Request for Additional Beta Testers

[Norman42]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

I suspect that is 2 GB RAM?

Or one tricked out Tandy Colour Computer or Commodor Amiga!

[marcuswatney]

Yesterday, my daughter did her last exam before applying to universities (in October).  Yay!  Freedom for both of us, so I can offer my services if of any value.  Being self-employed, my time tends to be fractured: incredibly busy one week, idle the next, so my contribution is likely to be in intermittent bursts.
 
1. Any previous experience in testing software.
 
Sort of.  I am a retired technical writer, and specialised in software (and also low temperature physics).  As a technical writer, part of my brief was to run audits.  Almost always there were underlying problems in the software that had to be teased out (usually because the programmer had made unwarranted assumptions about what the user would do).  I am the author of 'Programming The Real World' (1985) which taught young people how to build flight simulators, bouncing ball games etc, on a 48k Spectrum.  You lot with your endless gigabytes...  You should try working with 48k.  Boy, does that teach you to program elegantly!
 
BUT, that said, my technical knowledge is now totally obsolete, so I wouldn't pretend to be able to offer anything meaningful on the programming side.  Hell, I was documenting internal software for DEC (now Compaq) when the cache was a brand new idea!  Yes, I'm the guy with the Model T Ford, bemused to be overtaken by a Mustang full of cheering kids.


2. Your experience of cardboard World in Flames (remember we need equal numbers of Newbies and Grognards on the team)
 
Bought WiF in about 1985, but played mostly in the nineties, most Sundays for a year or so.  I remember we had named ships, and PiF was what was exciting everybody.  So I suppose that makes me a 'Recruit'.
 
Extensive experience in the board-wargaming hobby, designed several (unpublished) games.  Designer of 'Gulf Crisis', a megagame for fifty players, which I ran annually in the UK for about seven years.  I remember, I showed it to Harry about 1992, who was impressed but couldn't see how it could be marketed commercially.
 
Main contribution I can make is testing the game for perfect strategies (especially in the new-scale China).  I am more interested in land-combat than naval.  And yes, I am the obstinate b*stard who, given the chance, always invades Switzerland just because everybody says you shouldn't.

 
3. Your experience with CWIF (Australian Design Group's ealrier version of a computerized World in Flames.
 
None
 
 
4. Your PC specification. (just the basics):
a. CPU speed: 1.83GHz (Dell Inspiron 6400)
b. RAM: 2GB
c. Operating system: Vista Business
d. Maximum screen resolution for your monitor: 1280 x 800 (widescreen notebook)

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: marcuswatney

Yesterday, my daughter did her last exam before applying to universities (in October).  Yay!  Freedom for both of us, so I can offer my services if of any value.  Being self-employed, my time tends to be fractured: incredibly busy one week, idle the next, so my contribution is likely to be in intermittent bursts.

1. Any previous experience in testing software.

Sort of.  I am a retired technical writer, and specialised in software (and also low temperature physics).  As a technical writer, part of my brief was to run audits.  Almost always there were underlying problems in the software that had to be teased out (usually because the programmer had made unwarranted assumptions about what the user would do).  I am the author of 'Programming The Real World' (1985) which taught young people how to build flight simulators, bouncing ball games etc, on a 48k Spectrum.  You lot with your endless gigabytes...  You should try working with 48k.  Boy, does that teach you to program elegantly!

BUT, that said, my technical knowledge is now totally obsolete, so I wouldn't pretend to be able to offer anything meaningful on the programming side.  Hell, I was documenting internal software for DEC (now Compaq) when the cache was a brand new idea!  Yes, I'm the guy with the Model T Ford, bemused to be overtaken by a Mustang full of cheering kids.


2. Your experience of cardboard World in Flames (remember we need equal numbers of Newbies and Grognards on the team)

Bought WiF in about 1985, but played mostly in the nineties, most Sundays for a year or so.  I remember we had named ships, and PiF was what was exciting everybody.  So I suppose that makes me a 'Recruit'.

Extensive experience in the board-wargaming hobby, designed several (unpublished) games.  Designer of 'Gulf Crisis', a megagame for fifty players, which I ran annually in the UK for about seven years.  I remember, I showed it to Harry about 1992, who was impressed but couldn't see how it could be marketed commercially.

