QD & ME – MARIE MOINET – DTE Associate Lead

Quantic Dream: Please introduce yourself! What’s your name, where are you from, and what is your role at QD? 

Marie: My name is Marie Moinet and I’m a member of the Debug & Test Environment team, or simply DTE. I come from the South of France, where the cicadas sing, but after a long stay in the Netherlands I’ve lost my melodious Southern accent. As for my job, I’ve been a member of the DTE team for 5 years, and more precisely am Associate Lead since the beginning of 2021. 

QD: How did you come to work in the video games industry? Was it a lifelong dream, or did you luckily stumble into it? 

Marie: I wanted to be a volcanologist. Then an archaeologist. Then I told a high school teacher that I should go to business school and he laughed, so I ended up enrolling in a business computer science program (I don’t want to be in business computer science, actually), then game design (I don’t want to be a game designer, come to think of it). It’s not exactly a coincidence that I ended up in this industry, but it’s less a childhood dream than a series of successive trials and reorientations that have allowed me to find a place that suits me. The moral of the story is that there is no age limit for finding the job you like! 

QD: Let’s talk about your job at Quantic Dream! Could you elaborate more on your role, and the role of your team? 

Marie: The DTE is like the Night’s Watch of Quantic Dream: we protect the User realms against the armies of Bugs. From the wall, we watch the horizon, wrapped in our fur capes and… Okay, there are no furry capes! DTE is the team that tests the different software and technologies that the people who create the games use, so that they can work without (too) many problems. We also do support for the software users and the R&D coders, we provide candy, and we do lots of little tasks to make life easier for the other people at the studio.  

QD: Tell us more about the members of your team. Any fun story to share? 

Marie: The DTE has the particularity of being quite small, but also (and above all) very greedy: there are almost always biscuits, sweets, dried fruits or chocolates available, which makes it one of the best places to spend a few minutes during a break. As for anecdotes, I’ve collected a lot of them over the years, but I think my favourites are all the amazing ideas for films, series, manga and documentaries that come to us during tea breaks – my favourite being the one about the shônen anime kebab delivery! 

QD: Can you describe to us a typical day for you? Does a typical day even exist for you? 

Marie: I’m lucky enough to have absolutely no typical day; my schedule depends on the work of the coding teams, as I test all their creations. Every day brings new challenges (“How do I display a button again?”), new mysteries (“Who the hell broke this tool?”) and new adventures (“Does anyone still know how to use the Detroit: Become Human tools?”). I learn new things almost every week and that, for me, is the best part of my job. 

QD: What are your external inspirations that are reflected in your job? 

Marie: I like to name my test data in a… let’s say “extravagant” way, is certainly a reflection of my inspirations at the time. Unfortunately, the various sea hawks or Timothy Olyphant test data file names I produce will remain hidden from the world (but give a lot of laughs to the people who must fix the bugs in this data, so that’s something).   

QD: Be careful, BIG question… What are your favourite games? 

Marie: Ooh, that’s hard! So first there was Ratchet & Clank and Kya: Dark Lineage, which rocked my teenage years and which I replay from time to time on my little PlayStation 2, still going strong. These are games I could never forget and the ones that made me want to join the industry. Now my favourites are definitely Destiny which I’ve spent a totally outrageous number of hours on, Mass Effect which I replay about once a year, and Animal Crossing which has allowed me to indulge my passion for interior and exterior design, for some time now.  

QD: Tell us more about your hobbies outside of work. 

Marie: They are as diverse and numerous as the subjects I work on! I love all things crafty: I sew, I paint, I tinker, I’m interested in fashion and make-up, I own and maintain Mandalorian armour (I’m a member of the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club), I’ve tried to take up knitting (it’s been a failure) and I’m currently in a phase of passion for plants, to the point of setting up a small jungle at my office. In order not to become a total couch potato I also do French boxing and swimming, two sports I’m not very good at, but love anyway.  

QD: All right! What does your perfect Friday night look like? 

Marie: I’m on my sofa under my giant double-layered blanket, the window open to the blossoming trees around my house, my two cats on my lap and I’m watching a feel-good movie like Mamma Mia or Pacific Rim. Herbal tea is involved. Sometimes even a piece of chocolate. You could say I’m wild and rebellious, clearly. 

QD: Do you have a message for our readers? 

Marie: Take care of yourself, that’s what matters most! You are irreplaceable and no one will know what you need more than yourself so be your own biggest fan and your own best supporter. 

QD: Final question! Chocolate cake or Fruit pie? 

Marie: Apple pie, but the Dutch way! It takes raisins and a ton of cinnamon to make my heart and taste buds happy!