Under the “success has many fathers” principle (failure is an orphan, of course) I wish to take credit for an awesome new iOS puzzle game: Patchmania. The creator, Jon Grall, was a star student in Software Engineering for Internet Applications (free online textbook) at MIT. Grall figured out the best and cheapest way to test the game: head for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. See his article “Playtesting Mobile Games at the DMV” for more proof of Hal Abelson’s theory that there is an inverse correlation between age and intelligence at MIT.
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This DMV story provides another example of American administrative arrogance and inconsiderateness, consistent with my experiences during a sabbatical year in WA a long time ago.
In the UK, neither driving licence nor vehicle taxation require one to attend and wait in line at a busy public office. All such administrative details are handled remotely and remarkable efficiently, now almost entirely online.
The system is terrible but this fellow’s idea was brilliant.
Thanks for the post, Philip! Happy to let you take a little credit for my whacky approach to game testing 😉 As a matter of fact, your Software Engineering for Internet Applications class did leave a lasting impression on me, and was easily the best class I took at MIT – and one of the only ones that couldn’t be easily replicated at the public library without having to drop $250K on a college education! Having you review my problem sets taught me more about writing clearly than about software engineering, although I suppose the two are closely related.