0086 - From Game Community to Game Development with Joe Neary

Show-notes “From Game-Play-Community to Game Development with Joe Neary” 

Podcast 08-04-2021 – 10.00 am

Title: 0086 – From Game-Play-Community to Game Development

Subtitle: Talking with Joe Neary about "finding your niche in games"

Link:

Season: 5

Episode: 86

Preamble

[Allen Higgins]

“In this episode of The Game Chat we talked with Joe Neary, a Senior QA/Tester at, Romero Games on the journey from Game-Play-Community into Game Development”

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Hosts: 

András Papp

Ruth Campion

Guest: 

Joe Neary (QA and Testing, Romero Games)

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OPENING 

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[Ruth]

Welcome to the Game Chats series on Design Talk.

I am Ruth Campion

[Allen]

I am Allen Higgins

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[András]

And I am András Papp

And today we are chatting with Joe Neary, QA Manager at Romero Games, based in Galway, Ireland.

Welcome Joe. 

First, could you talk a little about your own background and how you got drawn into the game development?

[Some discussion points]

●We have seen steady quiet growth in boardgames and tabletop over the last decades, in parallel, even symbiotically with the video games industry… there does seem to be more room for people playing games together in-person?

●Where do LARPs fit in the game ecology? Somewhere between RPGs and theatre?

●As you have been active in organising community activities in the tabletop and game-jam scene, in Galway... Among agencies and others there seems to be an assumption that simply creating these spaces and events is sufficient to incubate new game ventures; is it enough?

●Game Testing and QA seems like a dream job; what does QA and testing involve?

●What are the advantages and disadvantages of systematic testing and the ad hoc approach? Which is a better way to deal with bugs and different problems?

●Does testing and QA feedback act as a path for new design elements in a game?

●What would you consider to be good or best practices for development teams to follow? 

Stand-up meetings, brains trust, playtesting (some of these practices from Agile software methods, some reported by Pixar in CGI, film and animation industry…)

●How have Covid lockdowns changed the way these practices work? What changes would you keep, what would you go back to in the future?

●Does the atmosphere of a game design team need to be playful and full of games itself?

●What is the ideal environment for this work? (Rooms full of props? Out of hours game-fests? Playful challenges? Games your team plays as a group?)

●Does the influence of such a big publisher as Paradox have an impact on the work environment? Does it change the dynamics of a team?

●What, for you, are the stand-out games of recent years? Which video game will you consider a masterpiece? 

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CLOSING

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[András]

Thank you, Joe, to taking the time to give us your insights into games and the work of game QA and testing.

Acknowledgements

Music (CC-BY-NC-SA license) 

Title: “Synth Beat Echo Intro”

Artist: “András Papp”

Source: “Podcast Intro Song.wav”

License: “CC BY-NC-SA”

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