Author: Greta725

This month we feature Philip Erbe as our Beta Tester of The Month. He’s been at Beta Family about a year and has tested a LOT of apps. Can you guess how many?

Name: Philip Erbe

Age: 26

Nationality: American

Interests: Mobile Gaming and movies.

Devices you own: I test using the iPhone 6 plus, iPad mini retina, and the htc one.

How many apps have you beta tested?

I have beta tested around a hundred apps both on the beta family site and off.

What is your best quality as a tester?

I am always passionate about the application I am testing. Developers don’t need someone who would never be a potential customer. It’s not just bug testing but also insight into what would make people enjoy their app.

What is your favorite app?

My favorite app that I have beta tested would definitely be Arcanox, I still to this day play it!

Do you have a favorite app developer or company?

My favorite developer has to be Christian Teister of Juhu Games. We built up a great working relationship during his testing on beta family. Christian even ended up using my review in his game trailer you can check it out on YouTube just type Arcanox.

Arcanox Cards vs. Castles

How come you started with beta testing?

I started becoming a beta tester because I love mobile gaming but I noticed two problems. First developers were getting one star reviews not based on their game but the bugs they didn’t iron out. The second was the free to play boom created really unfair game mechanics that were designed to bankrupt players. So I set out to help fix both!

What kind of apps do you most like to test?

I really love testing almost everything but if you put multiplayer in it I’m hooked!

As you’ve tested lots of apps you must have encountered many bugs and faults. Is there one bug or fault you see often that you feel developers should know about and fix before starting the beta testing?

The biggest problem I see is free to play games not giving their testers proper in app currency to fully test the game. Testers need access to everything to find bugs. Unless you are testing how far they can get without money, make sure to have coupon codes ready at testing or an unlocked store.

Why are you a part of Beta Family’s community?

Because it really is a community! Many sites like to throw that word around but Beta Family means it. I have had the opportunity to work with some truly great developers! Thanks to the great rating system developers also have a place to find intelligent and passionate beta testers.

How long have you been a member at Beta Family?

I have been a member for a little over a year now.

Do you have any tips for newly started beta testers?

It’s simple be honest, thorough, and always respectful. These developers often put their hearts and souls into making these apps so it’s important to test the right way.

What’s your philosophy towards beta testing?

It may sound silly but beat the app up! You have to try every combination of things to make the app crash. If you don’t there is bound to be one customer who will and ends up leaving a one star review.

What three things do you need to be successful in beta testing?

To be a successful beta tester you have to be creative, methodical, and have a passion for it.

What are the best and worst things about beta testing?

The worst is trying to recreate a bug that happens inconsistently! The best is getting recognized for your work!

Would you rather test apps for bigger companies or new start ups?

While I do love both, start ups hold a special place in my heart. You just get a level of communication and also impact that you typically don’t get from larger companies.

What makes an app exciting to test?

Honestly it’s not the apps themselves but the developers. It’s exciting when they keep a good dialogue through out and let you know that your opinions really matter. There’s nothing more exciting than knowing changes that you help make will be seen by everyone who downloads that app.

How many apps are on your phone right now?

Too many but there almost always changing. I always like to be beta testing one or two.

Are you a gamer? If so, what kind of games do you like?

I consider myself a mobile gamer fanatic! Especially mmorpgs I’ve played almost every one on the app stores. Right now my favorite is tai chi panda.

A big thank you to Philip for taking the time to give us his opinion on beta testing! I really like his philosophy towards beta testing. Don’t you?

As always we’ll have a new Beta Tester of The Month coming up next month. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

PUBLISHED BY

Malin Klockare Gullesjö
Malin Klockare Gullesjö is working with Beta Family’s online profile. She has previously worked as a community manager on social media in the tourism industry.

Dmytro Ovcharenko is our June Beta Tester of the Month. We’re really happy to have him in our community! Here at Beta Family he tests mobile applications in his spare time. Continue reading to find out what makes him such a good tester!

Name: Dmytro Ovcharenko

Age: 29

Nationality: Ukrainian

Interests: Programming, testing, music and yoga

Devices you own: Google LG Nexus 5 (Android 5.1)

How many apps have you beta tested?