Main contribution I can make is testing the game for perfect strategies (especially in the new-scale China).  I am more interested in land-combat than naval.  And yes, I am the obstinate b*stard who, given the chance, always invades Switzerland just because everybody says you shouldn't.


3. Your experience with CWIF (Australian Design Group's ealrier version of a computerized World in Flames.

None


4. Your PC specification. (just the basics):
a. CPU speed: 1.83GHz (Dell Inspiron 6400)
b. RAM: 2GB
c. Operating system: Vista Business
d. Maximum screen resolution for your monitor: 1280 x 800 (widescreen notebook)

I published 2 IGOUGO war games in the mid-1980's written in pure 8086 assembler for the Atari 800. That had 64 KB of RAM, but the operating system took up 32 KB. The disk was used for overlays since the program was bigger than 32 KB - but the disk only held 128 KB and we needed to save games to it too. Every bit was carefully rationed in the program code.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

We are not accepting any more applicants at this time.

[cesteman]

I'd love to help if you need it. Cheers.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

[Acknowledgment: I copied most of this from the first post in this thread.]

I am looking to bring the number of active beta testers up to 40. I estimate that I will want to add 10 new people.

If you are interested, then you should read the rest of this post and, if you are then still interested, simply post your reply within this thread.

I will leave this solicitation open for a week (through to February 1st) and then evaluate everyone that has posted a reply.
-----------------
Before you reply to this post please consider the following:

Software testing is quite different from simply ‘playing’ the game. The focus of testing is not in playing the game, but in working as a team to help produce a great product. I expect to have internet play working in February and PBEM in March, so if you are looking for the chance to play the game against other people, then this might be a good time to join the beta test team.

Software testing takes time. Four to six hours every week (preferably across 2 or more sessions) is a reasonable estimate of the time required for a tester to stay in the loop on what’s happening and to give the software a good workout. If you are hoping to squeeze in just an hour of testing each week on a Sunday night somewhere between dinner time and watching the news, if just won't work. There won't be engouh time to pick up the concepts of the game, download the latest patches, read & contribute to the private MWIF Development Forum and play through the game looking for bugs. Spending more time testing is obviously better, but only if you can keep good records of what you have tested and send me complete reports on any problems you have found. "It doesn't work" is a useless bug report.

Software testing takes patience. Testers are expected to respond to reasonable requests from the developer (that's me) to provide information about any problems they find. Sometimes that means running through the same boring ten minute long sequence of events half a dozen times and documenting the results so that you can help me reproduce the problem on my own computer.

If you have the time and energy to help then please reply to this post, giving the following information:

1. Any previous experience in testing software.

2. Your experience of cardboard and paper World in Flames (we strive for equal numbers of Newbies and Grognards on the team)
a. Newbie - Never played WiF but it looks great
b. Recruit - Playing WiF occasionally (or played a lot a long time ago)
c. Average - Currently playing WiF on a regular basis
d. Grognard - Rules guru

3. Your experience with CWIF (Australian Design Group's ealrier version of a computerized World in Flames).
a. None
b. Some
c. A lot

4. Your PC specification. (just the basics):
a. CPU speed
b. RAM
c. Operating system
d. Screen resolution for your monitor(s)

If you are not sure how to find the specifications of your computer, then please ask.
-----------------
Thanks!



_____________________________

Steve

[Terminus]

Oooh, I wish I had the time... Damn WitP: Admiral's Edition...[:D]

[Stabilo]

Steve,

I would still like to join the beta-testing-team. [:)] My answers (also mostly copied):

1. No game testing experience but some years of software testing at work (insurance company).

2. Average. I played about 20 games of WiF (final edition) and was a game tester for WiF (master edition). At the moment I´m playing the western allies in our regular group.

3. None. I wrote the unit descriptions for the MWIF guns.

4.
a) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7700
b) 4 GB
c) MS Vista
d) 1280 x 800 (Notebook)

Klaus


Well, I forgot to tell you the time I can spend: I think it can be 2 hours on five to six days per week...

[Blind Sniper]

Hi,

I'm willing to join but I don't know if I'm the tester that you are looking for...

Anyhow, my Curriculum Vitae [:)]

1. None
2. I'm a newbie.
3. None
4. Asus Laptop
a) CPU: Intel Core 2 6600, 2.40 GHz
b) 2 GB
c) XP SP3
d) 1680x1050

Time: from four to six hours every week is not a problem, maybe more (2/3 session for sure)

I'm reading yours tutorials for the first time therefore I believe to be a perfect newbie (I don't have the boardgame as well).

