Alex Hinz

I am a Quality Assurance Specialist from Hamilton Ontario. I am From Trios college. I have learned how to come up with my own game ideas and document them so when presented my ideas are expressed to the finest detail. I have also learned how to create a game design document. I have created over 10 games since I started school in October 2018. I've worked on all parts of what makes a game in each category. Sound, art, coding, project management etc. I have worked with Blue Isle Studios for a 4 month internship as a game tester in 2020. I also worked at Smilegate West as a Quality Assurance Specialist for a 6 month contract. I worked on Crossfire X. An Xbox exclusive sequel to one of the most played games in the world. I was the main QA Specialist working on Crossfire X. I would be in charge of smoke sheets for each update of the game. Those included new weapons, weapons skins, maps, UI and new features. I have also Been on plenty of teams to create a large amount of games. I Have thousands of hours and gaming and I am very good at spotting imperfections. I also am able to play video games on end for many hours at a time so I would be a very thorough and effective game tester. I am excited to learn much more and make my dreams possible in the future by game designing for a company.

I worked on Crossfire X, Crossfire US and our upcoming game Crossfire Sierra Squad for VR. I was the main QA on CFX. I've enjoyed working here and I've been taught a variety of new skills. I have been able to give feedback for design ideas and have had them added to the game. For the halloween skins I asked if they could add a spooky sound effect for it because I knew it would give players more of a reason to get it. They added an owl sound for the weapon in the next build. I also have been improving on my previous skills. I've learned how to thoroughly test game maps and being able to find every issue when testing new ones. I've also learned how to test using QA and live tools. I've done full test cases for an entire build myself and can do them very efficiently. When I tested the new map Haunted Villa before its release I was able to find every issue high to low priority. There was not a single bug that any player could find. I finished my contract at the end of December. This was by far the best working experience I’ve had. Especially because of my manager Nathan Burke who is the QA Lead at Smilegate. He was not only my manager but a mentor and a friend. He helped correct me when needed and always in a positive way. He also spent extra time training and giving me advice to improve as a QA. He gave me incentive to stay in this industry and I couldn’t have asked for a better manager. I am very confident and excited to see what comes next.

rios college helped me develop a foundation for my Game testing and Game design skills. I learned various skills and Game tested for a few different games in my time there. I also game tested my own games which I had made in class. My favorite part about a game is making the idea of the game and seeing how it plays. I find it easy to come up with unique ideas to make the game more fun and useful additions to make the game easier to comprehend. Trios college has made me want to become a Game Designer/Game Tester.