For future Beta Testers (a must read).

[Spook]

hmm, that did make an interesting read. Hopefully i can start doing comp sci this year as i couldnt last year because the college were silly and cancelled the course ¬_¬, But from what i here it is pretty damn boring.

Depends on what modules you choose to do in the course, but considering the sheer range/vagueness of a Comp. Sci course, it'll be hard to avoid some boring parts.

[Hektik sniper]

still, im sure it would be better than what im doing now (ICT), its so basic its boring. I spend most of the lessons browsing the net.

[Spook]

still, im sure it would be better than what im doing now (ICT), its so basic its boring. I spend most of the lessons browsing the net.

What level are we talking here? You said college, so that usually means between GCSEs and University (which is what I was talking about) - but that's assuming you're British/living in the UK :)

Having said that, the first year of my course was laughable in places, such as a lecturer in a practical lab asking if anyone hadn't used a mouse before.. but then, the first year of Uni on any course is intended to be lived as a student, the real work doesn't begin until the second year.

[Hektik sniper]

it would be at A Level

[NeoThermic]

Probibaly the most broing parts of A level computer science is the Access databases. My suggestion would be to learn how to use MySQL and PHP, when it gets to the coursework (which wants some form of data processing), you'll get more marks for a programmed solution than an access or spreadsheet one.

When they give you the coursework, do it. Sounds stupid, but just do it. NEVER leave it late. I did, fucked it up, and got a U for the coursework, and although I had 2 B's for the exams, it brung me down to a D. I re-did the coursework in PHP & MySQL, and got an A. Then, when they gave us the next lot, I started immediatly, and in a week and a half, I had done the coursework, all 152 pages. That also got me an A. I've now got a B overall, even if I don't turn up to the exam on tuesday. However, I intend on getting an A for that exam, and thus I should average out *hopefully* at an A, a B at worst case.


NeoThermic

[Spook]

..and that will all stand you in extremely good stead if you go on to do it at University - I didn't do any of that at A-Level (wasn't an option), but if you can have a good working knowledge of whatever you're taught, you'll sail through a Bachelor's degree.

Also, doing it will help you realise what aspect of IT you want to go into, and if you can decide early on, you should be able to pick a more specific course at university - Comp. Sci. is an extremely broad catch-all course. Specialise in what you want to do by picking a different course eg Network Communications, and you'll look better for employers in a few years time.

Also, if things do go wrong, don't fret - I left my A-Levels with just four points, but that was enough to get me onto an HND Computing course. After one year (which I sailed through), I transferred onto Comp. Sci. and was none the worse for the experience (especially since we did much of the same work the Comp Sci students did in that first year).

Um, did I just turn into a careers advisor? ;)

[elDiablo]

hmm, that did make an interesting read. Hopefully i can start doing comp sci this year as i couldnt last year because the college were silly and cancelled the course ¬_¬, But from what i here it is pretty damn boring.

Depends on what modules you choose to do in the course, but considering the sheer range/vagueness of a Comp. Sci course, it'll be hard to avoid some boring parts.

Comp Sci, as with so many courses in life (see what i did there? ) has a common first year to all the "areas" of it (for example, at Southampton Uni where I just did my first year, there is CompSci BSc, CompSci MEng, CompEng, Physics with CompSci, CompSci with physics, etc., all of which have a pretty common first year (or at least common modules)). These are, as you say, the boring bits: Discrete Maths, Professional Issues, Programming Principles. Obviously, these are MY uni's module names, other uni's do different modules, or call them different things

[D Dude]

We couldn't do Comp.Sci at a-level but I did ICT instead, I had one exam last year, and the rest has been coursework. I made a great excel 'program' and some other stuff.

Comp. Sci. is an extremely broad catch-all course

I am going to do computer science at uni mainly because of that, I really don't know what I want to do after uni, so it seemed like a good choice. Might do something like networking, I can do that.

Oh well best see what happens.

[Andcarne]

Interesting. Certainly makes it much easier for things to get fixed if people will use that.

