Interview: Tom Byrne

[Melf]

It's always interesting to get a close look at the inner workings of Sega during its heyday. We've spoken to management before, but there's always plenty more going on behind the scenes that the suits won't reveal. A great source for this juicy info can be found among game testers, the worker ants of most software publishers. Known as "Game Analysts" at Sega, testers saw all kinds of interesting things happen during the Genesis era, and Sega-16 recently spoke to Tom Byrne, a third party tester during the early '90s. A big fan of strategy titles, Mr. Byrne gave us some great details on the quality control process for third party titles, and he shares his experiences in our latest interview (http://www.sega-16.com/2008/01/interview-tom-byrne/). Enjoy!

[Genesis Knight]

I can't decide if game testing would be fun or hellish. At any rate, I enjoyed the interview. Seems like a fun sort of person.

[Strider]

I can't decide if game testing would be fun or hellish. At any rate, I enjoyed the interview. Seems like a fun sort of person.

It can be both fun and hellish. However, a top-quality tester can move into production quickly.

[Joe Redifer]

I can't decide if game testing would be fun or hellish.
Neither. It's BORING! I used to be a game tester for a short time.

[Zebbe]

Let's have an interview with Joe Redifer!

[Joe Redifer]

The site couldn't handle all of the traffic that would bring.

[Elusive]

Excellent article! I chuckled at the Heimdall 'fiasco' :)

[playgen]

Cool interview. I bet games testing was a more fun job in those earlier days than it is now.

[Joe Redifer]

I tested PC games. I'd much rather have tested Genesis games like this guy. I would have given the evil XXX nudie version of Stormlord a pass.

[Strider]

<-- Worked at EA for 7-years, boy could I tell'ya some stories... Also, met plenty of personalities: Robin Williams, Joe Montana, Roger Craig and Bernard Hopkins (spent a weekend in Vegas with his guy) and few others :-)

[TmEE]

Excellent reading material !!!

[j_factor]

I liked the Heimdall thing. I'm pretty sure the penis statues were in the original Amiga version. The developer probably didn't think much of it, since they're from the UK, where penis images are perfectly acceptable. Screw this guy for taking out the dicks!

[Genesis Knight]

To me, boring (at least in the magnitude and hours Byrne talked about) = hellish.