For all the time I’ve tested about 70 different applications.

At the moment I am testing two applications. I try not to take on testing a lot of apps to be able to give each application a sufficient time for quality testing.

What is your best quality as a tester?

Attention to detail. And also the belief that any application has bugs, just want to find them.

What is your favorite app?

I have no favorite app. Each application serves a different purpose.

Do you have a favorite app developer or company?

No, because I don’t think it’s important who’s developing the app. What is important is if the app was good and useful or not.

How come you started with beta testing?

I began working as a mobile application tester in an software company and to improve my skills began to test the application on The Beta Family.

What kind of apps do you most like to test?

In the beginning I tested all apps that were available to me. Recently, however, I like to test games because they are fun. Testing of major applications I have enough on my work so I don’t want to test complex applications in my spare time.

As you’ve tested lots of apps you must have encountered many bugs and faults. Is there one bug or fault you see often that you feel developers should know about and fix before starting the beta testing?

Unfortunately, lately it seems to me that the developers do not run their applications on devices. Sometimes bugs do not even need to look. Just run the app and they seem themselves.

Why are you part of Beta Family’s community?

Because I’m curious to see what new apps being developed and help to improve them.

How long have you been a member at Beta Family?

About six months.

Do you have any tips for newly started beta testers?

When you begin to test different applications, you will notice that questions often are repeated. Don’t write the same answer every time, do a template of typical responses and adjust it depending on the application.

What’s your philosophy towards beta testing?

In any application there are always bugs.

What three things do you need to be successful in beta testing?

1. Attentiveness
2. Curiosity
3. Interest in testing

What are the best and worst things about beta testing?

The worst thing in beta testing is that the apps always have more bugs than in those that we use every day.

The best thing is that you can use the app anywhere and become one of the first who tried it.

Would you rather test apps for bigger companies or new start ups?

I prefer to test applications for new start ups.

What is it that makes an app exciting to test?

Its usefulness or exciting, depending on the destination application.

How many apps are on your phone right now?

170

A big thank you to Dmytro for taking the time to answer my questions. I really like his tip on how to be a successful beta tester. Anyone else make templates for repeated responses? Remember to subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss next month’s Beta Tester of the month.

PUBLISHED BY

Malin Klockare Gullesjö
Malin Klockare Gullesjö is working with Beta Family’s online profile. She has previously worked as a community manager on social media in the tourism industry.

Welcome to our new segment here on the blog called Beta Tester of The Month! We want to show some appreciation to our top testers here on Beta Family and will interview one of them each month. These guys are doing an amazing job, as many of you are, helping the app development companies with their beta testing.

To kick this off I’m happy to present our May 2015 Beta Tester of The Month, Tasha Sumo. We’re stoked to have her in our community!

Name: Tasha Sumo

Age: 28

Nationality: American

Interests: Earth science, technology, writing, baking

Devices you own: Apple Ipad 2, Lenovo Ideapad, Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Apps tested: Over 102 apps.

What is your best quality as a tester?

I read the description for the app so I have a general idea of what I am testing and I use this as somewhat of a guideline of when I test the app.

What is your favorite app?

My favorite app is a number guessing app called Fermi. I found myself really thinking as to the order of the numbers and the layout for the numbers is on clouds.

Do you have a favorite app developer or company?

I really don’t have a favorite app developer/company.

How come you started with beta testing?

I started with beta testing to learn about new products out there that I could share with family and friends, to be one of the first to try an app and share feedback that might be able to help the developer.

What kind of apps do you most like to test?

I like puzzle, productivity and game apps.

As you’ve tested lots of apps you must have encountered many bugs and faults. Is there one bug or fault you see often that you feel developers should know about and fix before starting the beta testing?

I think for app developers, who wish to change the system for the phone, the greatest bug there is losing the ability to use the phone itself.

Why are you a part of Beta Family’s community?

I am part of the Beta Family because I like the features of the site. I can test out apps, share feedback, possibility earn cash and maybe one day even submit my own app for feedback.

How long have you been a member here at Beta Family?

I’ve been a member for over 2 years.

Do you have any tips for newly started beta testers?

