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[TRENCHES] Thursday, August 29, 2013 - Catatonic

GethGeth LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
edited August 2013 in The Penny Arcade Hub
Catatonic


Catatonic
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/catatonic

Baseball, the land of two thousand combinations.

Anonymous

I test for a fairly large publisher in California. A while back, we had a children’s baseball game in for testing. Since we had many larger projects at the time, I was the only one assigned to the game.

Near the end of the project’s test cycle, I was assigned the duty of testing team combinations and marking down results in a checklist.

This meant I had to test all teams (there were over forty) against each other, and each team on each field - of which there were around a dozen. This equated to roughly two thousand different combinations, of which I had to test each and every one.

For well over a week (of ten hour days) my entire shift was spent choosing a team, choosing an opposing team, and then playing a game of three innings to ensure it stayed stable. Remember that this was a child’s baseball game, so the gameplay was extremely simple. It got to the point where I could win games without even looking at the screen, just by memorizing the timing of button presses. By the time I was only a quarter of the way through the checklist, I started having horrific dreams about this game. Eventually I managed to finish all two thousand-something entries on the checklist, and I felt like a million bucks.

The next day we received a new build of the game, and I was asked to start the checklist over again.


Geth on

Posts

  • Angry_SamoanAngry_Samoan Now with 20% more mange... Registered User regular
    And just like that, Cora's father is back on my good side. I guess he'll add the sloths in those books.

    "The history of all sports is to cheat whenever possible."- Tony Kornheiser
  • JortalusJortalus Registered User regular
    Hahaha, James Patterson. He does seem to churn out books abnormally fast; every couple of months there's something else on the TeeVee he's trying to hock at us. I don't blame Cora's dad for his reaction, either...People are becoming interested in his world again, he's getting a chance to write more (with very little pressure) about it, and he's getting paid enough to make the effort worthwhile.

    Seems like a win for everyone! Coradad is not mad, Q doesn't need to be punched in the face anymore, and the sloths don't need to be shot.

  • klemmingklemming Registered User regular
    Jortalus wrote: »
    Seems like a win for everyone! Coradad is not mad, Q doesn't need to be punched in the face anymore, and the sloths don't need to be shot.

    I dunno, I think Q still needs to punched in the face.
    Thinking about it, I think 'needs to be punched in the face' is a default characteristic of most of the characters.
    Not Coradad, though (you'd lose a hand).

    Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
  • Angry_SamoanAngry_Samoan Now with 20% more mange... Registered User regular
    Lose a hand? You're more apt to get shot...

    "The history of all sports is to cheat whenever possible."- Tony Kornheiser
  • wormspeakerwormspeaker Objectively Terrible Registered User regular
    This trenches story is why I always make sure to thank QA profusely whenever I can manage to get some of their time. I don't want to do that shit, I'd rather be writing more code. This is also why I am always appalled when I read about how some companies are treating their QA people. Maybe you don't need to pay them more than minimum wage, but you at the least need to treat them like people and valued members of the team.

  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    It seems to me like sports games would be the absolute worst to test. There are always a billion different possibilities and the hard to perform ones in particular are probably reasonably significant to test (i.e. get a triple play, or grand slam, or something)

    Switch: 2143-7130-1359 | 3DS: 4983-4927-6699 | Steam: warlock82 | PSN: Warlock2282
  • Chris FOMChris FOM Registered User regular
    Tycho has never slammed LH Franzibald as effortlessly or effectively as Coradad just took out James Patterson. One and done.

  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    the quotation fingers on "write" made me giggle

  • PifmanPifman Registered User regular
    Wait, nobody has bitched about the new art style yet?! You're losing your edge, critics!

    For the record, I actually wish this new mystery artist would push that no-outline look a lot further. Why just the one edge of her hair? Why not do ALL of her and his hair with no outline? Would probably look rad. And for those who don't know, Khoo said they're revealing who the artist is at PAX, and he seems very excited about it.

    PA-Signature.gif
  • ZaoZao Registered User new member
    Is "y.a." a well-established abbreviation? The joke kind of loses its punch when you have to re-read the whole comic multiple times trying to infer what the opaque word stands for, particularly if you're not familiar with the mentioned author either.

  • LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    Zao wrote: »
    Is "y.a." a well-established abbreviation? The joke kind of loses its punch when you have to re-read the whole comic multiple times trying to infer what the opaque word stands for, particularly if you're not familiar with the mentioned author either.

