I've got a job interview coming up soon for SEGA. They want me to list bugs I've found in other games during the interview. The only problem is i cant find any bugs as they've all been fixed prior to release!

Do I just lie about finding bugs and name some common known ones from the internet, or what? Should I try to find bugs in games they made, or would it be rude to list bugs they missed in their own games?

Basically, anyone got any tips on how to do well in a QA interview?

I asked some of the QA's I work with and some of them mentioned their previous experience beta testing games.

I don't know your background but have you done anything like that? If so just mention the game(s) you've done open betas on. If you didn't come across any issues, were there some that other testers did that you could mention? How were bugs reported to the developers during the testing?

Now if you haven't done any of that and they are just looking for any released games you've played and have noticed bugs in, I think they are just looking for clipping issues, horrible camera issues, bad pop-in/pop-outs, lag and horrid framerates. Just bring up any games you've come across that have had issues like that's affected your gameplay experience.

Hope that gives you some ideas and luck!!

So ideally, just mention any odd bits of graphical errors in games, or any bugs i may have heard reported about in open beta tests?

Kind of a nightmare this. You mentioned how bugs were reported? Is that something to explain to the interviewer, or just for my general knowledge?

Yeah, exactly.

As far as reporting bugs, I know for some of the games I've worked on that had public betas there was always a unique forum users would have access to post their bug findings. I would think they'd be curious in how you or others reported bugs to the development studio and if you ever followed up and retested those bugs later.

Okay mate, thanks for the tips. I'l go look for some game open beta forums, read up on reported bugs, and try to remember them myself. Probably only need one or two.

Hmm just had a problematic thought with this actually. If I lie and say I beta tested a game, and list bugs "I found", they'l probably question why I didn't put down the fact I beta tested said game on my CV. Might not look . Crap.

Better to be honest mate.

Yep, but i worry honest makes me sound sub par when it comes to choices. To be fair, naming bugs from other games sounds awkward enough, describing it off the top of your head, as you can hardly take cliff notes into an interview!

I'm wondering if they'l even ask said questions, but we will have to see. Gahh I'm nervous! Got to get a suit to wear yet!

If you've played any games at all in the last few years and not spotted any bugs at all you've been a very lucky person indeed.

Ok, as a coder I tend to be conditioned into spotting them in the games I play a little more than a normal punter, but I'd expect someone who is wanting to get into QA to be able to spot far more than me.

Off the top of my head, in the last two days I've seen a whole bunch of them in the game I've been playing. Path finding issues, lagging dialogue, sequence breaking and physics failing to reach stable state. And that's just in one game.

I don't know what to say, perhaps I've just been playing better quality games? I wouldn't know how to spot psychics not reaching stable state. No idea what that even means.

What game have you been playing out of interest? If its a game I've played, I'm concerned, if not, I'l put it down to one poor game.

Oh and I have seen plenty in the last few years, but i never documented every one, so it's a hard job to remember. Thinking about it, I could put down my current game, that is nearly bug free and pick up one that runs full of bugs. All about what game you're playing.

I'm sure I'l do fine.

If you can't see any bugs in absolutely any game you've played...then maybe you are not cut out for QA. Every game has bugs. Try using Fable 2 for your research ;-)

Gradius1:

If you can't see any bugs in absolutely any game you've played...then maybe you are not cut out for QA. Every game has bugs. Try using Fable 2 for your research ;-)

You can play out fable 2 without any errors(i could finish this without any bug until i got the see the future DLC then i got a bug).
But if you replay it and you wan't to complete everything you will encounter bugs.

I encountered a few bugs on my first playthrough .

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So did he get the job?

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Darkbelg:

You can play out fable 2 without any errors(i could finish this without any bug until i got the see the future DLC then i got a bug).

You're equating 'gameflow blocker' with 'bug' here though.

Not all bugs stop you from completing the game (in fact, the vast majority don't). You should be able to spot at least one annoying animation pop before you've even finished childhood (damn that dog not blending out of the 'sitting hurt' pose properly).

That's what me and Gradius mean when we say that you should be able to spot bugs in anything you play. No developer ever has the time to get rid of all the minor problems, you have to release the thing at some point.

Maybe I'll do a post on the kinds of bug that exist in games, if people would find it interesting?

Glen Watts1:

Darkbelg:

You can play out fable 2 without any errors(i could finish this without any bug until i got the see the future DLC then i got a bug).

You're equating 'gameflow blocker' with 'bug' here though.

Not all bugs stop you from completing the game (in fact, the vast majority don't). You should be able to spot at least one annoying animation pop before you've even finished childhood (damn that dog not blending out of the 'sitting hurt' pose properly).

That's what me and Gradius mean when we say that you should be able to spot bugs in anything you play. No developer ever has the time to get rid of all the minor problems, you have to release the thing at some point.

Maybe I'll do a post on the kinds of bug that exist in games, if people would find it interesting?

Would be quite an interesting topic I think, go for it.

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