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Track Talk W18

Testing Unlocked – A Tale of Main and Side Quests

Zoran Gjorgiev

16:30-17:15 CEST Wednesday 8th June

Quite like the heroes from our favorite games, testers are often challenged with the question of “what next?” The world is full of possibilities. Even when we have some guidance in the form of quests, we often still have the choice about which quest we’ll be tackling next.

We have the Main Quests – large and often difficult tasks which to some degree fundamentally change the environment for us and those around us. And we have the Side Quests – smaller tasks which provide experience and resources that help us evolve to a level where we can solve the Main Quests. In the end both are important in their own way and they rely on each other. Without the side quests we wouldn’t be able to tackle the main quests, and we need the main quests to advance and unlock new areas of our world, including new side quests.

Deciding what to test next, shaping the course of your QA adventure, can be both a tedious and an exciting task. It is important to approach it with context from our environment:

  • Knowledge about our enemies
  • The strengths and weaknesses of our heroes
  • The support we can obtain from our different allies
  • Understanding the intricacies and impact of our actions

 

Only through a well-rounded foundation of information one can find out the costs and rewards associated with our opens quests. This is the only way to determine the best course of action for achieving the most progress without spending many of our resources or putting the hero’s health-bar at a risk.

If we aim to win the game, we must choose the right sequence in which we handle our Main and Side quests. By the end of this talk you will hopefully have a few ideas on how you can decide where to spend your testing efforts next.