The three tips I have are:

1. Get a feel of how the Beta Family site works and the testing process. It’s good to familiarize yourself with what is involved for the testing because in testing both Android apps and IOS apps, the testing process can be different for the apps.
2. Test both free and apps that pay. By testing both types of apps you will be exposed to a greater variety apps and can become more well-versed.
3. Be patient. Sometimes it takes a while for the testing process to start and once you start testing, it takes time to build your rep as a beta tester.

What’s your philosophy towards beta testing?

Beta testing is more than just downloading and reviewing, it’s a chance to make a difference, build connections and try something new or improved.

What three things do you need to be successful in beta testing?

To be successful you need:

1. A schedule. Know when the test will end and make sure you devote time during the testing period to accurately test the app.
2. A working device. If the device is defective that is not helpful in beta testing.
3. An open mind. Though some apps might seem similar, keeping an open mind and not a pre-set attitude will help to test the app more fairly.
4. What are the best and worst things about beta testing?

The worst thing about beta testing that it’s sometimes time-consuming, the best thing is the chance to share feedback.

Would you rather test apps for bigger companies or new start ups?

This is a rather hard question to answer. I stated previously that I really don’t have a favorite developer or company and this goes for both startup and bigger companies. But I would rather test for bigger companies because they might be more willing to offer products for beta testing. I do like the new of ideas of startups too.

What makes an app exciting to test?

The description of the app and the preview screenshots for the app.

How many apps are on your phone right now?

Not including bloatware, I would say more than 40.

Are you a gamer? If so, what kind of games do you like?

I’m a bit of a gamer, I enjoy role-playing games, adventure games and strategic games.

A big thank you to Tasha for being our first Beta Tester of The Month! We really appreciate her hard work and hope she’ll find many more apps to test here at Beta Family.

Next month we’ll feature another top tester so make sure you subscribe to our blog.

PUBLISHED BY

Malin Klockare Gullesjö
Malin Klockare Gullesjö is working with Beta Family’s online profile. She has previously worked as a community manager on social media in the tourism industry.

I asked our board of advisor Ron Packard Jr from Cloudburst games if he could tell us about how he started with app development and how he uses beta testing for his products. He was kind enough to give us info on the soon to be released puzzle game Castle Breakout – Escape! HD, so keep reading to learn from this successful animation producer.

Ron-Packard-JR-profile-photoRon Packard Jr was born in California, USA. His interest in computer games developed early and his parents encouraged him to make his own games in his youth. That proved to be a great idea as he is now a studio producer leading a team of fifteen 3D animators and programmers, working with mobile app development and creating amazing games. His apps have over six million downloads and are at the top of the charts in several countries all over the world.

Hi Ron! Thanks for doing this interview! Tell us about your company and what you are doing.

Cloudburst Games is a mobile content development studio in transition from making talking apps to creating beautiful photo-realistic “room escape” puzzles for adults. Our current games have had over seven million downloads and two hundred million play sessions worldwide. The new room escape genre app we’re preparing to roll out – Castle Breakout – Escape! HD is a very exciting project, which our beta-users seem to be enjoying.

http://www.cloudburstgames.co/

Here are a couple of quotes from our beta testers to provide examples of the kind of response Castle Breakout is receiving:

“The game overall is beautifully well done, with just enough difficulty crafted into it to keep you interested, but not enough to make you quit. A perfect balance.”

“Overall this is a very polished game and one of my favorite puzzle games I’ve played in some time.”

We believe the feedback we’ve had so far for this game points us to the potential for huge success. The beta testers aren’t paid and have no incentive to tell us anything but the unvarnished truth.

One beta tester became a super fan and freely offered us the following image showing an iPad, 6” iPhone, Macbook, and 2nd computer screen all working at once for the game. We have placed this image on our “fan art” blog that’s attached to our website.

Http://www.castlebreakoutgame.com

How come you started with app development?

Cloudburst Games started in 2010 doing talking apps. I chose app development because in high school I was an avid hobbyist programmer, and I made a few games that were quite popular in college.

