[Mefustae]

I don't know about you, but i'm truly dreading the testing phase. No, it's not that I question the quality of my campaign, nor the methods i've engaged in while making it. Truly, it's the actual act of having it tested that seems daunting.

Let's face facts, unlike the larger campaign projects out there; most independent FREDers such as I lack the resources of dedicated testers at our beck and call. Thus, it falls to us to find members of this very forum suitable to test our work. Without doubt, this activity is at times far more difficult than it may seem. Merely browsing the last few threads in this very sub-forum calling for testers indicates a worrying dearth of available individuals willing to test missions and campaigns.

Of course, testing is a necessity. If one forgoes testing to simply release their campaign, the image of both the campaign maker and the campaign itself will assuredly be besmirched by any number of gameplay glitches, story issues, and countless other problems an independent campaign may present. Given this necessity of testers in the cycle of campaign production, the delays caused by a lack of testers can create devastatingly long delays, as demonstrated in some of the more high-profile campaigns as of late. Therefore, based on the apparent success of the Voice-actors Guild, I have often wondered if a similar course of action can be taken to alleviate testing woes.

Hence, I posit the question: What do we all think of the idea of having a stickied thread where forumites can post, putting their names on a list that denotes their availability to test missions & campaigns and give the author a rundown of missed glitches, plotholes, and soforth. All the FREDer or Project Leader needs to do is PM any name on the list and ask them. No muss, certainly no fuss.

Lately i've seen some of the larger projects expressing frustration - at least in the public forums - over tester inactivity, so this would be aimed at them as much as independent campaign makers. So, let's see a show of support for something like this.

[Centrixo]

well put it this way, in olden times there was a person who went into a mine to see if it was dangerous, so they called this person a 'canary', the main responsibility of a canary was to see if a mine was safe to work in.

Put it like this, the canaries went into mines to see if the place was poisonous and if it was ok the canary would tell the rest it was safe, so imho a (beta) tester is a canary. Dont die on me down there . 

[Nix]

well put it this way, in olden times there was a person who went into a mine to see if it was dangerous, so they called this person a 'canary', the main responsibility of a canary was to see if a mine was safe to work in.

Put it like this, the canaries went into mines to see if the place was poisonous and if it was ok the canary would tell the rest it was safe, so imho a (beta) tester is a canary. Dont die on me down there . 

Seriously dude.  Think, then post.

As for the original question - why not make this idea into a child board under FS Modding, similar to the Voice Actors board? Sounds sensible...

[Centrixo]

i did im just posting a different view. sorry.. what hit you today?

[neoterran]

Oh I wouldn't worry about it. It's standard on this board to be *****y to people - I suggest trying to get used to it.

[Nix]

Mefustae proposed an idea for a listing of beta testers, which developers could ask if they were willing to test thier projects, not what your idea of a beta tester is. 
*pulls hair*
omg... I'm done.  See 'yall in a month.

[Shade]

I think many people who sign on to test missions without having done it before are surprised at the amount of work it actually is. And often boring work, at that, as you're not actually trying to play the game. Thoroughly testing even one mission can take up most of an afternoon, and then you'll have to retest once it's been updated etc. That's assuming you're confident enough at mission-making yourself to have a decent idea of how you might break them of course, otherwise it could take longer.

And then you need to write a detailed summary of all the problems you've found, and any non-bug annoyances you've encountered along with explanations for why something is just wrong. That can take a good half hour or so too, easily.

With that in mind, I'm not surprised if many campaign end up bogged down in a lack of active testers; it's simply overwhelming if you suddenly have 10 missions to test on your limited free time. A list of people willing to test when time allows is a good idea though, as those who need it could find someone who has time right now rather than settling on one person and then ending up waiting if they're busy. Might even help out some campaigns too - If they see some people they trust on the list, they might be able to spread a few missions out to those and take some of the load off their in-house testers.

[Turey]

I can test, but don't expect me to have a lot of free time. It'd have to be on a "Whenever I have time" basis.

[Centrixo]

i would not mind being a tester, of multi-tasking i do i have too much free time after work.

[Mefustae]

With that in mind, I'm not surprised if many campaign end up bogged down in a lack of active testers; it's simply overwhelming if you suddenly have 10 missions to test on your limited free time. A list of people willing to test when time allows is a good idea though, as those who need it could find someone who has time right now rather than settling on one person and then ending up waiting if they're busy. Might even help out some campaigns too - If they see some people they trust on the list, they might be able to spread a few missions out to those and take some of the load off their in-house testers.

Exactly. Finding apt testers is always going to be a problem considering the less-than-stellar active size of the community, but it's my hope that in putting up a thread, people with too much time on their hands can lend their assistance to those in need. Granted, they're not all going to know exactly how to test, but that can be alleviated by putting up an FAQ in the thread, or something. Either way, this is about bringing together the supply and demand in one easy-to-reach place.

Dang it, where's a bloody moderator when you need one. We need an executive review of the idea.

[NGTM-1R]

You need a tester, you say?

Basically I've never found it particularly difficult work, though admittedly I've tested for very experienced people. They needed the testing. I've been priviledge to work alongside people who are very good at testing too; kvlat for one.

There isn't all that much to testing when you get right down to it. Play the mission and see what it does. If something looks broke say so. If something is unsatisfactory (player not serving a purpose normally), say so. It's really not that difficult provided you're reasonable and the designer is reasonable.

[Mefustae]

So, no comments from our high-shining brass? Pity.

[VagandPraetor]

I might get into testing, if I could ever break myself into FREDing, and be something other than just a guy that downloads of campaigns.

[karajorma]

You don't need to know FRED to test missions. It is a skill that is useful in a tester as it helps you guess what could be broken but if you look at my list of common mistakes here you'll notice that almost all of those can be spotted just by playing the game.

[Mobius]

Well Woomeister has probably chosen me for my FREDding abilities and my omni-presence in the Inferno board.

If someone needs testing,I'm here. I can find 'freetime' when necessary,expecially now(X-Mas).

Your idea is great-I wanted something similar for grammar checking but grammar checking requests are rare,creating a board could be useless.


A tester obviously asks questions about the plot and couldn't agree with some choices made by the campaign designer/mod creator.  He hasn't the power of changing things. I have proposed the use of Leviathan textures in INF:A but the answer was a NO. This is just an example of what should happen.

[Centrixo]

Well Woomeister has probably chosen me for my FREDding abilities and my omni-presence in the Inferno board.

If someone needs testing,I'm here. I can find 'freetime' when necessary,expecially now(X-Mas).

Your idea is great-I wanted something similar for grammar checking but grammar checking requests are rare,creating a board could be useless.

a bit of advice, never ask me for grammer , il fail at the first obstical.

[Dysko]

Well, if somebody needs a tester I'm here...

[Mobius]

a bit of advice, never ask me for grammer , il fail at the first obstical.

I have also grammar checked INFA even if I'm an Italian culture boy that can only speak "Italinglish".

Italinglish is the exact translation of Italian sentences in English=errors.

I use the,that,which massively. Also,I ask questions by inserting a '?' inSTEAD of write a question with the exact order of words.
I'm not at the level of asking 'how many years have you got' inSTEAD of 'how old are you',but my English is an Italinglish.