Pathogen is a puzzle game pitting the player against a human or AI-controlled opponent for board domination. It includes both single and multiplayer modes, as well as a level editor and is available on mobile & tablet devices.
responsibilities
General usability testing
Collaborated with design team to establish game feel
Contributed to design data about game balance
Tested puzzles for appropriate difficulty curve
Tested primarily multiplayer gameplay and balance
Helped to gather data for use in the end-of-game statistics screen
Role
On Pathogen my core focus was in multiplayer testing. I joined the team midway through project completion and was able to help general usability through the single player flow, and then work on puzzle design balance and usability of the multiplayer suite.
Typically my role was to test against a variety of roles of play using different tactics myself. I typically focused on hyper-offensive and consistent defensive plays, employing a variety of tactics on either playstyle to see how they worked. While working with others we would take constant notes of our plays and share them at the end to find too-easy strategies and cut down on them.
Because of my previous work on the game Loc with this studio I was also able to help contribute in small level design tweaks. This mainly stemmed from feedback in my testing, though also came from my genuine attempts at breaking their intended walling and starting patterns to win quickly.
Because of the focus on multiplayer gameplay in Pathogen, QA as a team was encouraged to submit ideas on statistics we’d like to see on the end results page, which would help players both feel good about their games (even losses) and hopefully learn to play more strategically.
