Tara (Tefertiller) Voelker

My standard resumé can be viewed here as a PDF – Tara Voelker’s Resume. Below is my expanded resumé,  which explains in detail the various responsibilities I had at each job.

Thank you for viewing!

Employment History:

Irrational Games
Senior Quality Assurance: September 2011- Current

• Lead a highly trained test team to ensure a build’s stability before releasing it to the artists and designers
• Constructed test plans for new features, assigned out tasks and reported as needed
• Lead an embedded QA team to construct test maps as requested by the dev team directly
• Managed an internal bug database
• Developed and implemented surveys for a certain aspects of the title during play tests, and constructed reports based of the responses
• Worked with an onsite publisher QA team to ensure the title was fully tested

IGDA Game Accessibility SIG
Chairperson: November 2010 – Current

• Worked with Film Victoria to develop game accessibility guidelines for grant applications
• Developed the Game Accessibility Merritt Competition as part of the Global Game Jam, and ran it during 2011 and 2012
• Acted as community manager and content provider for the website, forums, Facebook, Twitter and listserv
• Was a speaker at various events as a representative of the SIG, including GDC 2012 and 2012
• Organized a team of accessibility experts to the update the white paper along with other research papers for the SIG

Firebrand Games: Merrit Island Office
Quality Assurance Lead: November 2010 – September 2011

• Built the QA department from the ground up as the first QA team member ever hired at the studio (or sister studios)
• Managed multiple dug databases, including the internal system across 3 studios and  as well as publisher QA databases
• Ensured that the team had met all requirements for milestones before signing off on build and constructed test plans around the milestones
• Insured that titles were meeting submission requirements for Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony
• Consulted on accessibility and usability ensured a positive usability experience for the user
• Managed and directed the off site QA team by assigning them tasks, test plans and schedules
• Acted as build tech, preparing and testing builds being sent to off site QA and publishers
• Worked with publisher QA from THQ, Disney Interactive and Activision to ensure full coverage of testing

Pursuit of Happiness Foundation
VP of Industry Relations: January 2010 – September 2011

• Worked as an event planner for several activities and conferences the foundation was involved in
• Studied how gamers with disabilities interact with AAA titles
• Became well versed in specialty hardware and software for gamers with disabilities
• Provided accessibility reviews and consultations, and worked to ensure better usability for all gamers, and gamers with disabilities
• Developed testing guidelines to ensure consultations provided all the necessary information about a game’s systems
• Acted as an advocate, consultant  and educator  for game accessibility

AbleGamers Foundation / AbleGamers.com / AbleGamers.Org
Staff Writer : September 2009 – November 2010

• Attended various events as a representative and reporter
• Wrote articles on news that directly pertained to gamers with disabilities, which included coverage of game features, gaming studies and teaching about game accessibility
• Reviewed games (AAA titles) and rated them based upon their levels of accessibility, in addition to more traditional reviews
• Highlighted how features or lack of features directly affected different gamer groups
• Organized, attended and brainstormed small fund raisers for the AbleGamers Foundation
• Interviewed various people related to the gaming industry for AbleGamers.com

Volition Inc / Champaign QA / THQ
Quality Assurance Tester/ Play test Assistant: March 2008- May 2009

• Reported any software stability issues in a short report that was passed to programmers
• Reported when areas of the software could become broken or unplayable due to the player’s actions in a short report that was passed to the design or programming team.
• Worked closely with production to ensure that the current title was properly balanced
• Supervised and documented players’ actions during extended play tests and usability tests
• Mentored new hires and team members recently transferred onto new projects to ensure they were adjusting to their work environment, their bug writing was of the proper standard, and to answer any questions they may have

Shipped Titles:

• Bioshock Infinite, PC, 360, PS3 – Senior QA (currently in production)
• Unannounced IOS Title – Concept Designer
• Nascar Unleashed, 3DS/ DSi/ Wii/ 360/ PS3 – QA Lead
• Cars 2, 3Ds – QA Lead
• Kick Off, iPhone/ iPad/ iPod Touch – QA Lead (Unreleased Title)
• Hot Wheels: Track Attack, Wii (Portuguese SKU only) , QA Lead (uncredited)
• Cars 2, DS/ DSi – QA Lead
• Red Faction: Guerrilla- Demons of the Badlands DLC – QA Tester
• Red Faction: Guerrilla, 360/ PS3 – QA Tester
• WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania, 360/PS3 – QA Tester (uncredited)
• Saints Row 2 DLC Packs 1 & 2, 360/PS3 - QA Tester (uncredited)
• Saints Row 2, 360/PS3 - QA Tester (uncredited)
• Destroy All Humans: Path of Furon, 360/PS3 – QA Tester

Additional Experience: 

International Academy of Design and Technology – Detroit
Student Mentor: Spring 2011

• Reviewed work done by students before projects were submitted
• Provided feed back on their work, and offered suggestions and revisions
• Scored the students progress and filled out documentation on such

Accessibility Speaking Engagements:

• Schedule Speaking and moderator for Games for Health, Boston June 2012
• Speaker at Game Developers Conference 2012 – IGDA GA SIG Meeting (Session Leader, Remoted in to lead session via Skype)
• Global Game Jam Accessibility Challenge covered in “Global Game Jam tackles the issue of accessibility” by the Guardian
• Guest Speaker at IGDA Rhode Island Chapter Meeting – February 2011
• Speaker at Games for Health, Boston May 2011  “Building Guidelines & Best Practices for Accessible Games ” with Eleanor Robinson
• Speaker at Game Developers Conference 2011 – IGDA GA SIG Roundtable (Session Leader), Industry Game Accessibility Ratings System: Promoting Mainstream Games to the Gamer with Disabilities (Session Leader, Sub for Michelle Hinn)
• Speaker at Game Developers Conference 2010 – ”Accessibility Arcade: Bringing AAA Game Titles to Disabled Gamers through controller Hacks”, lead the IDGA Game Accessibility SIG round table discussion with Thomas Westin
• Guest Speaker at IGDA Orlando Chapter Meeting – February 2011
• Speaker at Interfaces  2010 –  “Accessibility Basics- Guidelines to a Better Game” hosted by the International Academy of Design & Technology – Detroit, May 2010
• Guest Speaker at Full Sail University, December 2010
• Presenter at the Orlando Science Center’s Otronicon, January 2010
• Accessibility advocacy has been covered by GameSpot in an article– “Controller Hacks for Disabled Gamers”