We weren’t always so successful. When the “talking app genre” was yet in its nascent stages, I believed it had great potential because it had a high barrier to entry for programmers because of its complexity, yet easy enough for me to do. My wife and I had a young daughter at the time and I figured that making a girl talking app would be fun – and thus was born the Talking Nicky series. Yet my faith in its potential wasn’t proven to be true as it was never a big money-maker.

How long do you stick with an idea for an app before giving up on it?

As I said, the Talking Nicky series didn’t make much money. At the same time I began, Outfit7 did their Talking Tom Cat which was wildly successful. So after about five or six Talking Nicky’s, about a year later, I switched to animals. I’ve always loved comedy and animals, so switching was appealing to me. I hired a comedian animation director who came up with the funny ideas for the Talking Duke Dog.

Sure enough we did quite a bit better with Talking Duke Dog and we did a Talking Duke Dog 2 which did even better. We didn’t do nearly as well as Outfit7 and on hindsight perhaps we could have done much better with a publisher. But we did gain seven million downloads and a hefty chunk of our needed monthly salary.

In my “focus group” for Talking Duke Dog I had a few real kids at my house and they unanimously said it needed a game. Unfortunately, after three years I wasn’t able to get the money to add a game. And that’s the point we decided to finally leave the Talking App genre. In fact, I’ve sold my talking apps to a kind man who wishes to continue with them.

After about two to three years, Outfit7 took the animal characters very, very far in the genre. It took me until recently to discover that the reason I didn’t feel like committing and following them that far was because I didn’t play with dolls or action figures nearly enough as a child. Those were not my favorite toys by far. I feel that the genre now belongs to those who loved their dolls and action figures when they were kids.

What I recently discovered is that you need to be true to your sixteen year old self. When I was sixteen, I built a mad puzzle on the computer. So I’m now doing a puzzle on the Mac, iOS and Android and I’m excelling a little beyond belief.

Do you prototype?

I’ve got a collection of contractors who are also avid game players, so we are generally very confident in our ideas. So no, we don’t prototype.

Do you test your ideas on people?

No we don’t, except internally. Rather, I make sure we have enough creative perspectives in our own group and listen and discuss opposing and contrasting ideas within our group.

What motivates you and what are your goals?

My goals are to conquer the top of the Puzzle category within five years. They say you’ve got to go big or go home, well, I think that’s true. Our vision is to give casual gamers who just want a challenging puzzle experience whenever they have spare time something they’ve never experienced before! I want them to feel challenged but not overwhelmed, and enthralled with the graphics nd storyline. We believe this is a formula for substantial success in the “escape game genre.”

What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful app developer?

I’m not sure I can speak for every developer because so many people can leverage their unique skill sets in ways that I can’t imagine. I think the important thing is to know yourself and know what your own unique skills are nd how to properly leverage them.

A great source of inspiration is the “Gallup Poll StrengthsFinder” which gives you a set of 34 personality results from strongest to weakest, and also the “Gallup Poll Entrepreneur Profile” which gives you your ten highest strengths.

My top StrengthFinder strength is strategy, and my highest Entrepreneur strength is Creativity. So I really excel at looking at new genres and identifying ways to fill an unmet need.

https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

http://www.gallup.com/services/170867/entrepreneurship.aspx

Can you tell us a bit about your new app Castle Breakout – Escape! HD?

Castle Breakout – Escape! HD is a terrific game which takes the current room escape genre and pushes the boundaries, almost creating a new genre. It has eleven stereo medieval songs, and about 100 unique stereo sound bites for each action. The game features stunningly beautiful rendered images, an amazing flight with a magical dragon, a comic book intro and animated animals to give entertainment.

Castle Breakout is due in the Apple & Google store for Mac, iOS, and Android in mid-May. With its oversized images, the game is truly glorious on the Mac.

What problems are you facing right now?

Like with many developers, funding during the development phases is often a challenge. I’ve done this app completely without money (for one and a half years) using the promise of future royalties to pay my contractors. The sale of my talking apps gave me the funds I need to finish Castle Breakout.

What do you feel are the positive aspects of using a crowdtesting platform for beta testing?

