Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Community Q&A #5

We have yet another batch of community questions answered by the Reckoning dev team, and this time, render/engine programmer Joe Schutte, QA manager Chris Coleman and producer Sean Bean, answer on subjects such as the programming languages used for developing the game, whether the Playstation 3 version of the title is going to be developed in-house and more. Here’s a sampling:

Q: I’m just curious if you guys can talk a little bit about the development of how the PS3 version is being handled. Is it being developed in house, or being outsourced? Mainly, I’m just curious if all three versions are being handled by the team at BHG. By Reaper

A: Much to my delight, all three versions are being created in-house at Big Huge Games. We are working as much as possible to maintain a high level of quality across each platform, so all of our developers are encouraged to make sure their work runs well on all three platforms.

Fun fact: if my office ever gets cold, I can close the door and turn on all of my PS3 and Xbox360 dev kits and it’ll get nice and toasty in here in no time. By Joe “ResCogitan” Schutte, Render/Engine Programmer

Q: When play-testing the game, do you get feedback from testers if they understand the plot and storyline/lore, or are you just testing game play? By Falkon

A: Not only do we have an extensive team of Functional Quality Assurance testers (FQA, the bug hunters and breakers of the game) but we also have a team of Playthrough Quality Assurance Testers (PQA), or as they like to call themselves “Team Raptor”.

The PQA team works directly with the design department and bridges a commonly open gap between QA and Design. Their work primarily focuses on taking direction from the designers on what areas to test, and provide extensive feedback on those areas. They have a weekly meeting with design leads where they discuss balance concerns, gaps in gameplay, and other things they feel generally don’t make the game fun! Along with PQA’s feedback on the previous areas, the entire QA department also keeps an eye out for any potential breakdowns in the story arc, plot, and / or other instances of unclear lore and dialog. By Chris “CoreFracture” Coleman, QA Manager