[Spook]

Comp. Sci. is an extremely broad catch-all course

I am going to do computer science at uni mainly because of that, I really don't know what I want to do after uni, so it seemed like a good choice. Might do something like networking, I can do that.

Oh well best see what happens.

That's exactly what I did. Once I hit my third year, I'd finally decided to concentrate on networking, after sampling everything from programming to systems analysis.

[RoystonD12]

that really is a must-have for anybody serious about QA testing new software - I've had (very limited) experiance of being at the developer-end of testers who, quite frankly, didn't know what the fuck they were talking about. Case in point:

some years ago, I was working on a single-player standalone version of Gang-wars and needed somebody to help me test whilst I continued development. One of the 3 people interested kept sending me emails with stuff like "your game stopped working. I loaded it and tried playing it but I got an error and it crashed"

me: what error did you get?

him: I don't remember.

me: Um, okay. What did you do right before it crashed?

him: well, I was playing it and it gave me an error message then crashed.

me:Uh huh... and what were you doing in the game, as in, what were you clicking, typing etc?

him: I don't know, I was just clicking stuff and trying to play the game

etc...

suffice to say I never finished that game :/

On the other hand, I've always tried to make useful and worthwhile bug/testing reports when i've been on a beta (*cough*selfpimping*cough*) and whilst I've not been on that many projects (the last one being a pokemon trading card video game about 2 years ago) I did my best to send a bi-daily bug report of what i've found, along with screenshots of the problems, and/or information on how to recreate the errors. even if I didn't find anything, I'd let them know what i'd been doing, and add my suggestions for the program.

That kinda stuff,

[Ascendant]

I've done ICT at A-level and i partly regret it and praise it. Praise because it was so simple, but regret as it doesn't really help you out much unless you want to be a secartary. But hey its still an A-level (sort of) in the end and the grades is all that counts.

Anyway hopefully going to do game programming next year at uni, if i can get the points (not too lickely at the mo thanks to psychology, just one big memory test).

[Gravitron]

Ok well your guide would have been helpful for a n00b, but thanks an interesting read to say the least, well it looks an interesting game to say that much, like the style if I’m honest hehe and now I’m rambling so I’ll silence

Frankly, IMHO, n00b was invented by newbies trying to look cool and "leet" so they get mistaken for vets among their newbish peers.
Also, there's only one overkill lord, and that'll be Ste, he sends his regards (actually he's at crunch mode with some x-men game).

Eitherway, at least you gained some reading time.





ascendant, good luck and if you need a bunch of testers, you know where you can come looking.

[Scunner]

Not a bad link; those are the most basic, and often most overlooked concepts of defect/bug reporting.

One nit-pick though - beta testing a system/app isn't really QA. Quality Assurance is a set of processes designed to assure that software development follows best practices and that those practices ensure a system will meet it's objectives.

Testing is an exercise in using a system/app to determine if the software behaves as outlined in requirements and/or specifications (if these exist). Deviations from these requirements are typically written up as defects.

Testing games isn't just about finding bugs, it's also used to determine just how useable the software is, how friendly the interface is, and if the game has an appropriate learning curve, among other things.

I could go on and on about how to test software in general (I'm ashamed to admit I'm a test manager for an insurance company ), so if you'd like to know more, I'll be happy to provide links and helpful hints to make your testing of the game more effective for you and the developers.

[Iris]

For me, beta testing should involve not only those who are technically adept, but also those who are not. Why? Because you will never know how or what these people will do when they play the game. If I press this button, will the game crash? If I do this and do that, what will happen? If all testers are limited to a particular stereotype, i.e. programmers, computer geniuses, etc., then the game will only be better off being sold to these people. IMHO, the guys at IV would like to stretch the market for Darwinia, and that will also include attracting people who would otherwise not know of it if it's not shown to them.

Of course, certain guidelines should be followed when reporting bugs, which is what you guys have already outlined so nicely here. It wouldn't hurt to have at least one female join the group, eh? ^_^