itch.io

Still looking for some projects ! :)

Yes, absolutely, and honestly it's one of the most underreported categories we see.

The "technically works but feels empty" thing is super common. A lot of it comes down to reactivity gaps: sounds that play correctly in isolation but don't respond well to what's actually happening in the game. Missing variations, no dynamic mixing, ambiences that don't transition properly between areas.

But beyond that there's a whole layer of more technical issues that pile up fast:

- 2D vs 3D source mismatches (a sound that should be spatialized playing as flat 2D, or the opposite)
- Emitters that are misplaced or have wrong attenuation ranges, so sounds bleed through walls or disappear too early
- Triggers that fire at the wrong moment, stack incorrectly, or don't account for edge cases in gameplay flow
- In multiplayer specifically, 1st/3rd person audio perspective bugs are really frequent, hearing your own footsteps from an exterior perspective, or enemy sounds playing at wrong volume relative to the listener

Hey everyone 👋

We're Signalab, a QA studio built specifically for indie developers. We're looking to connect with small teams and solo devs who need structured, affordable testing support for their projects.

Who we are

Signalab is a small team of QA professionals with 5+ years of experience in the game industry, coming from AA and AAA productions. We built this studio because indie developers deserve access to real QA without the enterprise price tag or the bloated process that comes with it.

What we offer

• 🎮 Functional QA Bug hunting, regression testing, smoke testing across your build cycles
• 🔊 Audio QA Missing SFX, broken mix, wrong audio cues, localization gaps. We catch what's easy to miss when you're deep in production
• 🧪 UX and Playtest feedback Structured reports on friction points, onboarding clarity, control feel
• 📋 QA Process support Helping small teams build reproducible, sustainable QA habits

How it works

We work on a day-rate or hour-rate per tester, across flexible engagement tiers. No long-term commitment required. You get clear, readable reports with steps to reproduce, severity levels, and context, not a messy spreadsheet dumped in your inbox.

Who we're looking for

Any indie dev or small studio with a project in active development. Whether you're 2 weeks from launch, mid-production, or just starting to think about QA, we're happy to have a conversation.

Get in touch

🌐 https://signalab.fr
📩 hello@signalab.fr
Or just reply here or DM me on discord (ID: arcatsu) !

We've worked with several indie studios already and we're actively looking to take on new projects. Don't hesitate to reach out, even just to ask questions.

Hello!

I’m a professional manual QA specialist with several years of experience testing commercial and in-development games across PC, console and mobile. I’ve worked on a wide variety of genres, from narrative-driven games to multiplayer and systems-heavy projects, which allows me to adapt quickly to different production constraints and team sizes.

Who I am as a QA

I approach QA as both a technical and player-focused role. My work is not limited to “finding bugs”, I help teams understand risk, prioritize issues, and improve overall game quality.

I’m comfortable working:

• From early prototypes to late-stage builds
• With small indie teams or more structured productions
• In close collaboration with designers, programmers and artists

I’m known for being methodical, clear, and reliable, with strong written communication and a solid understanding of how developers actually use QA feedback.

What I can bring as a QA

Gameplay & Systems Testing

• Core gameplay mechanics (combat, progression, abilities, AI, difficulty curves)
• Edge cases, exploits, softlocks, blockers
• Balance issues and player-experience pain points

Structured Testing

• Smoke tests, sanity checks, regression testing
• Test plans & test cases (feature-based or system-based)
• Clear reproduction steps with expected vs actual behavior

High-quality Bug Reports

• Well-prioritized bugs (severity / impact / frequency)
• Clear steps to reproduce, visuals when needed, clean wording
• Easy for devs to understand, reproduce, and fix

Player-centric QA

• First-time user experience & onboarding
• UX clarity, feedback readability, tutorial flow
• “What will confuse or frustrate a real player?”

Audio-aware QA (optional but strong asset)

• SFX / music triggers & logic
• Spatialization, attenuation, looping, overlaps
• Audio consistency with gameplay events

Tools & Work Habits

• Jira, TestRail, Notion, Confluence-style documentation
• Used to structured pipelines and fast iteration
• Comfortable working remotely and asynchronously

Collaboration Terms

• Paid work only (hourly or fixed scope)
• Short-term testing or long-term collaboration
• Flexible availability depending on project needs

If you’re building a game and want reliable QA that actually helps your project move forward, feel free to reply or DM me with:

• A short description of your project
• Current stage (prototype / alpha / beta / live)
• What kind of QA help you’re looking for

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your projects!

