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For the Summer of 2025, I had the privilege of working as a contract play tester with a VR porting company named Wevr (pronounced "weaver").
Every session, we make detailed reports, retracing steps, and covering as many points that players could come across. Over time we learned to sort by suggestion, bug type, and significance, and as we replayed experiences repeatedly, we started to go into specifics after specifics - making sure the games they ship out will be both up to standard and enjoyable for all ages and types of VR players.
The titles I had the pleasure of playtesting:
Terracotta Warriors: Secrets of the First Emperor's Mausoleum - Soft launched at the original Terracotta Warriors site in Xi'an, China.
The Little Prince: A Call to Adventure - Set to release on site in (Hakone?) Japan, Paris, and Los Angeles.
The Blu (2) - Set to release on site in Taiwan. Previous release is currently in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.
That's a formal takeaway from my experience, but it was very much more than that to me than it should be.
This has to have been one of my most memorable summers ever.
It would be cheesy yet unfair to not mention the people I have had the pleasure to meet and work with. Shout out to:
Vu Tran - Multi-disciplinary artist, Fine arts @ CSULB - What a G!!! four weeks after the first playtest we went ghost hunting in the desert!!! The most chill lowkey guy who keeps his priorities straight.
Christopher Morales - VR and Computer science discipline with Motor Skill research experience - He's one of the only people I know who plays Fate/Grand Order JP for real! (He makes fun of me.)
Tyler Walker - Indie Game Designer with great wit and hidden smarts - sadly had to pay full price for a pickleball racket one time, and we all lamented his loss together. (He makes fun of me too.)
Jane Tilly - Full time Systems Engineer with 5,000 internship experiences (i lost count but number should be around there.) Very lowkey and listens to people's problems with grounding insight, comforting the experienced and inexperienced alike.
They and I make up a group chat called Five Nights at Wevr. It is 100% an inside joke just like our conversations in the chat.
I can only give so many shout outs but maybe after I share all the mock-ups and diagrams I did in my reports. Only recently have I slowed down making them as there was a screenshot / recording feature on the headsets I didn't know about. Please enjoy the scroll without context to them.
The first four are Canva and Medibang (my most recent ones from Sept. 26's playtest) while the rest are just Medibang.
If you made it this far, congrats! I will now shout out random people from Wevr.
Chris K. I like saying his full name. I don't know if he knows this, but he makes going to work fun. A lot of playtesters come to me and say that they're intimidated by him, but he has a really good stoic face that hides his wit. He's one of those people with a good heart and life experience - however, he is unforgivable because of the Event of 7/18. I think I tease and bully him back too much.
Madam Isabelle is one of the most approachable Wevr people as she does admin. It's just a small gesture but it's very kind that she asks me and the other play testers what we want for food and snacks. One day, I wanted to treat Wevr and crew with Spinach Empanadas from Porto's, and so I asked her if I could get them. She not only rejected that proposition, but she ended up getting it herself as well as buy from Porto's for playtests henceforth. oh shoot.
Madam Sopisey is actually intimidating to me and a lot of playtesters, but she is easy to get along once she does have that free time. In an interview, she and I kept making fun of Chris. In the last playtest, she and Chris were making fun of Isabelle. But in all, they make a very duty-oriented duo, and once the momentum is set, they will keep rolling with work until well past bedtime hours.
Sir Neville comes in sometimes with cool guests not limited to the legendary Amy Jupiter or representatives from HTC Vive. While he was checking in with us play testers, I accidentally slipped up and combined the name of two titles together. "The Little Emperor." Ever since then, whenever he and I were meeting up in the playtest, he would make references to "The Little Emperor." I am ashamed!!! I am sorry!!!
Sir Peter. I don't know. He is an absolutely normal man with respectable demeanor and discipline, and yet, I have stories that I cannot legally type here. You will have to either know me personally to get the tea or DM me.
He isn't even part of the main on-site Wevr crew. I witnessed him in the studio only 5 times. His existence has made me remember every single timestamp, workplace event, and playtest detail between 6/7 and 8/1, and I'm usually a forgetful person. I think I can write a history book of this period.
I was pretty depressed prior to 6/19, because all I could think about was my failures or regrets in my pathway/career progression. I was lost thinking about Queen's Botanical, my passion project capstone that pushed itself to a corner because of my ambition. I was one of the only officers in the club who only had the GDIM major and not another minor or major. I had no prior internship experience, and most of what I was passionate for did not have open positions. I kept comparing myself when I should be proud of what I've done or who I've become, but there was just not much to be proud. I know I can give my 110%, but every time I do, it backfires.
Summer break started on 6/14 for that school year, but I didn't feel that start of the summer until 6/27. I hope that every person will get to experience such a blessed moment of clarity and revitalization that I experienced just from a singular hello from this stranger. Extinguished my anguish. Literally turning frowns upside down. He is the reason why I did those Clay bread whales to put around work, those harmless workplace pranks, and those high effort diagrams and mockups. Because there is an unspoken aura about this man that just assures you that you will do just fine, and you will figure things out.
But he's the most intimidating person to me too, which is very conflicting. I am trying so hard not to be unfiltered and weird right now, so I will cut it off right here.
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