Pre Production

Design Goals

Critical

  • Testing Coverage

    • 0 escaped blocker level defects

    • 95%+ ‘Critical Path’ Functionality Coverage

    • 60%+ Total Functionality Coverage

    • 100%+ ‘Virtual Reality Checklist’ coverage

    • 45%+ Testing Uptime

  • Database Accuracy

    • <10% reports returned to QA with ‘Needs More Information’ status

    • <2% reports returned to QA with ‘Not a Bug’ status

    • 80%+ Defect Fix Verification within 4 days after build push

    • Continuous >0.5% reduction in defects required to be Reopened from failed validations every sprint

    • Continuous >0.7% improvement in time related to administrative duties every sprint

Moderate

  • Testing Coverage

    • 100% ‘Critical Path’ Functionality Coverage

    • >85% total functionality coverage

    • >55%+ Testing Uptime

  • Database Accuracy

    • <2% Defect Submissions returned by client with ‘Needs more Information’

    • 0 Major/Critical level escaped defects

    • 100% Defect Fix Verification within 4 days after build push

  • 3% reduction in ‘Administration’ type tasks every sprint

Nice to Have

  • 70%+ Testing Uptime

  • Regular feedback from team on game mechanics

  • Post-Release

    • Release of newly discovered QA strategies to client

    • Player reported defect investigation

    • Successful client post-mortem with no negative database related feedback

    • 7/10 reported ‘Player Satisfaction’ across platforms

Project Risks

Disturbing Future’s QA Engineer has identified several key scenarios that could impact our ability to fully review Inscryption: VR.

Our Risk table doubles as this document’s Table of Contents, linking each risk to the specific section where its countermeasure is detailed.

WARNING: RISK TABLE CANNOT BE VIEWED FROM MOBILE

Impact Likelihood Summary Mitigations Reduction
Extreme Unavoidable Skilled Resource Limitations

VR compliance technical checks require moderate to high-level technical understanding to review. Technicians are brought on to the team that are not educated in these practices.
  1. Testing Pods
  2. Client - Team Buffer
  3. Automation: Test Case Creator
  4. Comprehensive Training
  5. Pod Structure
 Maximum
Extreme Unavoidable Administrative Overhead

KPI tracking and report preparations create significant time sinks on a daily basis, reducing testing uptime and heavily increasing the margin for error in reports.
  1. Quest Journal
  2. Performance Review
  3. The Recycle Method
 Maximum
Major Unavoidable Impossible Unique Permutations

The card building system in Act 1 allows 8.73×10^214 unique user interactions with the title, making it mathematically impossible to review every experience and increasing the risk of escaped blockers under traditional practices.
  1. Pod Phase Strategy
  2. Combinatorial Testing
  3. Test Case Creator
 Significant
Extreme Likely Acts of God

The testing location in New Orleans creates a chance of experiencing unpredictable disasters potentially leading to weeks of downtime.
  1. Offshore Packaging
  2. Defined Processes
  3. Performance Reviews
 Significant
Moderate Likely Client Coordination

Delays in client replies and lack of technical documentation can lead to risks.
  1. Exploratory Testing Phase
  2. Pre-production Discovery
 Significant
Major Unlikely Excessive QAT Churn / Low Utilization

The title has very low FPS performance during early production, increasing the risk to technician health due to VR sickness, potentially leading to low morale and turnover.
  1. Pod Concept
  2. Servant Style Leadership
  3. Mentorship
 Moderate
Low Unavoidable Limited Existing Process Optimization

New projects require customized iterations to rework existing practices to match client expectations, creating the potential for unnecessary time sinks.
  1. Recycle: Adaptation
  2. Pod Implementation Phase
  3. "Buffer" Feedback Loop
  4. QA Conclusion
 Significant
Low Likely Post-release Resource Constraints

The inability to staff employees following the conclusion of the project reduces bandwidth to analyze results and convert new practices into reusable testing materials for future projects.
  1. Pod Cycle Reporting
  2. Documentation Library
 Moderate

Concept

Disturbing Future’s QA department senior engineer has invented a hybrid of Agile and Lean methodology built for projects with huge state spaces and fast-moving requirements just like Inscryption: VR.

