Meet the Team is a regular feature in which we interview members of the Pipeworks team working on Terraria to give you a brief introduction to the people working behind the scenes to maintain and improve your favorite game. Today, our subject is Liz Lambert, Quality Assurance Tester.
Can you give us your name and title?
Liz Lambert, QA Tester
Where are you from, and how long have you been working in games?
I grew up in Eugene, Oregon. My first job was at Software Etc when I was 17, which later became Gamestop. In 2006, we moved to Dallas, Texas so my husband could get his college degree at UTD. During that time, I worked at several different companies, including Gamestop again for a while. I later got a job as a QA Tester at Gearbox Software, where I stayed for just under 2 years until we moved back to Oregon. I took a few years off to work from home before I decided to get back into the industry, and I have been a QA Tester at Pipeworks since February of this year.
What have you worked on in the past that people might know?
The first project I worked on was the DLC for Borderlands -- The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, and Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution. I also worked on Aliens: Colonial Marines, Duke Nukem, and Borderlands 2. Since being at Pipeworks, I have had the privilege of working on SUPERFIGHT and Prominence Poker, which both came out this year!
Can you tell us what you do on the Terraria team?
I tell people that my job is basically breaking the game. While that’s true, it’s also a lot more nuanced than that; Terraria is a huge and intricate beast on its own, and changing its entire engine is a massive undertaking. We’re constantly looking at different ways the game can be played to see what could happen to players when it’s released into the wild. Every time something is added or changed, the testers are poring over it ten different ways with a magnifying glass. When something breaks, we check it again and again to make sure we know why it happened, and then again on different platforms just to be sure. Testing can be arduous, but it’s perfect for people who enjoy investigating what happens when things break. The way I look at it, I get to come in and solve puzzles every day. And in the end, I get to help make a great game even better.
What makes you passionate about working on Terraria?
I played Terraria back when it first came out in 2011 and I loved it -- I would play it all the time during my lunch breaks, and as soon as I got home at night. Games with open sandbox exploration are my jam, so Terraria was right up my alley. When I found out we would be working on it at Pipeworks, I got super-pumped and begged to be put on it. My daughter and I play it together on our PS4 (also previously on our 360, may it rest in red-ringed peace), and I love being able to work on a game that we both enjoy.
What would you like to tell players about the future of Terraria on consoles?
Our fantastic team is working so hard to make all the different versions of Terraria into one cohesive game across all platforms. Every day, there’s something new to see and do on the consoles, and it’s amazing to see the progress we’ve made. Terraria is only getting better, and we are so fortunate to have such a dedicated community who is invested in its future like we are. Speaking not just as a QA tester, but as a player, I think people are really going to enjoy what we come out with.
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