Game Testing

Concept

Gears of War 4 is the fifth game in the Gears of War franchise. Set 25 years after Gears of War 3, humanity is slowly rebuilding and repopulating.

Requirement

The partner wanted a game testing capability offering scalable, adaptable coverage aligned to their release schedule. They needed a distinctive, reentrant talent pool without bench costs, co-located with the studio, with an emphasis on Canadian resources and collaborative management.

Approach

A flexible solution adapted the standard delivery model to the shape of this particular project. Teams in Seattle and Vancouver worked with partner stakeholders to design culture and onboarding environments that maximized immersion in the partner's own working culture and asset pipeline.

Testing costs came down while the innovation stayed distinctive, and game stability drew high marks from the partner. The total team ran to 60 people.

Delivery scope

• Planning
• Production
• QA and testing
• AI tools
• Network
• Player XD
• Power BI
• AI and bots
• C++, C#
• Agile methodology
• Online and network testing
• Gameplay testing
• Engine development
• Content tools
• Enemy and NPC AI
• Multiplayer AI

Results

• Dev cost 82% of plan, an 18% reduction
• Talent retention 95%
• Work output 140%
• Time to kickoff under 4 weeks
• Time to produce under 1 week
• Budget variance −18%