Paradox is looking for Magicka beta-testers (signup is now closed, thanks)

JorgenB · Mar 16, 2011

With lots of Magicka DLCs and other exiting stuff in the pipeline we are looking for several dedicated beta testers to help us out. We need people that are willing to try out these new things before release, provide feedback, evaluate new game modes and be a part of the creative process involved in making Magicka

Experiences from previous betas are preferred but not required. As applications runs in we will go through them and choose people that we think fits well. We will look at computer specs, motivations from you and where you live (we need people spread all over the place to test networking) to get the most diverse group possible.

So if you are willing to help out, grind and report bugs this is where you apply:

zechio · Mar 16, 2011

Hm, what kind of dedication are you exactly looking for? To be perfectly honest, this is sounding a lot more like a paid game tester position rather than beta testing.

Personally, I would love to help beta test for you, and I have a lot of experience doing it. However, I can not guarantee how much time I would be able to put into it. Also, I'm still waiting for my SW:TOR beta invite, and if that thing ever comes in...well, lets just say my free time will go down

Shams · Mar 17, 2011

Are you saying that "regular" beta testers don't need to be dedicated?

No this is just a regular beta test signup - we don't expect you to sacrifice your first born, but you shouldn't sign up just to get to play stuff for free either.

/s

Vingdoloras · Mar 17, 2011

Applying. Why are you asking for our addresses, though? xD

Internet connection... do you mean upload or download speed? Picked my upload, as that seems more logical.

Oh and, how many people will you pick?

Shams · Mar 17, 2011

For proper testing we need as diverse crowd as possible. This includes geographical diversity.

Can a icelandic wizard play with one in Australia?

I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

Download speed is preferable.

Finally we'll pick as many as necessary but around 100-200.

/s

zenstar · Mar 17, 2011

Stupid job. Stupid need money to eat / buy cool stuff. Stupid finite amount of time. Stupid reality is overrated.
I'll have to just wait to buy the awesomeness after it's released and play it like the rest of us plebs

Good luck with the beta testing. Looking forward to the resulting fun.

unmerged(284609) · Mar 17, 2011

Shams said:
Are you saying that "regular" beta testers don't need to be dedicated?

No this is just a regular beta test signup - we don't expect you to sacrifice your first born, but you shouldn't sign up just to get to play stuff for free either.

/s

I just think he's saying that as this is a service provided by your fans for free you shouldn't ask for too much. In the post you are clearly asking for a service that your developers/"inhouse testers" should be responsible for.
A public community beta-tester will (in most of the cases) not activly search for bugs rather than observe the game when he/she is playing it and report whatever bugs that are found that way. And in my opinion we shouldn't have to do that kind of work for free anyway, even if it is something we gladly are willing to do to make magicka better.
I mean, hell, i got paid on a monthly basis (good money too) to do the exact things you are asking for public beta testers to do for free and if you don't have that kind of people in your salary list you should seriously start thinking about it.

//Rixard

zenstar · Mar 17, 2011

I think what he's trying to say is they're looking for people who are serious about putting in time and effort to help make the game great. There's no point giving away the 100-200 slots to people who just play through once and don't report the bugs they find. I know friends who love to beta test the games they're interested in. If I could dedicate some real time to this I would sign up in an instant.
If you think the requirements are too rigorous or if you'd only accept the terms for remuneration then don't sign up. It's better for all of us if only those who are interested in helping Arrowhead / Paradox thouroughly test this sign up.
I see nothing wrong with this approach. Many closed public betas expect a fair amount from their public testers without offering renumeration for their efforts. And when the game(s)/DLC(s) get released they can say "I helped make that what it is!"
Of course getting your name into a "Thank you" list in the credits is also awesome for the beta testers (hint hint).

unmerged(239024) · Mar 17, 2011

I couldn't play the actual game yet because of computer issues, but can anyone check if my nickname is in the credits?

unmerged(284609) · Mar 17, 2011

zenstar said:
I think what he's trying to say is they're looking for people who are serious about putting in time and effort to help make the game great. There's no point giving away the 100-200 slots to people who just play through once and don't report the bugs they find. I know friends who love to beta test the games they're interested in. If I could dedicate some real time to this I would sign up in an instant.
If you think the requirements are too rigorous or if you'd only accept the terms for remuneration then don't sign up. It's better for all of us if only those who are interested in helping Arrowhead / Paradox thouroughly test this sign up.
I see nothing wrong with this approach. Many closed public betas expect a fair amount from their public testers without offering renumeration for their efforts. And when the game(s)/DLC(s) get released they can say "I helped make that what it is!"
Of course getting your name into a "Thank you" list in the credits is also awesome for the beta testers (hint hint).

Except since this game recently went into the top 10 of purchased steam games I personally think that they are freeloading on the people that loves this game and that is not fair. The things that Paradox is asking us to do here is things that people get paid very descent money to do in other industrys. Only in the game industry can one release a buggy game and expect the buyers to fix it...

Vingdoloras · Mar 17, 2011

Shams said:
For proper testing we need as diverse crowd as possible. This includes geographical diversity.

Can a icelandic wizard play with one in Australia?

I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

Download speed is preferable.

Finally we'll pick as many as necessary but around 100-200.

