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Dwindle

Dwindle is a psychological thriller game about helping your mining crew escape from a collapsed mine!

Engine

  • Unity

Genre

  • Survival-Thriller

Release

  • TBD

Contributions

  • Created 700+ test cases revolving around breaking the game’s mechanics.

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  • Used remote black box testing to examine every player's possible action and obstacle interactivity for proper functionality.

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  • Reported 4 bugs in the game through GitHub.

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  • Created 5 3D models for characters in the game.

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  • Created one whole storyboard each for two marketing drafts/pitches.

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  • Created a guideline document for other testers to use.​​

Tools

  • Visual Studio

  • Google Sheets

  • Google Docs

  • DAZ 3D

  • Krita

  • Chat Mapper

Deliverables

  • 96 test cases logged in a Sanity Check Test Suite (via Google Sheets)​​

  • 653 test cases logged in a Full Test Suite (via Google Sheets)

Reported Bugs

  • Panting Sound Effect still plays after player dies.​

    • Description​

      • If you sprint off a chasm, the panting sound will play even after you have died and the game is over. If you start again, and start sprinting, the game will have two panting sounds overlapping one another.​

    • Environment ​

      • PC

    • Steps to reproduce​

      • Hold the shift key while going pressing any of the WASD keys to sprint.​

      • Fast travel to the caves.

      • Sprint off a cliff.

    • Expected Result​

      • The player death sound is played.​

      • The game transitions into the ending cutscene (depending on how many miners survived).

      • The ending results screen is shown.

      • The player's panting sound effect doesn't play.

    • Actual Results:​

      • The player death sound is played.​

      • The game transitions into the ending cutscene (depending on how many miners survived).

      • The ending results screen is shown.

      • The player's panting sound effect plays the entire time with no way to turn it off.

    • Severity:​

      • Severe​

    • Evidence:​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

  • Error Regarding Simultaneous Inputs.​

    • Description​

      • When a player presses two directional inputs at the same time, Bud either moves/sprints in the direction of the input that gets processed first or doesn't move at all (this depends on which direction Bud faces before sprinting). Bud should be either jittering or not moving at all when this action happens.

    • Environment ​

      • PC

    • Steps to reproduce​

      • Rapidly presses the 'A' and 'W' keys (simultaneously) and the 'S' and 'D' keys (simultaneously).

    • Expected Result​

      • The player either stands still or jitters in two corresponding directions.

    • Actual Results:​

      • The player either moves/sprints in the direction of the input that gets processed first or doesn't move at all (this depends on which direction they face before walking/sprinting).

    • Severity:​

      • Minor

    • Evidence

      • ​​

  • The player doesn't change speeds during right-click movement

    • Description​

      • When a player goes from point a to point b during right-click movement and rapidly presses shift, Bud doesn't change speeds.

    • Environment ​

      • PC

    • Steps to reproduce​

      • Right-click anywhere on the map.

      • Click the right mouse button in any direction.

      • Player rapidly presses shift key in quick succession.

    • Expected Result​

      • The player should go from walking to sprinting while going from point a to b.

    • Actual Results:​

      • The player moves only moves at a fixed speed when going from point a to b (i.e walking).

    • Severity:​

      • Minor

    • Evidence

      • ​​

Lessons Learned

  • Organizing every mechanic you test

    • As the testing lead for this project for three months, I quickly discovered that the number of actions to perform in Dwindle was much more robust than Shatterbound's.

    • To prepare for testing all of these actions/features, I learned to set up multiple sections in both the sanity check and full test suite based on the specific mechanics I was testing. This type of organization made both of these spreadsheets much easier to sort and read when setting up test cases.

  • Adapting to new positions in an internship​

    • During the internship, the development team noticed that some elements of the game needed more attention than others (such as character writing, character origins, competitor research, etc). As the testing lead, I had trouble writing test cases for mechanics that would be changed or cut later on in development. ​​

    • As a result of these priority changes, some team members had to balance multiple positions at once for every sprint. For me, it was balancing writing for characters, researching competitors for our game, and creating 3D models for characters through Daz.

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