How did you get into games testing?
I was a footballer, then I went in to the building trade – for my sins – and spent a few years carrying bricks up and down ladders. I was really into games and had this sense of what makes people tick when they’re playing them. Then somebody said to me, “You know there’s a games company in Guildford you can test games for.” That company was Bullfrog. I went there in 1994 to do two weeks’ work experience.
And took to it immediately?
I did. Now I’ve been doing it 22 years. I wasn’t academic, I didn’t go to school much or have any qualifications. I knew how to switch a PC on; that was about it. But I had a passion for games, I was outspoken and good with people. It’s funny, because I took those people skills from the building trade.
And you moved from being a tester to running a testing company?
I took over Bullfrog’s QA [quality assurance] department for a few years. Then I helped Peter Molyneux set up the QA at Lionhead. When Microsoft bought Lionhead, I went and set up my own company, Testology, in 2006. And we’ve done pretty well. We test a lot of the biggest games in the world. My missus tells me, “you’re an entrepreneur, Andy”. I’m not, though. I just had a passion for something and the balls to set up my own company.
What is testing’s role in games, and why is it important?
Testers and those in quality assurance are normally the end of the process of making games. We find all the crashes, bugs and issues with a game. We find those problems, tell the producers and they try to get it fixed. At the start a game can have hundreds of thousands of bugs, and we have to find them. It can take months. It’s a tough job, and when I started it was looked down upon.
Has that attitude changed?
Now QA and testing is a true discipline in itself. And it’s important. If people are spending money they want a quality game. And developers now are seeing that QA can be part of making sure the gameplay experience is a good one. We got involved at Bullfrog at involving QA right from the beginning of a game’s production and design, and that’s become more normal now. QA feedback can really help improve a game’s design. We’re looking at setting up proper apprenticeships in QA to help add quality to testing.
Perhaps that came from the building site; the idea of an apprenticeship?
Maybe, yes. When I was young, apprenticeships were important. When I left school I was an apprentice footballer on £28 a week. Apprenticeships are important, and I think the games industry could do more of it. They make skills more accessible.
www.testology.co.uk
