• UE4.27, Perforce (P4V), JetBrains Teamcity, Backtrace I/O, Microsoft Azure PlayFab, Steamworks, BattlEye
  • AAA
  • Quality Assurance

„Welcome to Fortuna III!“

The Cycle: Frontier is a free-to-play PvPvE Extraction Shooter driven by suspense and danger. Prospect for resources and other riches on an abandoned alien world ravaged by a deadly storm, inhabited by monsters and other ambitious Prospectors.

Job Responsibilities:

About the Game

You’re a Prospector living aboard Prospect Station orbiting the dangerous alien planet known as Fortuna III. The powerful factions running the Station often send you on missions in search of resources and precious loot. Choose the gear and weapons best suited to your goals, pick your destination and within mere seconds you’re dropping down onto the surface, ready for adventure. Be prepared for Prospectors like you out there, with their own goals and agenda.

Which jobs to tackle and where to explore is entirely up to you but keep your guard up: Fortuna III is a dangerous place! Your goal is to survive and escape to the station with whatever loot you’ve managed to acquire, picked up from the ground or taken by force. The risks are yours to take. Falling prey to the planet’s dangers will see your body encased in protective foam, with your loot and equipped gear left behind – but should you manage to escape, ka-ching!

Other players will also be wandering each of the three available maps. They have their own agendas and are likely armed to the teeth. Fights are tough and can end quickly, so be sure to trust your eyes and ears, use the terrain and pick your fights carefully – sometimes it’s best to talk your way out of a sticky situation. Other players aren’t the only threat though, as packs of hostile aliens and a supercharged radioactive Storm try their best to bring your forays to a premature end.

Manual- & Automation Testing

During the course of QA, I was introduced in different areas of Testing, one of which was the categorization between Manual- & Automation Testing.

Manual Testing

As the name already implies, I joined the QA-Team behind The Cycle: Frontier to investigate Bugs as well as verifying that they have been fixed on a new Version. Some Job Responsibilities include:

  • Day-to-Day Quality Checks of the daily Version Build (Sanitycheck, Smokecheck, etc.)
  • Reporting Bugs through a Bug Database (JIRA)
  • Functional Testing via Testplans
  • ad-hoc & destructive Testing through multiple Playtest Sessions
  • Performance & Stress Testing (using multiple PC Spec Setups, running performance checks)

Automation Testing

As for automative Tasks handed to me, most systems where set up on a way where there & QA-Team and myself where monitoring the processes. My contributions included:

  • Error / Warning Logspam Monitoring (Reporting back to the Engineering Team about re-occurring Error messages)
  • Automated Build Deployment moderation using CI/CD Tools (TeamCity, EOS, Steamworks)
  • Anti-Cheat update monitoring
  • Performance Testing (using multiple PC Spec Setups, running performance checks)
Build Deployment Operations

By Using CI/CD (TeamCity) Tools managed by my Tools & Pipeline Team, I was assigned to monitor and manually deploy new Versions to Development Branches / Artifacts in their respective Game Services (EGS/Steam). Issues that occurred during Deployment where reported back to the Pipeline Team.

I quickly earned the trust of my colleagues to manually deploy Builds to Live Version as well, and operated with Live-Ops to release a new version of The Cycle: Frontier.

Live-Ops Support

I actively contributed my part in Community Engagement, and reported back to my Live-Ops Team of Player Issues that were reported to me. In close collaboration of Community Managers and the E-Commerce Team, I offered support and raised awareness of any pressing manners that happen in the Live Version.

Ownership of Feature Testplans

During Development of new Versions for The Cycle: Frontier. I was entrusted to develop Testplans of upcoming Mechanics to the game from the initial conception up to the full implementation. In regards to today, I wrote and took ownership of the following Features you can find in the Game:

  • Player Quarter Upgrade Node System (Techtree)
  • „Fortuna’s Finest“ High-End Questline
  • Karambit Knife – „Tempest’s Strike“
  • Free Faction Loadout Runs

QA Documentation & Optimization

During Development, It’s prominent to keep an up to date Documentation Wiki (e.g. JIRA Confluence) to accurately describe the steps to test or verify certain features. I set a goal for my Team to optimize Documentation whenever needed, and provided helpful step by step guidelines, How-To Pages and General Documentation to The Cycle: Frontier Development Team. Some Documentation is worked on was:

  • Testplans (see above)
  • Branch Health Overview Pages (Error/Warning Logspam Status Reports)
  • Anti-Cheat Monitoring Documentation
  • Bug Ticket Writing Guidelines
  • Feedback & Proposals Documentation
Playtest Moderation (internal, public & FTGs)

To increase the Quality of the Project, the QA-Team & I conducted regular playtest Sessions with the internal team, as well as public tests with the Community. To goal is to ensure all features are working as intended and issues can be compiled much faster, and are usually held weekly. I have contributed in moderating said playtests alone on multiple occassions, with each iteration on different focus topics that need to be tested on.

All Feedback & Issues where compiled in an overview Document and compared with our Bug Database.

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