🌌 QA Report – Odyssey (Prologue)

Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester

🧑‍💼 About Me

Hi Nicolas! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX feedback, and bug reporting, with a focus on polish and player experience

I played the Prologue demo of Odyssey (PC/Web version) and here’s a structured QA report based on my experience. I approached the game with both a technical and emotional lens - and I must say, I was positively surprised by the tone, texture, and presence of the game

🌠 General Impressions

Your lo-fi, minimalist vision works. The oppressive atmosphere is very well executed, and the transitions between zones are a strong highlight - smooth, clean, and effective at evoking space, isolation, and mystery

There’s a real sense of weight in how the camera moves - slightly slow, slightly heavy - which gives the player a feeling of vulnerability. This is subtle but impactful, and it supports the dreamlike and introspective tone you seem to be aiming for

The lack of explicit direction is also well-handled. It feels like an immersive sim stripped to its bones, where the point isn’t to “win” or “solve,” but to observe, feel, and move. The experience reminded me a lot of People Still Live Here by Kane Pixels - retro, minimalist, mysterious, and reflective

🎧 Audio & Transitions

I was genuinely impressed by the use of music and SFX. The transitions, both visual and auditory, are really effective and contribute massively to the mood. Every sound seems purposeful, and that’s already a big win

The only part I didn’t fully understand was the transition where the screen turns blue and the camera has a swirl effect. It felt a bit random and disconnected compared to the rest of the experience

The only audio-related issue I noticed was with the footstep sounds: when pressing left and right rapidly, they can stack or “spam,” creating a jittery sound loop. It breaks immersion briefly, especially in quiet moments

🎮 Controls & Accessibility

Currently, the game only supports arrow keys, and doesn’t respond to WASD or ZQSD layouts. That’s a bit limiting, especially for players using AZERTY keyboards. Even just mirroring inputs to WASD/ZQSD would help accessibility greatly

I also noticed that the game starts in fullscreen automatically, which is fine, but:

- Pressing ESC exits fullscreen and causes the game to lose focus, and
- Clicking the game doesn’t restore focus
- There’s no in-game way to close or quit the game, so I had to use Alt+F4

This might be fine in early development, but eventually a quit button or restart option will really help

🧭 Narrative & Flow

The narrative is vague, possibly by design - and that’s okay. The experience invites the player to project meaning rather than receive it. Still, even a small hint of context at the start could improve engagement without compromising the mystery

Even if everything remains abstract, the visual cohesion and emotional tone already work. You’ve created something that feels like a world - or at least, the ghost of one

🐞 Bugs & Technical Issues

- Footstep sounds can stack when alternating left/right quickly
- No WASD/ZQSD support, only arrow keys
- Fullscreen loses focus if you press ESC, and clicking doesn’t restore it
- No UI to close or restart the game – requires Alt+F4
- At the very end, after the glitchy cutscene and when rejoining the computer, a menu appears with "Start" and "Quit"
          - Pressing "Start" immediately closes the game instead of restarting or continuing
          - This feels unexpected and unintuitive - it gives the impression of a bug or crash rather than a proper ending or reset
          - Suggestion: either rename the button to something clearer (e.g. “Exit”) or ensure it loops/restarts the experience if intended
- No other major bugs encountered - performance was smooth, transitions clean, and overall stable

✅ Final Suggestions

- Add basic support for WASD / ZQSD movement input
- Prevent footstep SFX from overlapping when alternating directions
- Consider adding a fullscreen toggle or soft-locking focus to the game window
- Add a minimal quit or reset option for better user experience
- (Optional) Add a brief intro line or visual cue to ground the player (while keeping the dreamlike tone)

🌟 Closing Words

You’ve achieved something quite rare in a first project: you’ve created an emotional space. Even in just a few minutes, Odyssey – Prologue gives the player a feeling, and that’s a huge success.

