Could game testing be every player’s dream job? Probably, as you’ll be spending your days playing games! A crucial part of the game development process, the Quality Assurance team is there to test play our games over and over, tracking and logging bugs with great attention to detail.
At Quickspin, we’re lucky to have such a great QA team and today we’d like to introduce you to one of our QA superstars, Yumiko Lundh, who was recently promoted from Game Tester to QA Manager. She will now spend half her time fighting bugs and the other half leading her team!
A few fun facts about Yumiko: she’s quite tall for a Japanese woman (the average height of Japanese women is 158 cm and she’s 170 cm), and she used to do boxing and martial arts, so she’s used to fighting away from the computer screen too.
How long have you been a member of the Quickspin family now?
I’ve been at Quickspin for about 3,5 years.
Can you tell us a bit about your previous role in the QA team, before your promotion?
My previous role was as a full-time Game Tester. It was sometimes challenging, like when the schedule was tight, and I needed to complete testing and verify bugs in a limited time. But it feels really great when you and your team work together towards the same goal, and then the game receives good reviews after its release!
And now onto your new role. How will you be spendings your days going forward?
I will split my time in half: 50% as a Game Tester and 50% in my management role. So I will continue to do game testing, but I would also like to communicate more closely with the other teams and make plans for improvements.
What do you see as challenges and opportunities in your new role?
I think the main challenge will be to balance my role as a game tester with my role as a manager, as testing often requires a certain amount of time. However, I’m feeling very positive about it and I’m confident that I’ll be able to handle any challenges that arise!
The good thing is that I’m close with the QA team and I know what we want to improve. I will be able to work closely with the Game Studio managers to share information and have discussions to improve the game development process.
We’re confident that you’ll be great at it! What are your top three favourite things about Quickspin?
It’s friendly – the company is full of nice, kind people and you really feel welcome, like you’re part of a big family. You can always get help if needed and you can discuss things openly. We always trust, respect, and care for each other. I think that’s the best part of this company and it makes it very special.
It’s fun – the work environment is always fun and playful. It’s related to the fact that it’s friendly, but people really do enjoy working in their teams. It’s also a workplace that encourages you to be creative and to not be afraid to make mistakes.
It’s fast – Quickspin is a fast-moving organisation and as soon as a decision has been made, we make it happen. It’s very exciting that everyone is always doing their best to make changes and create great games.
We couldn’t agree more! Speaking of games, do you have an all-time favourite Quickspin game?
It’s a classic, but my favourite game is Big Bad Wolf – and now also Big Bad Wolf Megaways! These games are very entertaining in terms of the visual effects and the game mechanics.
And finally, what do you most look forward to in 2022?
I really look forward to making more improvements to how we work and collaborating with the other managers in the Game Studio. I’m so happy that we have a great management team in the Game Studio, which will allow us to make the game development process even better and create more fun games together!
Travis Grabau, VP of Game Studio: “Our QA team and our Game Testers are a vital part of the game development process at Quickspin. We’re very lucky to have Yumiko in the Quickspin family and I know she’ll make a great QA manager! As an experienced Game Tester, she’s already had lots of excellent ideas on how we can improve our workflow and processes, so I’m thrilled to see her take on more responsibility and to collaborate more closely going forward.”