/s

I said my connection is 1 mbps or higher (cuz my upload is about 1 mbps), but if you want download speed, i should have picked the highest option (I figure 12 is higher than 2 xD) D:

zenstar · Mar 17, 2011

Rixard said:
Except since this game recently went into the top 10 of purchased steam games I personally ...*SNIP*... Only in the game industry can one release a buggy game and expect the buyers to fix it...

The game hitting the top 10 is nice but is probably still paying back the years of development during which noone was making any money. Adding multiple beta testers' salaries (over and above any they may already employ) is quite a drain on income. Lets say the tester is making a very low salary of 10,000 Euros a year. Let's assume that they make 50% profit on the game (that is a massive profit and wildly unlikely but lets just assume 50%) then at 10 Euros a game that's 2,000 sales per beta tester without any of that going towards any other salaries required / running costs / rent / beer and that's for a low salary!
The gaming industry can make money but it also costs a lot of money. Smaller studios do not have the kind of cash that the big boys throw around.
And like I said: many development houses have closed public betas and don't pay people for it. It would be great if everyone could get paid for it but practically it's not feasible.
I totally understand where you're coming from but I also understand Paradox / Arrowhead's points of view too. Unfortunately reality is a harsh mistress. Hell: the first Night of the Living Dead movie paid the zombies $1 and gave them some of the newspaper props because they couldn't afford to hire so many extras. Sometimes you just have to make do

Shams · Mar 17, 2011

Rixard:

I get your point. But I think you are misunderstanding me/us. Mainly perhaps the original post was a bit misworded - we've updated it now.

Let me try to be as clear as possible about this:

This beta is primarily a way for us to involve the community in the process, find out how to make new maps, monsters, items and game modes more fun.

The secondary purpose of the beta, which inevitably is a part of the process described above, is to report bugs when found.

I honestly can say that this is far away from freeloading and it feels unfair to call it that. This is about involving the players in the process and making their voice more heard in the development of new fun content for Magicka.

What's the reward for helping out? Besides playing the latest and greatest players will also get said content for free in addition to other bonuses.

Sign up and let me show you you are wrong!

Sincerely,

Shams

unmerged(284609) · Mar 17, 2011

Shams said:
Rixard:

I get your point. But I think you are misunderstanding me/us. Mainly perhaps the original post was a bit misworded - we've updated it now.

Let me try to be as clear as possible about this:

This beta is primarily a way for us to involve the community in the process, find out how to make new maps, monsters, items and game modes more fun.

The secondary purpose of the beta, which inevitably is a part of the process described above, is to report bugs when found.

I honestly can say that this is far away from freeloading and it feels unfair to call it that. This is about involving the players in the process and making their voice more heard in the development of new fun content for Magicka.

What's the reward for helping out? Besides playing the latest and greatest players will also get said content for free in addition to other bonuses.

Sign up and let me show you you are wrong!

Sincerely,

Shams

I do understand that this is a well tested way to catch the final bugs and it is not necessarily a bad way to do so. Though from my point of view, and from the way you put it, it did seem like you were repeting what everyone else in the industry is doing and expecting us to do your work.

I've read the edit now and it seem alot better, I agree that dedicated testers is needed to make the game better, the part I didn't agree on was that you were asking us to do stuff that shouldn't be our responsibility. I adore Magicka and even though it has a lot of quirks that is OK since its a wonderful concept and it's a new studios first game so its bound to have its issues.

unmerged(270173) · Mar 17, 2011

Signed. It's an very enjoyable game.. Hopefully some of the community efforts will allow future magicka releases to not be as buggy as the original. I used to sign up for betas a long time ago and kinda miss it nowadays.. Hope I get picked

unmerged(280742) · Mar 17, 2011

I have tested a shitload of games as a beta tester as well as a lot of productive software as browsers, office suites, IDEs and even OS' - and I never felt like "oh - I have to get payed for this". Maybe this is because I like to get my hands on bleeding edge software. A closed and/or open beta test can never (and so far didn't ever) replace the inhouse QA tests but will help to find bugs that are so well hidden that they can't be found without "that guy" that tried "that thing". I think you guys tend to forget that Arrowhead/pdx aren't EA or Blizzard (and even Blizzard made a closed beta test for SC2).

I signed up and I'm really hoping to be one of the chosen ones to test new content/bug fixes/DLC/whatever-they-throw-at-me

unmerged(267276) · Mar 17, 2011

1. People complain about bugs and lack of testing on user systems.

2. People then complain when given the chance to help the testing so things are less buggy.

3. /facepalm.

(Just in case its not clear, I don't have time myself but I support this btw, and good job going this route. It can be risky but its worth it since Magicks devs obviously don't have much in the way of resources, its nice you're taking action to improve things and alleviate some of the past problems.)

unmerged(269946) · Mar 17, 2011

It is on a voluntary basis, and probably nothing like a full time game testing position, where you might be spending ¾ of a day bug testing a single feature then filing bug reports on site. Community input is always nice.

BaCkStAbEr · Mar 18, 2011

Signed,

I love beta testing, and since you're looking for people around the world, im in Brazil

unmerged(281276) · Mar 18, 2011

I signed up. I figured this little game has given me a lot of fun maybe now I can help make sure future DLC will be fun too.

Paradox is looking for Magicka beta-testers (signup is now closed, thanks)

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