Meeting REDs: Bartosz "Vazon" Łoboda

How deep an understanding of our games do QAs at RED need to have?

Video games are a very open environment in which a holistic view of the whole product is incredibly important. In our games there’s just so many complex systems interacting with each other — in very surprising and unexpected ways. We have to understand these interactions and test them every day.

The “surprising and unexpected” bit seems important.

This is what years of being a QA taught me: bombs will go off in places you never thought they would. But we do more than just react. At times our experience allows us to accurately predict if a new feature or a change will cause trouble and prevent it from happening.

People outside the industry tend to think you have the best job in the world. Testing = playing video games all day for a living?

If I got a dollar for every time someone said that to me... There’s a lot of misconceptions about this job. First off: we don’t play games, we play a game. And for the first years of its development it doesn’t look like much. 

Your tasks are rather specific tasks: test a level, a mission or a feature - for as long as it takes.

After racking up over 1000 hours in a game, most people stop noticing things. And QAs can’t do that, we need to keep a fresh eye — which is not easy. At its core this job is about finding inconsistencies, not just bugs. This isn’t an accounting program where the same input should produce the same results. Games are maddeningly complex. You can approach the same bad guy in a multitude of ways and each time get different results, different bugs.

So what’s your favorite thing about working in QA?

Being a detective! Investigating and getting to the heart of the problem. There are so many questions to answer and variables to examine, from finding out why an issue occurs and what’s causing it, to figuring out whether it’s random or not and whether you can re-produce it, and if so, how. 

Can everything be fixed in a game before the release?

Every QA has to face this truth: you can’t fix everything. Forget fixing: you can’t even report everything there is to report. It’s impossible. Even if we had unlimited financial and human resources, we could keep doing this forever. At some point you just need to accept that this is as far as we go. Nonetheless, our mission at QA is to be the guardians at the end of the road — always pushing for quality, striving for perfection, and making sure there are as little bugs as possible.

Are you able to still enjoy games in your free time?

I think as a QA you have to love playing video games. This medium has to be a part of your life. For me, it’s been there since I got a PlayStation 1 for my Holy Communion. When I saw the 3D models for the first time, I was blown away.

You wouldn’t have thought anything better was possible ever, right?

Exactly. I was hooked. And my cousin showed me RPG games so at the age of just six (!) I was exposed to the 2nd edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and pen-and-paper Cyberpunk. What Mike Pondsmith created there and how it affected me… it’s pretty much my bible. And all these years later, to be able to work on the Cyberpunk franchise? It just proves that dreams come true.

Which games — from any platform — had the biggest influence on you? What’s your personal top 3?

The first game which really messed with my head was Metal Gear Solid. I’ve never before played a game that told a mature and thoughtful story which left me with so much to think about. Even though, when I first played it, I barely understood English — so obviously the deeper reflections came a bit later. But the game is a timeless masterpiece.

Next on the list…

My beloved racing game, Burnout 3: Takedown. It’s pure adrenaline. It’s about going as fast as you can with no speedometer on the screen. Yes, many good racing games have dropped since (maybe even some I’d rate 10/10) but for me, Takedown still stands above them all.

And the final spot goes to?

The game which really helped me survive the COVID-lockdown, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”. In the evenings, me and my girlfriend would sit with it and let the game take us on an adventure. We knew nothing about this world and we just allowed ourselves to wander through it. Discover it on our terms. We even had our own notebook to write down the places we’ve visited.

A real notebook?

Yes! The kind where we would pencil the symbols we’ve seen in the game, note rumors we’ve heard and recipes for magic potions we would come up with. Zelda gave me this feeling of actually being on an adventure. It was a metaphysical experience and will stay with me forever.

Thank you, Bartosz and all the best on successfully continuing your journey with us. Stay tuned, for the next episode of Meeting REDs!