform. Apple already has its own following, but it’s going to be a pretty niche market. Friendster/Myspace/Facebook were all key players in the social game space, but Facebook was the pioneer for being a desired platform to use because of the availability of browser based games.
Tukko: Well thank you for those insights. For now I’d like to leave you with this last question; What do you think is the next big MMOG that consumers will flock to?
John: I see two big names. Vigil Games with their upcoming title Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium Online and Bioware’s The Old Republic. I’m sure that MMO players will be flocking to the titles. But the key there once again is re-playability factor. Whichever game get’s to stay alive for over a year will truly be the indicator if there’s a new player in town that’s ready to make a dent on Blizzard’s ten ton elephant called World of Warcraft.
