Mass Effect 3 on Wii U was a fascinating edge case. The GamePad added a real-time tactical map, touch controls for squad commands and powers, and Genesis II — an interactive Dark Horse comic that let newcomers catch up on the first two games. Certifying a game that was also functioning as a franchise entry point for an entirely new audience, while verifying that every piece of bonus content and every GamePad feature held up, was the kind of multi-layered brief that keeps you sharp.
Back in the day, before studios started shipping bugs as features, I worked through the full certification process on the other side of the screen — testing games for Electronic Arts. Certification & compliance, which sounds dry but basically means being the last line of defense before a game hits the shelves: making sure it doesn’t crash, doesn’t cheat the rating system, and does exactly what it says on the box in every region it’s going to land in.
It wasn’t glamorous work, but it gave me something most designers never get: a really intimate understanding of how games break, and why. Every bug report I filed was a small lesson in the gap between intention and execution — which, turns out, is pretty much what design is about too.
