Welcome to Kodiak
Welcome to Kodiak, your solution to QA, Production, Leadership and Management
Championing a quality user experience for all
Our Vision
At Kodiak, we strive for quality above all else. Any game can be undone by missed bugs, unexpected user behaviours or areas of the experience that don't quite hit the mark as intended. Experienced, thorough QA can hugely mitigate these factors and my goal is to ensure that as many games hit the market in the best possible shape to succeed.
Who am I?
I'm Dave, I've been working in QA in the games industry since 2011 and have enjoyed a great deal of success in my career across that time. Since 2020 I have been in management roles, being responsible for teams of testers (internal and outsource) and for the quality of releases as well as working as a QA Director and overseeing not just the QA department but helping to steer projects and the studio as a whole. My key areas of expertise are:
Leadership and Coaching
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Managing team members of all experience levels
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Providing feedback and guidance to help people advance in their careers
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Helping teams communicate effectively with one another, and other departments
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Promoting autonomy and self confidence
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Coaching team members to the right answers instead of simply telling them
Quality Assurance
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Installing QA methodologies, workflows and processes
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Refining and improving existing process
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Integrating QA into the wider development
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Providing key feedback on user experience. QA are the closest in studio representation of a customer player and thus uniquely positioned to give insight into their point of view
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Reviewing and providing feedback on test plans, documentation and other studio specific resources
Project Management
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Resource allocation across multiple projects
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Ensuring milestones and key deliverables are met and maintained
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Working across teams to enable smooth, efficient and thorough integration and testing of new features
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Reporting to key stakeholders on the progress and health of the project
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Outsource planning and budget management
What I offer
I offer a variety of services, primarily geared to indie developers who have small, or no, internal QA team
Championing Quality
Dedicated, professional QA service. API, functional and non-functional testing to help ensure a strong, healthy release
Consultancy
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Review your existing QA process or help to implement one for the first time
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Work with an existing QA team to help improve test plans, define goals for team members and help them improve their skillset
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End to end playthrough of your game providing extensive feedback on player experience, design and stability
Project Management/Production
Review timelines, milestones, key dates and resources and help create a plan to ensure the correct allocation of budget in order to best hit requirements