Karine Marecki Quality Assurance Team Lead
FAVORITE MOVIE?
Idiocracy by Mike Judge. It is as funny as it is scary and pertinent.
FAVORITE ALL-TIME GAME?
This is just too hard to pick! I will say the Persona series because of the way your seemingly trivial actions, and the relationships you build during the day, will affect your dungeon exploration at night. It’s a nice intertwined balance between those two arcs of gameplay.
FAVORITE BAND?
Again, so tough to pick, so I’ll just narrow it down to a genre and will confess that progressive is my jam.
BIGGEST HOBBY?
Video games, definitely, but as this is cliché, I will also mention painting and growing vegetables.
HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN PURSUING A CAREER IN VIDEO GAMES?
I was always passionate about video games, but back when I was a student, we didn’t have access to all the specialized programs we now have, so it didn’t occur to me to make it a career choice. It was later in life, after a string of unsatisfying jobs, that I was invited by an acquaintance to try for a QA position. I just fell in love with this work and the people, and decided then to pursue it on the longer term.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN ON THE TEAM?
A little more than a year.
GIVE THE READER AN IDEA ABOUT YOUR DAY-TO-DAY TASKS.
My job as a QA Team Lead is to coordinate a team of testers and work as a partner with development and production to propose the best testing strategies to serve the project.
Our role as a QA team is to serve as the in-house voice of our fans and customers, offering feedback to the development team on the product, ensuring that new implementations are tested, and raising flags when features or content are not delivered on time or to expected quality.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE ASPECT ABOUT THE PROJECT?
As with any project, my favorite aspect is to see the game transform and grow—from a pile of gray blocks, stiff animations, and robot voices to gorgeous environments, engaging characters, and immersive music. Every build reveals something new, and to see this progression every day is amazing.
WHAT WAS THE TRICKIEST TASK ASSIGNED TO YOU AND HOW DID YOU SOLVE IT?
One of the trickiest challenges my team faced on this project was the sheer length of the game and all the possible permutations that player choices could create. This was solved by first chasing down the conditionals, consequences, and dependencies of each choice. Then, using a paring tool, ultimately distilling which paths though the game would allow us to hit as many choices as possible on as few runs as possible, done in the fastest time possible. But no strategy can succeed without having such a wonderful team of dedicated and passionate people to review the game, day in and day out. This is really how we meet any such challenge.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF CONCERNING THE GAME?
I can say that, despite all the hurdles, challenges, and tough choices we had to make, I’m confident we were still able to deliver a polished, quality product to our fans that they will find enjoyable—and that’s all that matters in the end.
