Microsoft Bingo

Microsoft Bingo is part of the Microsoft Casual Games Suite, a set of games for Windows 8 in the vein of classic Windows pack-in games like Minesweeper and Solitaire. Online connectivity was an essential part of Microsoft Bingo's free-to-play design, with game servers calling bingo numbers in multiplayer lobbies, validating player bingos, and managing micro-transactions. In the wake of a string of difficult launches for online-only titles (such as Diablo III and Sim City), I was tasked with verifying that the game's servers could gracefully handle the expected number of players (and more).

To perform server load and stress tests on the Bingo servers, I developed an test automation suite that simulated gameplay calls for hundreds of concurrent players. This test suite was used to validate new server builds before deployment, as well as for day-to-day testing by the dev team. Tools and technologies used in this project included the Visual Studio Unit Test framework, Microsoft Azure, SignalR, Team Foundation Server, and C#.

I also assisted the production and development team in debugging server failures in production. Because of my experience gained from testing server builds, I was able to help identify the issues causing problems for players and get a patch rolled out more quickly.