I'm not new about "monster game", I play ASL every week [:'(]

Unfortunately I can only offer my availability...

[Michael the Pole]

Howdy Steve,
As you have responded to several of my posts on this board over the last three or four months (lurking for 2+ years) I'm probably not completely unknown to you.
I have several qualifications for Beta testing:
I'm a retired registered nurse/attorney. As such I have complete control of my time and could easily contribute 10 -20 hours/week without any difficulty.
I am an accomplished writer (if not speller!) and am used to organizing my thoughts and communicating them to others.
I am the original "old grognard" with lots of experience with massive "paper" games.
I am a total newbie having never played any form of WiF.
I have an exstensive grasp of WWII history (see the WWII trivia quiz thread.)
Now to your specific questions:
1) I have never done any computer beta testing, although I have done quite a bit of "paper" beta testing.
2) A
3) A
4)a) pentium 4 cpu 3.00ghz, 1gb RAM, windows xp version 2002, monitor 1280x1024

Hope that you'll consider me Steve. I'd very much like to contribute to this project.

[JagWars]

I am interested in beta-testing MWiF. I am semi-retired; unless a client has an emergency, I work when I want.

1. I have been a playtester for several board wargames. I did beta-testing for Lotus office products (Lotus 123, FoxPro, AmiPro, Lotus Notes, etc.) many years ago, but I have never beta-testing any computer games.

2. I have played the cardboard vesion dozens of times. I bought my original copy in Australia in the 80s while on a business trip.

3. I did not participate in the debugging / playtesting of CWiF, however, I have spent hundreds of hours playing it solitare and with friends primarily vis email

4. 2 Machines, almost indentical except for the Operating systems; one MS Vista, one MS XP
Intel dual core, 2.72
Ram 6.0 GB
Maximum screen resolution 1600 X 1200.

[mavraamides]

I would like to be considered for beta testing. I am a professional programmer with 20 years experience which I feel would be helpfull in diagnosing and reproducing bugs as well as giving general feedback on possible issues.

1) Previous experience. I did some beta testing on GGWAW.

2) WIF Experience
a. Newbie.
I own and have played around with WIF FE but never played a full game. (No room!)

3) CWIF Experience
b. Some.
I own CWIF and have played out a couple games against myself.

4) My PC:
I actually have a couple I could use to test:
A) 3.8 ghz / 2 gig RAM / Vista Ultimate / 1600 x 1200
B) 2.6 ghz / 1 gig RAM / XP Pro / 1440 x 900

Time available: 15-20 hours / week. That's about how much I spend playing other war games now so it would not cut into my life at all.

[kenmerkel]

Haven't posted here before but I am interested in being a game tester for you. Have been very interested in WiF since 2000 and have been awaiting a computerized version for a long time.

1. I have some experience developing small software projects for the past 10 years but haven't been part of a game testing group before.

2. b. Would be a Recruit - have placed a few times and read the rules extensively but haven't played in 3 years (no space)

3. b. Tried out the CWIF game several times but never finished a game of it.

4. Pentium M 1.73 Ghz
2Gig RAm
Vista Business (32bit)
1024 screen resolution.

[Kwll]

Would like to submit myself for Beta Tester:

1: CWIF beta tester; have also worked on various Board Games as a tester but no other PC games

2. Grognard (although have not played actual WIF for a year since 2 members of our group moved out of state although follow the wif list and keep up on the rules)

3. Alot work with CWIF and still some when it does not crash

4. System (2) first is Laptop (A: 2.4 Gh; b. 4mb; c. Vista Ultimate; D. 1900 x 1600 although I use a lower res for normal use0 2nd systems (desktop) (a: 3 gh; b: 4mb; c. XP sp2; d: 1280 x 1024

Would love to help beta this product been waiting system CWIF was stopped...and can put forth the time as needed each week as I work for myself....

