ABOUT ME

WHO I AM

I'm Alana Antón, a Gameplay Experience QA tester, structured playtester and native Castilian Spanish LQA specialist based in Spain.

I approach games from two perspectives at the same time: as a player who wants to understand and enjoy the experience, and as a tester who naturally starts asking questions about how that experience works.

I'm particularly interested in understanding what happens between the game and the person playing it — what the player notices, what they understand, what they miss, what they experiment with and what makes them want to keep playing.

MY GAMING HISTORY

My relationship with games started very early.

When I was around two years old, I began playing with my older brother, who was four at the time. One of our first gaming experiences was on an Amstrad CPC 464, followed later by the NES.

Those were my first steps into gaming — long before I ever thought of games as something I could analyse professionally. XD

Growing up playing games across different genres gave me a natural curiosity about how they work, how they communicate with the player and what makes an experience memorable.

Over the years, that curiosity became part of the way I play. I don't just want to know what happens when I follow the intended path. I want to know what happens when I experiment, take a different approach, interact with something unexpected or simply try something that probably wasn't supposed to work.

That same curiosity is now one of the foundations of how I approach Gameplay Experience QA.

HOW I BECAME A TESTER

My interest in game testing grew naturally from the way I play games.

I have always been the kind of player who explores things simply to see what happens. Strange doors, unusual areas, unexpected interactions and systems that look like they might not work the way I expect are difficult for me to ignore.

That curiosity eventually became a professional skill. Instead of simply wondering what happens, I started documenting it, analysing why it happens and considering how it affects the player experience.

This is one of the reasons Gameplay Experience QA feels like a natural fit for me.

WHAT I BRING TO A PLAYTEST

• Curiosity about how systems behave
• A strong focus on the real player experience
• Attention to gameplay clarity and communication
• Willingness to explore beyond the intended path
• Experience identifying player friction and confusion
• Ability to connect observations into broader patterns
• Clear and structured written feedback
• Actionable recommendations for developers
• Technical bug observations when they naturally arise
• Native Castilian Spanish linguistic perspective

PLAYER FIRST

One of the things I value most in testing is understanding the difference between something being technically functional and something actually working well for the player.

A mechanic can function exactly as designed while still being difficult to understand. A tutorial can contain all the necessary information while still failing to teach the player. A UI element can technically work while being difficult to find.

These are the kinds of situations I enjoy investigating.

GENRES I ENJOY

I enjoy a wide variety of games, but I'm particularly drawn to experiences where systems, atmosphere, exploration or player decision-making play an important role.

• RPG & Action RPG
• Soulslikes
• Horror & Psychological Horror
• Narrative Adventures
• Strategy & Tower Defense
• Simulation & Management
• Roguelites & Systems-Driven Games
• Survival Games
• Point-and-Click & Puzzle Games
• MMORPGs

CURIOUS ABOUT SYSTEMS

Systems-heavy games are particularly interesting to me because they create opportunities for unexpected player behaviour.

Economy, progression, builds, resources, combat interactions, AI behaviour and interconnected mechanics can produce situations that developers may not necessarily anticipate.

I enjoy finding those moments and understanding whether they are interesting emergent behaviour, a useful discovery, an unintended exploit or simply something that needs attention.

WORKING WITH DEVELOPERS

My goal is not to tell developers that something is simply “bad”.

I try to explain what I experienced, why I think it happened, how it affected the player and, when appropriate, what could potentially improve the situation.

I believe the most useful QA feedback is specific, respectful and actionable while still being honest about the experience.

EXPERIENCE

I have contributed to indie game projects across a range of genres through Gameplay Experience QA, structured playtesting and Castilian Spanish LQA.

My work has included gameplay analysis, onboarding evaluation, difficulty and progression testing, UX observations, narrative and puzzle testing, emergent behaviour, technical observations and contextual localization review.

I am currently credited on 22 game projects.

You can see the complete list of credited projects here:

VIEW CREDITED PROJECTS →

ALWAYS LEARNING

Every game presents different questions, and I enjoy adapting my testing approach to the project rather than treating every playtest the same way.

Whether I'm testing a complex gameplay system, investigating an unusual interaction, analysing a narrative experience or reviewing a Spanish localization in context, I'm always looking for the same thing:

WHAT DOES THE PLAYER EXPERIENCE?