It’s been enormously helpful to further the cause of Castle Breakout with Beta Family’s crowdtesting service. Enormously! What we’ve found from extensive testing is that the users are now saying it comes across as “polished.” Beta Family offers free reviews and that has been a life-saver for me.

If I could answer the question, “What’s the number one thing that differentiates a crummy app from a great one?, ” it would be the amount of polish it has. I see in the App Store so many developers who must have worked for years on an app, only to see it fail miserably because it just plain doesn’t work, not to mention don’t perform with elegance or isn’t polished with the details that consumers notice in an app. The need for exhaustive beta testing has never been greater.

Can you tell us more about your testing plan?

With Castle Breakout, I waited until the app was in a fairly mature state to begin testing. Then I began testing the app every three weeks or so. I’ve given it five tests so far, and I plan to do about two more on Castle Breakout before its launch. I try to find new people for each test for fresh perspectives. I try to pay Beta Family about ¼ of the time to keep them happy, and they seem OK with that.

When working with the beta users, I remain very polite and tell them when I’ve fixed their issues. I respond to all their pain points and tell them what I’m doing. If I don’t agree with one of their issues, then I tell them so with my reasons. I respond to every message they leave me, and always help the newcomers with their technical support issues. Treasure the beta testers and they will treasure you.

I tend to give beta testers 5-stars feedback unless they are rude or mean-spirited. Beta testers need to stay positive as it does affect our collective moods.

I also share all my reports – both positive and negative, with my contractors. It tends to excite, motivate, and give us some discussion points about what needs to be fixed. To help facilitate such discussion remotely, we use Basecamp, which is another lovely tool for collaboration.

https://basecamp.com/

Why did you choose The Beta Family over other similar services?

As far as I know, the Beta Family is the only beta testing service that provides a community of users. Everything about the service works real smoothly. It’s an excellent service and a great value package. I couldn’t be happier!

The talented team from Cloudburst-games

I hope you liked this interview with Ron Packard Jr and don’t hesitate to flick me a message if you have any questions. If you liked it then perhaps you’ll appreciate the interview I did with TED Speaker Dr Ayanna Howard.

PUBLISHED BY

Malin Klockare Gullesjö
Malin Klockare Gullesjö is working with Beta Family’s online profile. She has previously worked as a community manager on social media in the tourism industry. View all posts by Malin Klockare Gullesjö

The use of tablet devices in American classrooms has become a popular, and it continues to grow. Unfortunately, the accessible content for children with special needs doesn’t grow as fast.

We interviewed Dr. Ayanna Howard who is the founder and chief technology officer at Zyrobotics, an assistive technology company in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr, Ayanna talks about how they use beta testing for their learning applications.

While being a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer engineering, Dr. Howard received a grant from NSF (National Science Foundation) to develop technology that was then transferred to a spinoff, Zyrobotics. She did this together with Dr. Hae Won Park and Dr. J Maccalla, with the goal to commercialize the inclusive technology inventions derived from their research lab at Georgia Tech.

The team wanted to address the need for educational apps for children with special needs as this demographic hasn’t been given equal access to available app-based learning activities. Their mission is to create personalized technologies that make a difference in the lives of children with special needs in the age range 3 to 12.

How come you started with app development?

The inclusion of learning activities using tablet devices in the classroom environment continues to grow. Unfortunately, this corresponding increase has not correlated with a growth in accessible content for children with special needs. Thus, as educational apps continue to revolutionize learning for children, there is a measurable demographic of school-age children with special needs that are not being given equal access. As such, we wanted to address this need and develop education Apps that provide engaging content while being accessible to children with special needs.

How long do you stick with an idea for an app before giving up on it?

Before we begin development of a new app, we first conduct a number of interviews with parents, special education teachers, and clinicians to discover unmet needs. Based on their feedback, we then discuss a few ideas with them and select the focus for our next education app. Throughout the development process, but before alpha testing, we’ll continue to refine the idea and game-play of the education app based on feedback from our target demographic.

What motivates you at Zyrobotics and what are your goals?

Our goal is to increase access to educational content for children with disabilities that support their goals in the classroom environment in such a way that it can engage all children while being accessible to children with special needs. Children of all abilities can be encouraged to engage in various learning opportunities when these activities are seen as enjoyable and interesting. Our motivation is therefore to create engaging educational content that is accessible to all kids.