[Kwll]

I should add that one member of my group would also love to Beta, and also worked on CWIF but feels he does not have the time to devote however he would work with me on an as needy basis if and only if that was allowable by you. ie he would come to my home or I go to his on my laptop to work on the beta....let me know if you would like more details. again thankyou for your consideration  

[FirstPappy]

I am very interested in becoming a beta tester for WiF. I am currently employed as a QA engineer for a Fortune 500 company performing software alpha testing from test plans that our QA department designs. We test user functions and operating specifications on microprocessor-based software for fire and burg alarm panels. We currently use JIRA reporting tools, having migrated from StarTeam. I was on the alpha team for Paradox’s Heart’s of Iron where we used Bugzilla. I started wargaming with Avalon Hill back in the 1960’s.

I have never played WiF nor do I have any experience with the previous CWiF. I did visit ADG’s site, downloaded and read the rules awhile back when I heard that WiF was in the making.

My primary PC specs are:
AMD Athlon
1.1 GHz (oc’d to 1.5)
2.5 GB RAM
Windows XP Home Edition V2002 SP3
GE Force 6800 Ultra w/256MB and latest drivers
Viewsonic VX924 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864 and 1280x1024 @ 32bit color
Verizon FioS Internet connection

I also have a laptop:
Dell Latitude D610
1.73GHz Intel Pentium M
1GB RAM
Running Windows XP

[geozero]

Hi Shannon...

Well I've been working on games here for some time. Here's some specs:


1. Any previous experience in testing software.
Have tested several titles for Matrix.


2. Your experience of cardboard and paper World in Flames (we strive for equal numbers of Newbies and Grognards on the team)
a. Newbie - Never played WiF but it looks great
b. Recruit - Playing WiF occasionally (or played a lot a long time ago) - this is best describing me... have played many many board games just not any WiF in a long time...
c. Average - Currently playing WiF on a regular basis
d. Grognard - Rules guru

3. Your experience with CWIF (Australian Design Group's ealrier version of a computerized World in Flames).
a. None
b. Some - I think I still have this somewhere... you mean the Alpha right?
c. A lot

4. Your PC specification. (just the basics):
a. CPU speed - Intel 2.4 Ghz
b. RAM - 2 GB
c. Operating system - MS XP Pro Service Pack 2 (SP3 conflicted with other stuff)
d. Screen resolution for your monitor(s) - Fuji 1024x768 wide screen...

I use an external Analog/Digital mixing board as my "sound card" since I do film sound editing and other stuff. It's a Tascam FW-1884. I doubt anyone else uses this on the boards, but I wanted to mention it since sound might be a concern. This device is compatible with everything...

Shannon, I'm in the middle of getting ready to move to a new house in mid February, but will still be able to give time, and after that focus more. 4-6 hours a week is clearly reasonable. Hell I just played 12 hours straight of Commander...

PM me or email me direct if you'd like.

Cheers.

[behoma]

Hello Shannon,
 
as others, i'm very interrested by testing MWiF
1. Any previous experience in testing software
I've beta tested some Operating System (specific functions test and software compatibility) and many MMOrpg
 
2. Your experience of cardboard and paper World in Flames (we strive for equal numbers of Newbies and Grognards on the team)
b. recruit - Playing WiF occasionally (or played a lot a long time ago) : i've got Deluxe Edition of WiF boardgames but not played since a long time because solitary game
 
3. Your experience with CWIF (Australian Design Group's ealrier version of a computerized World in Flames).
a. none
 
4. Your PC specification. (just the basics):
a. CPU speed - Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 - 2.40GHz
b. RAM - 4 GB
c. Operating system - XP Pro Service Pack 3
d. Screen resolution for your monitor(s) - 1920x1200 16:10 screen 

[loricas]

hi steve,

1.actually unofficial tester of WWI-La Grande Guerre

2.Grognard, palyed several games from old 4th edition to Final, the last in progress

3.None: istalled, played same turn in hotseat, that's all

4 .CPU Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 / 2.26 GHz
RAM 4 GB
Vista Home Premium
1280x800 (WXGA)
four other Cpu with lower specification, AMD 1700 1.47 GHz, 256 MB RAM the worst (XP service pac 2)

[Morval_slith]

Still interested in joining the beta test:
 
1. Part of beta test for Supreme Ruler 2010 and LOTRO
    In my professional capacity (litigation support manager), I'm responsible for database administration and client support on a wide range of applications.

2. (b) Used to play WIF frequently; a lot less so after adopting two cats

3. (b) Some experience with the old CWIF Demo

4. 1.8 Ghz Dual Pentium; 3 GB RAM; Windows Vista Home Premium; 1280x1024