We have coined this workflow:

the Recycle Method

This methodology will be our prime guiding force toward effective and efficient testing, In short: the team collects what exists, implements then test it, reviews the outcomes, iterates to remove waste on a fixed cadence, and then archive the improved practices as reusable, sanitized assets. It’s a continuous improvement loop designed to keep quality high while keeping bureaucracy low.

Because Inscryption’s mechanics explode combinatorially and VR adds physics, tracking, and comfort constraints, this method is the most efficient way to steer pre-launch QA: it locks us into rapid learning cycles while ensuring the process itself gets measurably better every two weeks. The project design explicitly enforces this top to bottom.

Rotating Pods

Aligning with our Recycle Method, The Inscryption: VR QA project design employs a 3 Pod/Team composition; with each Pod taking rotating duties that encompass the method’s essentials. Every two-week sprint the pod leads meet, review outcomes, set the sprint backlog and action plan, then pods rotate to the next phase. This keeps execution fast, evidence-driven, and continuously waste-reducing.

Pod Phases

Structure

Scripted Coverage

Purpose: execute planned/scripted suites that validate critical paths and baseline functionality. This is the “coverage engine.”
Key outputs: completed test suites, scripted defect logs, coverage matrix, traceability to requirements, regression checklist.

Explore

Ad-hoc, Edge-case investigation

Purpose: freeform testing that hunts escaped defects, UX and comfort regressions (VR-specific), and high-severity user flows not caught by scripts.
Key outputs: exploratory defect summaries, UX insights, reproducible steps for new tickets, patterns feeding weighted re-scoring.

Implement

Fix validation, Test case development, waste iteration

Purpose: turn learnings into durable process—implement fixes, create/update test suites, write automation, and deliver tooling improvements
Key outputs: updated test suites, automation tasks merged, runbooks, sanitized artifacts for archiving/offshore.

sprint outcomes

Discovery review

Each sprint, the teams generate one End-of-Run outcome report for a post sprint review to begin process iteration.

Each outcome sync, the 3 Test Leaders will:

  1. Triage and reprioritize testing weights.

  2. Produce a one-page action plan for next sprint.

  3. Individual team assignments for next sprint.

Phase Deliverables

  • Sprint action plan with owners and acceptance criteria.

  • Updated sprint backlog & capacity allocations.

  • Reweighted test priorities (top N mechanics to focus on).

  • Risk register updates and any Go/No-Go gating recommendations.

  • Automation/engineering tickets assigned to Implementation pod.

  • Retro Lean-waste findings and process improvements assigned.

The Team

-per pod composition-

Project Manager: 0.3

  • Stakeholder interface 

  • Sprint-start/-end audits

  • Efficiency reviews and reporting

  • Database audits 

  • Cross-pod alignment 

  • Team performance audits

  • Agile Strategy Design

QA Analyst: 2

  • Defects

    • Quality Vetting

    • Investigation Triage

  • Testing Suite authoring/distribution

  • Weekly time tracking audits

  • Hardware upkeep

    • Firmware audits

    • Build updates

  • Tester Onboarding / Mentorship

Testing Lead: 1

  • Developer Interface

    • Alignment on roadmap updates

  • Performance

  • Team KPI Capturing and Reporting

    • Performance 1 to 1s with Pod

  • Task triage and Assignments

  • Pod Sprint Reports

  • Cross Pod Alignment

  • Granular Pod Sprint Goal Assignment

  • Defect vetting

  • Pod representative

QA Tester: 4

  • Workhorse

  • Test Suite completion

  • General Testing requests

  • Defect data collection and reporting

    • Defect ticket ownership

    • Time reporting