If your goal was to explore space, time, and consciousness through a lo-fi lens - you’re absolutely on the right path. I’d love to see how Level 1 evolves, and I’d be happy to test it again when the time comes!

– ArcaTsu Freelance QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/s/1qx4wZz

Hey no worries at all for the notifications - it's actually great to see someone so actively working on improvements!

Regarding the collision bug on the bottom-right wall: I just retested it recently and it seems like the issue is no longer present. So it might’ve been a sneaky fix along the way - in any case, it’s working fine now on my side!

Also, I did a quick full playthrough while checking the issue, and I was genuinely surprised by the updates - lots of positive changes since my last test. Really nice progress, keep it up !

🎮 QA Report – Inoculation

Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester

🧑‍💼 About Me

Hi ! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX feedback, and bug reporting, with a focus on player experience and game polish. I played Inoculation in its WebGL version and here’s my structured feedback.

🧪 General Feel & Experience

Inoculation offers a highly minimalist, conceptual experience, and it clearly does so intentionally. The absence of UI, music, and clear instruction pushes the player into a reflective, exploratory mindset, which aligns well with what feels like a philosophical or symbolic theme. The game stands out for its raw simplicity — and that simplicity works as long as it's framed as deliberate
From a pure design perspective, the core mechanic is extremely simple: you move, you touch things, you change. And yet, it communicates something
The lack of instruction is effective. I believe that not telling the player what to do enhances the contemplative tone of the experience. It invites discovery and interpretation. That said, for players used to structured systems, it may create a sense of aimlessness — which is not necessarily bad, depending on your intent

⚙️ Mechanics & Technical Notes

There are no collision limits on the edges of the screen. Once your point (player) moves too far out of frame, it becomes extremely difficult — or impossible — to return. This could be frustrating for players who explore too far, especially early. A minimal wraparound or boundary feedback could help, unless the intent is to embrace loss or dissociation through movement
The interaction mechanic (color changes on contact) is readable and functions as expected. Still, some visual or audio cue would greatly reinforce the feedback loop — currently, it lacks any gamefeel, which weakens the impact of interaction
You could consider camera shake, color pulse, or a subtle sound when an interaction occurs to create stronger emphasis without adding complexity. Similarly, the final color flow sequence is visually hypnotic, and could be enhanced with minimal audio feedback or subtle movement to make the moment feel more “earned” or immersive

🎧 Audio & Feedback

There’s no sound design at all — no music, no SFX. While this silence may serve the philosophical tone of the game, even a minimal ambient background or few abstract sounds (like a "hum" when moving, or a soft chime when touching black points) would enhance immersion
The absence of sound also leaves the player without sensory confirmation — something that matters more when the visual world is reduced to basics. It doesn’t need a full soundtrack, but one or two sounds would add depth

🧠 Conceptual Thoughts

The game is rich in interpretation. From the very beginning, I had the sense that I was meant to experience, not solve. The moment I reached the color-shifting phase, I found myself asking philosophical questions — Was this the end? Did others see the same? Was the blue hue unique to me, or shared?
That moment of introspection is powerful. Really.
This tells me the game works. It provokes thought and disorients — not by confusion, but by design

✅ Final Suggestions

- Consider adding a minimal form of gamefeel: either visual (camera shake, pulse), auditory (SFX), or both
- Add soft screen boundaries or feedback to prevent the player from disappearing off-screen permanently
- Keep the lack of instructions, but maybe include a soft “meta” hint, like the dedication line, to suggest this is more of a journey than a system
- Even a single ambient layer of audio would elevate the atmosphere without diluting its minimalism
- Consider how you want the end sequence to be received — and whether reinforcing it with audiovisual elements would serve your message

🧾 Final Note

Inoculation is a bold piece. Whether or not you decide to evolve it into something more "complex", it already achieves something many bigger games don’t: it makes the player think and feel (At least it was for me).

Thank you Nmodern for this !

– ArcaTsu Freelance Game QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/arcatsu?public_mode=true

Hey, thank you so much for your kind words !

It was a pleasure testing PROXY — you've done a great job, especially considering it's a learning project. Glad to hear you'll be able to fix the interaction key bug quickly ! Take your time with the rest — game dev is a marathon, not a sprint ;)

Thank you so much, that truly means a lot.

