We're looking for some new Subnautica Playtesters!
Obraxis
Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
We're looking for some new Subnautica Volunteer Playtesters!
Successful applicants get to help squash bugs, talk to devs, complain about framerate in-person & give suggestions to help us finish the game. Not to mention learning secrets before anyone else!
Apply here: tinyurl.com/subnautica-pt
Don't forget to join the Discord community here: discord.gg/0TYSaqpNv6wffpB1
Comments
The only issue I can see it creating is that people may overlook faults with the game, just because they love it, but the community here seems to be able to give and take criticism better than many fanbases, so I'm not too worried about that.
I suppose the proof will be in the pudding.
Exactly this. I'd love to playtest just for the chance to get more involved with the game. I don't need anything else, especially not money.
"complain about framerate in-person"
There's a difference between playing and reporting bugs when you see them, and playing with the purpose of finding things that could go wrong.
Basically the difference between 'see something, say something' and 'looking for trouble'
You may have a list of bugs / fixes that need to be tested, You will spend a lot of time replicating bugs, and reporting back, Play testing is amazing, as you get to be apart of the games development process, no play testers would mean a lot less time for Dev's to spend on implanting new and exciting features. - and this is just a little tiny bit of the puzzle.
Here's how I would hope they'd use my expertise from some past development gigs. They make a change to x, send out temp build and say "What did this do to performance". I report back with x framerates over x time, with a man/min and average of x, and latency/lag spikes of x. It is a definite improvement/no change/worse. Right now its just throw out mostly stable update and people give general impressions. While that aggregate data is nice, it doesn't provide much detail nor flexibility for the developer. The other piece is having people who know development and code so when ideas or solutions are presented they know they're not wasting the teams time since it will be in scope of what is actually possible.
Sorry, no pay for playtesting.
I thought we were already playtesting... You guys don't go looking to break the game?
Some of us do.
If you're actually playtesting and not just reporting bugs as you come across them / if you feel like it, the game probably stops being as enjoyable and perhaps even an outright chore, I would guess.
They don't have a requirement for hours available, you just fill in what you would be able to do. So if you already play say 10 hours a week, why not devote a quarter or half of that to playtesting?
Just food for thought.
>Implying play-testers have ever done a good job.
AAA games are generally way, way more buggy than indie games that have had early access.
In fact, you could make an extremely good argument that in the last few years, with early access being so prevalent, the quality of games (at least non-AAA games) has improved at all in a general sense.
We already paid money into an EA title. I'd gladly try and repro specific issues. But applying for something seems like work.
Oh, here's a notion: make a sticky locked thread for people to check. Post in it when you need something weird reproduced, any repro steps, and what to do with any data required, then edit each post to "done" when complete. No forum-posting spam, just dev posts for issues that internal testing is having trouble with, and such?
It's a really simple form, would take like 2 minutes, max.
Eh. Here:
Subnautica Volunteer Playtester Application
Please fill out all questions to the best of your knowledge. Your application will be reviewed and scrutinized - so please be honest.
There is a fixed upper limit to the number of play testers admitted to the PT Groups. Your details will be kept on-file - please view our privacy policy here: http://unknownworlds.com/privacy/. If the PT group is full, you will be considered in the next round of applications.
* = Required
What is your full name?*
What is your email address?*
Please link us to your Steam profile or XboxID. Your profile cannot be private*
http://steamcommunity.com/id/<customURL> or http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656119xxxxxxxxxx http://live.xbox.com/Profile?Gamertag=<Your Gamertag Here>
What is your UWE forum username?
This is your username on both the Subnautica and Natural Selection 2 forums
How old are you?*
What country are you from?*
What language(s) do you speak?*
Please note that English is required
Are you or have you beta tested any other games?
Do you know any current UWE Playtesters?
Do you have any programming experience?*
What system do you play Subnautica on?*
(Check all that apply)
- XboxOne
- Windows
- MacOS
This is a required questionIf you own Subnautica on PC/Mac, what operating system do you use?*
If you play on PC/Mac, what are your system specs? (Xbox Users please put in your Xbox Model)*
Please keep this brief - CPU/RAM/Graphics card
Do you have any experience with open world games?
Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, Terraria, etc. are all good examples
How many hours can you devote to Playtesting UWE Games each week?*
What do you think makes you a good candidate for being a Unknown Worlds Playtester?*
Do you have any special skills that could be helpful in future game development?
Is there anything else you'd like us to know?
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/me thinks that's a good idea.
Maybe if people actually used it for submitting feedback... xD
I took a few looks at the public list of "feedback" provided a while back and a lot of it was hilariously (or cringe-inducingly) awful and far from being feedback. This guy submitting a 3+ post long rant about how Creative Mode didn't function like Survival Mode and someone just saying "heat" while in the Active Lava Zone were two that come to mind.....
So I'm guessing they're looking for dedicated testers who would be more likely to provide quality feedback, which even a stickied forum post wouldn't help with. You'd get the same assortment of actual feedback mixed in with nonsense. The form isn't that hard to fill out, but having an additional stickied forum post for those who can't / don't want to do the form might be a good idea. Assuming that people use it for its intended purpose and don't start complaining about mulitplayer instead ^^;
The vast majority of the time involves doing the same thing over and over again hundreds of times. It can certainly be fun, but the fun comes from the camaraderie, fun and banter had between the playtesters, rather than the playing of the game.
Just about every job ever
Jokes aside. You're incredibly self centered if you want money for this. You contributing to something you like and enjoy and making it better actively should be payment enough.
Also dont worry. Aslong as youre fine with getting spoiled about everything story and lorewise, playtesting subnautica doesnt make it less fun to play. I think it makes it more fun to play even. Its like cake that tastes better when you made it yourself.
More accurately, they're saying it's self-centered to want to be paid for something you're volunteering to do, which is the case here. They're not hiring people which would entail being paid for your time, but asking for volunteers where you're giving up your time free of charge.
I do think it is fine to expect to be paid for something like this. After all, I voluntarily applied for my job. It has already been made clear that they are looking for unpaid volunteers. The work is only as valuable as people make it. If people are willing to do this for nothing other than the enjoyment of doing it, then the devs would be silly to pay for it. That's just business and that's between the devs and the volunteers. If you're not willing to accept the stated terms, then don't worry about it, and move on to enjoying the game how you want to enjoy it. If they don't get enough volunteers with the terms they have stated, then they may end up having to pay for playtesting, but I really don't see that as a likely scenario.
I was two thirds of the way through the form when I ended up backing out. Not because I didn't feel like helping out, but because I felt I wouldn't do an adequate enough job and essentially be worthless
Edited to clarify I am referring to a typical 9-5 QA position.
First, I love how everyone (and this is the interwebz) talks about how things should be.
I'll throw a wild guess and say UWE knows a thing or two about game development, you know, being devs and having released games and all.
But I'm sure YOU know it better!
(Sorry, don't mean to be a dbag but can't help but be a bit sting-y here :P)
1) Golden rule of QA: There is never enough QA.
I'm sure they are testing stuff in house but "hiring one dedicated person" is not better than players. One person has a capacity of thought and imagination.
There will be a lot more things going on with a group of people, a wide array of ideas on how to break the game! Not to mention the amount of testing doable by a group of people wouldn't be realistically handled by a dedicated person.
2) Mindblowing facts: Volunteering: Not the same thing as a job!
If you are looking for a job as a QA, either apply somewhere as a Jr or if you have experience in game QA... well I don't see you posting here in protest honestly, it's pretty much a industry standard and those who do not do it almost always either can't or they want to keep things hidden (for good or bad reasons).
So the difference is that a job is a mutual agreement. Company pays you money, you dedicate time to fulfill a quality of service. If you don't show up or deliver the quality, no payment for you. You are obliged to do things.
Volunteering on the other hand, works differently. The company will kindly ask for your help. They can't force you. You are obliged as much as you feel.
3) It's actually win-win
You possibly get to see new cool functions.
You get to deliver feedback to devs, probably with a better connection.
Devs get to have more insight on problems and overall how game works.
Devs get to have more time to focus on fixing stuff/further QA.
Devs get to have a better end product.
You get to have a better end product.
Other players get to have a better end product.
EVERYONE GETS TO HAVE A BETTER END PRODUCT!
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Again: You DON'T HAVE TO do it. They are not asking YOU to do it. They are asking if anyone's willing. That's all.
They are a small company working on a game to make some bucks and entertain us.
Give'em a break guys!