Meet Míša

1) Hi, Míša. Please tell us a bit about yourself...

Hi! I'm Míša and I work as a QA lead on the project Ylands. You can meet me in the Prague River office on the 3rd floor. I was born in Prague and I also studied here. After school I tried various jobs but nothing fulfilled my desire to work in a creative environment. I always loved video games but didn't have any experience with testing. So when I found out that Bohemia Interactive was hiring new testers, I didn't have much hope, but decided to give it a try. And it worked out! I started to work here in 2015 and went through many projects as a tester (DayZ, Arma III, Ylands) always learning new things. Finally, in 2018 I started to work as a full-timer on Ylands.

2) What do you do as a QA Lead? What does your usual day look like?

As a QA lead I'm responsible for our QA team on Ylands. I keep track of all the things that need to be tested and make sure they're tested in time. I communicate with our producer, community manager, designers, artists, programmers, other leads, publishing QA and Thailand testers. Sometimes I organize focus tests or some bigger tests outside of our team.

3) What do you think are the most important skills/traits for someone in your position to have?

You definitely need to have a good dose of responsibility and organizational skills, as well as nerves of steel (especially before a release). This should definitely be done by a person who isn't afraid of communication, and of course, it's important to have experience with testing on a given project.

4) What do you enjoy about your job, and game development in general?

I really like working with people and organizing in general. I'm a very outgoing person so management is really something that I enjoy doing. I love to be a part of something creative and fun. Game development is a dream job and we have an amazing team on Ylands. The fact that we can have some influence on how our game will look and what features it will bring in the future is great and I'm glad that I can be a part of this creative process.

5) What has been your most memorable moment at Bohemia Interactive so far?

This is maybe a common answer but I will say that the Teambuilding Bootcamp we had last year - especially the tank ride! And also the 20 years of Bohemia Interactive celebration in Obecní dům.

6) When did you become a fan of the fantasy genre?

From the time I was small and my mother read The Lord of the Rings to me. It was something that shaped my view of the world. It taught me to honor truth, loyalty, friendship, and to always try to be the best version of myself even when sometimes it's not easy.

7) What got you into cosplaying?

My love for cosplay was ignited at the first Blavicon (Witcher-themed event) that I attended. Also, I always wanted to learn how to sew clothing and cosplay is a really great and fun way to start. You're forced to learn various techniques from historical sewing to mold casting, leatherworking, and foam armor making. It consumes a lot of time and money but it's a really rewarding feeling to complete a costume from scratch and be able to feel like your favorite character from a book or game for one day.

8) What's your favorite movie, TV show, and/or book?

My most beloved movie trilogy is Lord of the Rings. It even forced me to buy a new 4K TV and blu-ray player when they released it in 4K last year When it comes to TV shows I really like Red Dwarf, The IT Crowd, Black Books and Outlander (mostly because of the costumes). My favorite book is Silmarillion.

9) And your go-to music playlist is...?

Right now I really enjoy listening to Scandroid and synthwave music in general. I also often return to my roots which are post-punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, gothic rock and industrial music. My favorite band of all time is Nine Inch Nails. But as a big fantasy lover I also enjoy game and movie soundtracks and some medieval tavern music.

10) Cats or dogs?

I'm a proud mother/slave of 3 cats and I love them. But I also adore dogs!

11) Can you tell us a random fact about yourself?

I sing, play guitar, flute and right now I'm learning how to play the rebec (a medieval instrument that you can hear in some tracks in the Witcher 3 soundtrack). But I'm a really shy person when it comes to music and I don't like to play in front of other people, so for me, it's always something that helps me to relax a little when I'm alone.

12) What was your first positive interaction with video games that you can remember?

When I was small my mother started to work in an IT company as a designer and they had computers there! Her colleague was so kind and installed The Neverhood for me on one of those computers. And that was the moment I fell in love with gaming. 

13) And your most memorable video game moment?

When we were unable to kill one boss in Lord of the Rings online with my friends and we tried over and over again for about 3 hours straight. When we finally managed to kill him it was the most amazing and rewarding feeling!

14) What's your all-time favorite video game? And what sort of games do you like to play generally?

I love The Lord of the Rings online. I spent many hours and days playing that game. It's really fun and a great experience to play it with other friends in our fellowship (we roleplay a lot). I also enjoy other MMORPGs - spent a large amount of my youth playing WoW.

I also love Witcher 3! I'm always thinking that it would be nice to be able to erase my memory of that game so I can play and live through it again. 

15) Who's your all-time favorite video game character, and why?

I love Yennefer of Vengerberg. I know she's not a playable character but I really love her personality, cleverness, and grace, and I really think that she is a great companion for Geralt and his only true love (sorry Triss fans). If we're talking here about playable video game characters that would be Geralt of Rivia.

16) Is there anything else you're currently working on in your spare time?

I'm finishing my Morrigan (Dragon Age) cosplay and working on base game Yennefer's black and white outfit. Also sewing Geralt's cat school trousers for my beloved. I have a lot to do to finish all of this in time for this year's Blavicon.