I really enjoyed the experience you’ve built in CHAR.CHAR. The atmosphere, pacing, and subtle narrative all come together beautifully. You clearly have a strong artistic vision, and I’m excited to see how it evolves !

🎮 QA Report – PROXY

Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester

🧑‍💼 About Me

Hi! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX/controls review, and bug reporting with a focus on clarity and polish. I tested PROXY (browser version) and compiled the following feedback to help you spot issues and improve the player experience.

You’ve done an impressive job as a new developer using Pygame — the atmosphere is charming, and your effort shows. Below is my detailed report to help you learn and push the project further if you choose to revisit it.

🧪 General Observations

- The game runs and loads properly in browser, though save/load is not functional, as expected (and correctly communicated in the game description)
- Story and atmosphere are simple but effective, especially for a learning project
- The mission system (X) works, and the dialogue interaction (Z) is functional in most cases
- Multiple endings based on choices

🧭 Controls & Input Feedback

- Interaction key is W, which is inconsistent with the description and unintuitive for most players (expected Z)
- Dialogue choices correctly use Z, and W has no effect here
- Holding multiple movement keys simultaneously increases the animation speed, which feels unintentional and unrealistic

Suggestion: stick to W/X/Arrow keys consistently for all actions, and unify input handling.

📋 UI & Menu Behavior

- Load Game always starts a new game, even if no previous session was launched.
- Load Game is placed below New Game, which is non-conventional and a bit confusing for players.
- "EXIT" immediately closes the game – this is functional but maybe abrupt without a confirmation screen.

🧱 Progression & Game-Breaking Bugs

- Critical bug: During interaction with the queen:
         - If the player chooses "Don’t help" → "Don’t change mind" → then "Change mind",
         - The dialogue breaks, and the player can no longer interact with the queen, causing a softlock (progression blocked)
- Revisiting this interaction logic and testing branching options would help prevent logic dead-ends

🧱 Map & Collision Issues

- In the bottom of the map, the rightmost wall lacks collision
          - If the player keeps walking right from the previous tile, they can walk and go to the tile on the right and get into the wall and get stuck with no way to escape
Suggestion: review and reinforce collision layers in edge tiles

🔇 Audio Feedback

- Music is present and sets a basic tone
- No SFX are implemented (e.g., footsteps, interactions, UI sounds)
Suggestion: even minimal sound cues can significantly improve player feedback and immersion

✅ Summary of Issues & Suggestions

- Controls: W used for interaction instead of Z (confusing)
- Menu Behavior: Load Game always starts a new session
- Progression; Queen interaction can softlock the player
- Animation: Movement animation speeds up when pressing multiple directions
- Collision: Tile bug on bottom-right of the map causes player to get stuck
- Audio: No sound effects – only music present

Feel free to reach out if you want further feedback or support!

– ArcaTsu Freelance QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/arcatsu?public_mode=true

🧩 QA Report – CHAR.CHAR (v0.5)

Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester

🧑‍💼 About Me

Hi! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX feedback, and atmosphere/immersion review, especially for projects with strong narrative or visual identity. I played CHAR.CHAR (WebGL version) for ~30 minutes, focusing on the early gameplay and the Heaven map, and here is my structured feedback

🧪 General Impressions

- Excellent immersion from the very start – The intro strongly evokes the feeling of booting a mysterious machine or OS, which immediately builds atmosphere
- Visual and narrative tone is very effective – The surreal, oppressive feeling works well and creates a real sense of mystery and subtle discomfort, which seems intentional
- ZQSD / WASD adaptation works automatically, which is great for international players (tested on AZERTY)
- No game-breaking bugs encountered during my session. The build is stable overall, and the world transition system seems consistent

🖱️ Mouse Handling Issues

- Mouse is not centered or hidden – Upon entering the game (WebGL), the mouse remains visible and off-center
- However, once entering an actual level (e.g. Heaven), clicking inside recenters and hides the mouse, which works well
- On each new area load, the mouse loses focus – requires clicking again to center/hide the cursor
- After interacting with certain objects (that trigger a UI popup), the cursor reappears, until the player clicks again to re-engage the game window