What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful app developer?

1. The top three skills needed to be a successful app developer include:
2. Good user experience and user interface design skills
   Good programming skills and/or the ability to learn these skills
   Ability to listen to the customer and be open to constructive feedback.
   Have testing your apps helped prevent failures?
3. We always go through three phases of testing before releasing an app for distribution (alpha, beta, and target user). Although this means it takes longer to release an app, we feel that this process ensures that any potential issues are caught before they turn into failures.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a successful app developer?

I believe that success as an app developer is defined by whether you made a societal impact. This may (or may not) equate to financial success. As such, the first piece of advice for being successful is defining your metrics for success – is it number of downloads, awards, good reviews, rankings, etc.? The second piece of advice is to not give up. There are so many apps currently available for download that the probability that your app will percolate to the top 10 (and remain there) is, unfortunately, slim. If your passion is for app development, just become the best app developer that you can and define your criteria for success as such. The last piece of advice is to listen to your target customer. Solicit feedback from potential users before devoting time and money to developing an app that users might not need or want.

Can you tell us about some of your apps and how you got the idea for them?

In the last 10 months, we have released four accessible education apps – ZyroSky, Forest Fighter, Turtle Invaders, and OctoPlus. The first three apps, released on both Google Play and iTunes, focused on cause- and-effect and pre-readiness math skills. The last app, OctoPlus, reinforces key addition math skills within an interactive gaming environment through the inclusion of practice and challenge modes.

Each of our education apps maps educational content within a gaming construct to engage children of all abilities. All of our apps also have adjustable learning and game-play settings so that kids can learn and be assessed based on their own individual skill level. All of our apps are also designed to be switch-accessible and enhance motor skills for young children and kids with motor or cognitive delays. We have used the Beta Family for all of our apps during both the alpha and beta testing stages.

What do you feel are the positive aspects of using a crowdtesting platform for your beta testing?

The positive aspects of using a crowdtesting platform is the ability to have both novice and experienced users provide feedback and bug reporting using different devices, operating systems, and cultural perspectives. This is an invaluable resource because it allows you to test the majority of configurations that you might find in the real-world, thus discovering issues before they become failures.

What challenges are you facing in the beta testing process that Beta Family can help with?

The ability to select both new and validated testers using the Beta Family removes many of the challenges we would have otherwise faced. We have used the Beta Family as a resource for finding testers for all of our apps over both our alpha and beta testing stages.

Can you tell us more about your testing plans?

We always go through three phases of testing before releasing an app for distribution (alpha, beta, and target user). We have used the Beta Family as a resource for finding testers for all of our apps over both our alpha and beta testing stages. During alpha testing, we are primarily concerned with the ease-of-interaction, ease-of-game play, bug-finding, and overall user experience. We also ask for suggestions for improving the experience. The beta testing stage involves more specific evaluation of features and bug-finding. The target user stage occurs before release and involves full-reviews focused on functionality as seen through the eyes of special education teachers, parents, and clinicians. Depending on the results from this stage, we might iterate through another beta testing cycle before release.

Why did you choose The Beta Family instead of another similar service?

We chose the Beta Family because of its ability to select both novice and experienced users, its ability to test on both Android and iOS platforms, its ability to invite testers outside of the Beta Family (which is important when testing with our target demographic) and the ease-of-interaction with the platform itself.

Beta Family would like to extend a big thank you to Dr. Ayanna Howard for taking the time talking to us. Make sure to share this post within your network so more people hear about Zyrobotics fantastic work providing children with special needs the same learning activities as other kids.

Ps. Did you know that Dr Ayanna Howard has been a speaker at the TED conferences, talking about how to make robots smarter? Check it out: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/make-robots-smarter-ayanna-howard

Check out the below links if you’d like to learn more about Zyrobotics.

Webpage: http://zyrobotics.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Zyrobotics
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Zyrobotics/402223876544935?fref=ts

Malin Klockare Gullesjö
Malin Klockare Gullesjö is working with Beta Family’s online profile. She has previously worked as a community manager on social media in the tourism industry.