    Y.A. = Young adult (I think), though I'm not sure how that relates to James Patterson as I'm pretty sure he mostly writes mystery novels

  • HardtargetHardtarget There Are Four Lights VancouverRegistered User regular
    Pifman wrote: »
    Wait, nobody has bitched about the new art style yet?! You're losing your edge, critics!

    For the record, I actually wish this new mystery artist would push that no-outline look a lot further. Why just the one edge of her hair? Why not do ALL of her and his hair with no outline? Would probably look rad. And for those who don't know, Khoo said they're revealing who the artist is at PAX, and he seems very excited about it.
    check the thread from Tuesday's strip, there was much bitching about the new terrible art

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  • plki76plki76 Redmond, WARegistered User regular
    wormspeaker wrote: »
    This trenches story is why I always make sure to thank QA profusely whenever I can manage to get some of their time. I don't want to do that shit, I'd rather be writing more code. This is also why I am always appalled when I read about how some companies are treating their QA people. Maybe you don't need to pay them more than minimum wage, but you at the least need to treat them like people and valued members of the team.

    This trenches story seems like the poster child for equivalence classing and automation. I wonder how many bugs specifically relevant to team combinations those 2000 games produced. I would wager "not many".

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    LostNinja wrote: »
    Zao wrote: »
    Is "y.a." a well-established abbreviation? The joke kind of loses its punch when you have to re-read the whole comic multiple times trying to infer what the opaque word stands for, particularly if you're not familiar with the mentioned author either.

    Y.A. = Young adult (I think), though I'm not sure how that relates to James Patterson as I'm pretty sure he mostly writes mystery novels

    Pfft, the James Patterson Literary Mass Manufacture Machine penetrates the market in every genre. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/books/20patt.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    Mystery, fantasy, young adult, erotica (I'm sure its being worked on)...whatever floats your boat, if you have a small amount of disposable cash, a smaller amount of taste, and a high propensity to make purchasing reflexive decisions based on brand name recognition, James Patterson (and his army of sweatshop wordslaves) have a book for you! (Or will soon.)
    Hardtarget wrote: »
    Pifman wrote: »
    Wait, nobody has bitched about the new art style yet?! You're losing your edge, critics!

    For the record, I actually wish this new mystery artist would push that no-outline look a lot further. Why just the one edge of her hair? Why not do ALL of her and his hair with no outline? Would probably look rad. And for those who don't know, Khoo said they're revealing who the artist is at PAX, and he seems very excited about it.
    check the thread from Tuesday's strip, there was much bitching about the new terrible art

    Pifman was in that thread, he's joking about the fact there was much bitching on Tuesday and none yet today.

    Gaslight on
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    Geth wrote: »
    Near the end of the project’s test cycle, I was assigned the duty of testing team combinations and marking down results in a checklist. This meant I had to test all teams (there were over forty) against each other, and each team on each field - of which there were around a dozen. This equated to roughly two thousand different combinations
    This math makes no sense.

  • ChickeenChickeen Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    Geth wrote: »
    Near the end of the project’s test cycle, I was assigned the duty of testing team combinations and marking down results in a checklist. This meant I had to test all teams (there were over forty) against each other, and each team on each field - of which there were around a dozen. This equated to roughly two thousand different combinations
    This math makes no sense.

    My guess is:

    team vs team: 40 * 40 = 1600

    team vs field: 40 * 12 = 480

    1600 + 480 = 2080

  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    But when you're playing a team against 40 other teams, you can cover all 12 fields...

  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    forty wrote: »
    But when you're playing a team against 40 other teams, you can cover all 12 fields...
    Wait, he didn't test each team combination on each field? Looks like he's got another 176, 000 playthroughs to make.

    E: Wait, baseball has rules.

    There are two field combinations per team pairing, home and away, so that would be 40*40*2. Which would be 'roughly 2000' if he was exaggerating the 40 a little. (Like 32 teams)

    E2: ..although that require there to be 40 fields. Bah, I give up.

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    Pifman wrote: »
    Wait, nobody has bitched about the new art style yet?! You're losing your edge, critics!

