Super Safe Spelunking - Quality Assurance & Playtesting
Super safe spelunking is a 2.5D SHMUP featuring rogue-lite elements and procedurally generated levels.
Super safe spelunking is an isometric SHMUP featuring rogue-lite elements and procedurally generated levels. Dive through striking biomes, swap weapons at the base camp and take on the wild shots of long-forgotten employees turned enemies. The only thing ‘safe’ about this adventure is the fun. We developed this project with the partnership and mentorship of MAXART. Super Safe Spelunking plunges players into a series of increasingly perilous cave systems, each boasting distinct & visually striking biomes. Beginning at the Base Camp, the player can prepare for descent & select levels by navigating through thematic cavern entrances. Each level contains multiple modes, adding strategic depth and replayability for the challenge-seeking audience. Succeeding in these modes rewards players with powerful new weapons on subsequent runs.
Blending a 3D environment with cartoonesque 2D characters & enemies creates an engaging & unique visual experience. Players will traverse abandoned mine shafts, lava-filled chambers, & many more biomes that offer distinct hazards & new enemies. The core gameplay loop revolves around utilising the available weapons to survive obstacles & enemies, defeat formidable bosses, & acquire & manage upgrade modules. Play time can be kept short to cater to casual players, or levels can be replayed in different modes consecutively to provide further challenge to more invested individuals.
The game innovates on the SHMUP genre, as required by the brief, with its distinct aesthetics & characters, & a wide variety of creative weapons that the player must unlock, upgrade, & experiment with. We achieve online connectivity with a ‘weekly run’ that contains a predetermined map, goal, & challenges that players can complete, to be reflected on a leaderboard, based on their top times. Players permanently enhance their abilities as they progress, tackling the escalating difficulty & eliminating threats along the way.
My Role in the Project
In Super Safe Spelunking, my primary roles were Sound Designer and UX Designer and QA. I also assisted in the marketing team by managing the development team LinkedIn account, and often wrote or rewrote public writing, such as the Steam page descriptions, and social media biographies.
UX and QA
I also participated in User Experience Design and Quality Assurance Testing. Every week, myself and another team member would source playtesters, and conduct tests. The test was preceded by a short questionnaire, followed by a short playtest. This was followed by a longer questionnaire focused on gathering more detailed results.
The focus of the tests would differ per week, and based on our results, we would a playtest report at the end of every week.
This report included a triaged bug list, including a comprehensive description of bugs and issues, as well as a suggested solution to the issue.
We would also include results of both questionnaires, any notes taken during playtests, and recordings of the tests.
The final part of the report contained a table with suggested improvements for the game in the upcoming sprint, and who they are assigned to.
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