Suggestion: Automate cursor recentering and hiding on each map transition and after UI events, without requiring a click

🌍 Level & Atmosphere Feedback

- I tested the beginning + Heaven map. I fully completed the left side of the map but was unable to solve or access the right side – possibly due to puzzle difficulty (not necessarily a bug)
- The sense of being lost, observed, or manipulated is strong and well-executed. The game clearly plays with the player’s perception, and it succeeds in doing so without resorting to cliché horror elements
- The atmosphere and tone are consistent and well-controlled, supported by solid visual design and pacing

🚨 Technical Stability

- The game runs stably in WebGL, with no crashes, freezes, or broken transitions
- I did not encounter major bugs during my test. Some edge cases may still exist deeper in the game, but the tested portions were clean

✅ Strengths

- Great atmosphere, immersive intro
- Smart visual tone and storytelling
- Responsive controls (incl. layout auto-adapt)
- No major bugs
- Intriguing level design

🛠️ Suggestions for Improvement

- Automate cursor recentering/hiding at each map transition
- Fix cursor behavior after UI popups / object interaction
- Consider hiding the cursor at game start to maintain immersion

Let me know if you'd like a deeper QA pass or a full UX breakdown across all maps. Your project has great potential – I’d love to see it evolve further!

– ArcaTsu Freelance QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/arcatsu?public_mode=true

🎮 QA Report – Zahav

Playtest & Feedback by ArcaTsu – Freelance Game QA Tester

🧑‍💼 About Me

Hi ! I’m ArcaTsu, a freelance QA Tester currently working in the video game industry. I specialize in manual testing, UX feedback, and bug reporting, with a focus on player experience and game polish. I tested your game “Zahav” and compiled the following structured report to help you improve clarity, balance, and functionality.

🧪 General Observations

- No sound design present – The lack of audio feedback greatly reduces the feel and impact of actions, which is especially important in an arcade/soulslike game
- Gameplay loop feels unbalanced – The boss appears too soon, before the player has a chance to engage properly with regular enemies
- Score system is not functional – Score remains locked at 9999 throughout the session
- Only one item spawns, and it appears at the very start. It can be picked up immediately, but no respawn occurs later

🕹️ Controls & Input Issues

- No ZQSD support – Keyboard controls are locked to WASD, which is not adapted for AZERTY users
- Shield movement is inconsistent – While holding the shield (Right Click), movement only works using Arrow Keys, not with WASD
- Pause Menu is misleading – Pressing P slows down the game but does not pause it entirely. You can still take damage and die during pause
- Death during Pause causes bugs:
          - Giant zoom-in on the screen
          - Mouse cursor is offset
          - Pause menu visuals are broken

🩸 Combat Feedback & Health System

- Hit registration feels unreliable:
          - Player must be at a very specific range to hit enemies. Too close or too far = no damage
          - Projectiles suffer the same issue – unclear range, weird hitbox behavior
- No enemy health bar – This makes enemies feel invincible, and removes any sense of feedback or progression
- Player health bar is hard to read:
          - Located on the right edge of the screen
          - It should be more central or above the player to be readable during action
- Combat damage feels inconsistent:
          - Enemy sword hits do ~1/6 damage per hit
          - But player dies suddenly when they appear to have ~2/6 health remaining

🔄 Bugs & Technical Issues

- Controls screen disappears too fast during the initial loading phase – not enough time to read
- Post-death movement bug – Player can move for a brief moment after dying, before the game restarts
- Mage projectile persists indefinitely unless it hits something – may be intended, but creates clutter and stress if not purposeful

✅ Suggestions & Improvements

- Add basic sound feedback: footsteps, hits, UI sounds, etc
- Rework the pause system to truly freeze gameplay
- Implement enemy HP bars, even minimal ones
- Move the player HP bar to a more visible location
- Add controller support or ZQSD detection based on locale
- Review hitbox/hurtbox logic to ensure melee and projectile combat is reliable
- Balance early gameplay flow: delay boss spawn and add more item spawns over time

Let me know if you'd like a more in-depth report. Good luck with the project – the concept has strong potential !

– ArcaTsu Freelance QA – Available on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/arcatsu?public_mode=true