    For the record, I actually wish this new mystery artist would push that no-outline look a lot further. Why just the one edge of her hair? Why not do ALL of her and his hair with no outline? Would probably look rad. And for those who don't know, Khoo said they're revealing who the artist is at PAX, and he seems very excited about it.

    You're two weeks late. Much bitching.

    Spaffy on
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  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    ArbitraryDescriptor wrote: »
    forty wrote: »
    But when you're playing a team against 40 other teams, you can cover all 12 fields...
    Wait, he didn't test each team combination on each field? Looks like he's got another 176, 000 playthroughs to make.

    E: Wait, baseball has rules.

    There are two field combinations per team pairing, home and away, so that would be 40*40*2. Which would be 'roughly 2000' if he was exaggerating the 40 a little. (Like 32 teams)
    If the latter example is the case, then the number of fields would be irrelevant, so why would he even mention it?

  • maetmpjmaetmpj Registered User new member
    I guess he'll add the sloths in those books.8a2.jpg

  • Andy JoeAndy Joe We claim the land for the highlord! The AdirondacksRegistered User regular
    Zao wrote: »
    Is "y.a." a well-established abbreviation? The joke kind of loses its punch when you have to re-read the whole comic multiple times trying to infer what the opaque word stands for, particularly if you're not familiar with the mentioned author either.

    Yes, "Y.A." is a well-known abbreviation.

    XBL: Stealth Crane PSN: ajpet12 3DS: 1160-9999-5810 NNID: StealthCrane Pokemon Scarlet Name: Carmen
  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    I like Cora's dad.

    Dude see's a screwy situation and is willing to sit back just long enough to figure out why he should let it continue. Doesn't just clamp down on thing immediately.

  • EmperorSethEmperorSeth Registered User regular
    If you think of Cora's dad as their world's equivalent of George R.R. Martin (like I always have,) the idea of him doing YA books in that setting becomes completely hilarious.

    You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
  • RottonappleRottonapple Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    So I was wondering why the artwork looks so different over the last two strips. Last night during the stream of the Strip Search megapanel Mike and Jerry announced that Monica is now drawing Trenches and Ty, yes Ty is writing it.

    Rottonapple on
  • DVGDVG No. 1 Honor Student Nether Institute, Evil AcademyRegistered User regular
    Hardtarget wrote: »
    Pifman wrote: »
    Wait, nobody has bitched about the new art style yet?! You're losing your edge, critics!

    For the record, I actually wish this new mystery artist would push that no-outline look a lot further. Why just the one edge of her hair? Why not do ALL of her and his hair with no outline? Would probably look rad. And for those who don't know, Khoo said they're revealing who the artist is at PAX, and he seems very excited about it.
    check the thread from Tuesday's strip, there was much bitching about the new terrible art

    The new art isn't terrible. It isn't even close to terrible.

    Diablo 3 - DVG#1857
  • Angry_SamoanAngry_Samoan Now with 20% more mange... Registered User regular
    Rottonapple wrote: »
    So I was wondering why the artwork looks so different over the last two strips. Last night during the stream of the Strip Search megapanel Mike and Jerry announced that Monica is now drawing Trenches and Ty, yes Ty is writing it.

    Interesting. I hope this works out. But this is really looking like Trenches is the strip that nobody at PA wants...

    "The history of all sports is to cheat whenever possible."- Tony Kornheiser
  • NijhazerNijhazer Sunnyvale, CARegistered User regular
    Angry_Samoan wrote: »
    Rottonapple wrote: »
    So I was wondering why the artwork looks so different over the last two strips. Last night during the stream of the Strip Search megapanel Mike and Jerry announced that Monica is now drawing Trenches and Ty, yes Ty is writing it.

    Interesting. I hope this works out. But this is really looking like Trenches is the strip that nobody at PA wants...

    Well, yeah. They don't have anything to do with it anymore.

  • Finnish_LineFinnish_Line Registered User regular
    New tale is up, but not a new comic. I like Monica a lot, but drawing somebody else's character designs may not be her strongest suit.

  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    I guess that might be exciting if I watched Strip Search?

    Anyway, looks like we quietly hit the end of another season again, with yet another strip that doesn't seem like an end of season one. Even weirder then that there were only two comics with the new artist before the season ended.

    Everything about this comic is just weird.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    aint noone forcing you to read it

  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    Anyway, looks like we quietly hit the end of another season again,
    Or not. Guess it was just late.

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