Max Payne 2
← Back to Work
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne logo beside black-and-white art of Max and Mona holding pistols
Role QA Support
Studio Rockstar Games
Period Sept 2003
Platform PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2

Max Payne 2

Third-person shooter. My first role at Rockstar.

I worked as development support during the finalization of Max Payne 2, hunting down and writing up bug reports.

01What I owned

Max Payne 2 was my introduction to Rockstar Games. Coming from film and animation, I wanted to get into the games industry and QA was my way in.

  • Hunted down and wrote up bug reports during the finalization of the game
  • Tested the console versions, running through each version in multiple languages
  • Filed and tracked bugs through the development process

02The console versions

We had to run through all different versions of the game in multiple languages. The PS2 version was particularly rough and many compromises had to be made to get it running on that platform.

The same hospital corridor shot of Max side by side on PS2 and Xbox at 640x480, Xbox 360 at 1280x720 and Windows at 1920x1080
A later side-by-side comparison of the same scene on PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Windows.

03What I learned

This was a brief but formative role where I learned the fundamentals of game testing and bug reporting. It gave me insight into how AAA games are polished and shipped. Working on Max Payne 2's console versions taught me the importance of attention to detail and thorough testing, skills that would serve me throughout my design career.

More importantly, it was the start of my journey at Rockstar, leading directly to becoming a game designer on Bully.

Skills Applied

QA Testing Bug Reporting Console Development Localization Testing Attention to Detail