Dungeon Raiders - Ongoing Embedded QA Case Study

🧾 Project Overview

🎯 My QA Role

I am credited as Head of QA on Dungeon Raiders, providing ongoing embedded QA across live updates, development builds, regression cycles, hotfixes, and new content.

My testing has evolved alongside the project, combining player-focused exploratory QA, patch-note targeted regression, fix validation, smoke testing, save and persistence checks, combat and progression testing, and mobile usability review. Testing has primarily been carried out on Android, with additional regression coverage on Windows builds where required.

Each QA pass is shaped around the current build state, recent changes, known risks, and the developer's testing priorities. This allows testing to move between broad player-facing evaluation and focused verification of specific systems or fixes as development requires.

I am credited in the released game as Head of QA Kelina Cowell, reflecting my ongoing contribution to the project's quality across development and post-release updates.

🛠️ Workflow & Communication

Testing is carried out as an ongoing embedded QA workflow. Each pass is shaped around the current build, latest patch notes, known risk areas, recent fixes, and the developer's current testing priorities.

My approach varies depending on the purpose of each build, ranging from player-focused exploratory testing to targeted regression, hotfix verification, new content smoke testing, and persistence checks. Debug-assisted testing is used where appropriate to reach later progression states or specific systems more efficiently.

Testing is primarily performed on Android, with additional Windows build coverage where required. Findings are documented with clear scope, results, player impact, supporting evidence, and any areas that remain blocked or unverified.

🎮 QA Coverage & Development Timeline

Testing has evolved alongside Dungeon Raiders, beginning with broad player-focused Android testing before expanding into targeted regression, persistence testing, new content validation, live-build verification, and post-release hotfix testing.

Coverage has included gameplay stability, combat and class systems, UI and mobile usability, progression, save and resume behaviour, shops and economy, rewards, boss encounters, and player-facing feedback. Testing priorities have shifted between builds based on recent changes, known risks, and the areas requiring focused validation.

The timeline below shows how my QA coverage has expanded and shifted alongside the project's development.

✓ Tested during this period    — Not tested or not a focus during this period

⚠️ Key Player-Facing Risk Areas

Testing prioritises areas where defects or unclear behaviour could have the greatest impact on player experience. These risk areas guide exploratory testing, regression coverage, and follow-up validation across updates.

🤝 Working With the Developer

Dungeon Raiders is a live, evolving project, so testing priorities are adapted around current development needs, new builds, patch notes, hotfixes, known risks, and areas requiring focused validation.

QA passes range from broad player-focused exploratory testing to tightly scoped regression, feature validation, and hotfix verification. Where a test cannot be completed because the required scenario, information, or test state is unavailable, I document the limitation and request clarification rather than treating the result as a failure.

Findings are separated by functional impact, progression risk, usability, presentation, and tuning considerations so the developer can quickly understand what happened, why it matters to the player, and what requires further investigation or regression coverage.

This creates an ongoing feedback loop between development and QA, with fixes and changes validated in subsequent builds while connected systems are checked for potential regressions.

🧰 Tools & Evidence Workflow

✅ What This Case Study Shows

• Ongoing Head of QA support for a released indie game across development builds, live updates, and hotfixes.
• Player-focused exploratory testing alongside targeted regression, fix validation, and new content smoke testing.
• Cross-platform QA coverage, primarily on Android with additional Windows regression testing where required.
• Testing across combat, classes, abilities, progression, rewards, UI, economy, save/resume persistence, and gameplay state management.
• Structured patch-note regression to verify fixes while checking connected systems for unintended regressions.
• Clear distinction between passed, failed, partially verified, blocked, and unverified test coverage.
• Identification and communication of functional, usability, readability, progression, persistence, and player-facing risks.
• Ongoing collaboration with a solo developer through repeated build-test-report-fix-regression cycles.
• Post-release QA support focused on maintaining stability and player experience as the game continues to evolve.