How Does One Become a Game Tester? 51
Rick the Red asks: "This is similar to other stories about game development. I'm a software tester, and I just saw this job posting: 'Jobs just do NOT get any better than this! We have multiple openings at one of the world's most successful software companies for experienced game testers of varying skill levels! Platforms and tools are not important. If you love video games and have at least 6 months experience you CANNOT miss this awesome opportunity!' OK, I'm an experienced software tester, and I have video game experience of varying skill levels, but I have zero professional game tester experience. Damn! So, how does one get experience if the jobs all require experience? I know, it's the age-old question, but are there any game-testing-specific answers?"
I did some game testing for a few months... (Score:2)
-Derek
some things are too good to be true (Score:2)
Platforms and tools are not important. If you love video games and have at least 6 months experience you CANNOT miss this awesome opportunity!
Gee, 6 months to 5 years, that's quite the discrepancy. "Tools not important". I find the scattering of words like "awesome" and "hottest" pretty entertaining. With those strict requirements, I bet it pays a pretty low wage.
I'd be suspicious of this job: some things are too good to be t
I write games for a living. (Score:3, Informative)
Seriously, though. It's one of those positions where the best thing you can do is find a friend who's already connected with the company, however remotely. You need good written English skills, to be able to play through a few well-known games and talk about them, and sometimes you'll need to pass a drug test. If you've got those three covered, you just need to know somebody (anybody!) or be in the right place at the right time. No other magic required.
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:2)
[mode person=gametester_from_hell]
Well.. I HATE your current game. And I'm going to keep bothering you until I have no reason anymore to think why it sucks. Oh, and there's that annoying bug in that scene that has a
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:2)
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:2)
It seems that games and application development have their parralels :)
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:2)
One logic might be that people with uncontrollable needs may be more likely to steal. In the case of a game company, secrecy can be a significant competitive necessity.
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:1)
Really it's a bunch of bull and people should be evaulated by their individual performance, but we don't live in that world.
Re:I write games for a living. (Score:2)
Oh no! I don't want to have to start taking drugs to get a game tester job! Guess I'll have to pick something else.
Beware! Headhunters! (Score:2)
Sounds to me
Re:Beware! Headhunters! (Score:2)
True. Or the
Re:Beware! Headhunters! (Score:2)
Actually it doesn't matter if the job exists. The big danger with most recruiting firms is that they spam every company with every resume they can get their hands on. Which means you're likely to get multiple submission to a given company, ruining your chances for any job with that company.
Of course. an obviously fictitious job is a strong indicator that the headhunter pulls crap like that. But it can happen even if t
Re:Beware! Headhunters! (Score:2)
I don't have a slang dictionary from 20 years ago to look it up in but that was how it was explained to me. Since you have been 'in the industry' for a long time could you tell me the origin of the term? And is there another term currently in use to describe an recruiter who contacts executives and profess
The Dictionary Fallacy (Score:2)
As with all slang, "headhunter" is used informally by loosely affiliated groups of people. Different
Re:The Dictionary Fallacy (Score:2)
That is true for slang... only because it is slang. But to extend your reasoning to the entire Eng
people I know inside. (Score:2)
Re:people I know inside. (Score:1)
There are plenty of games that don't require exp.. (Score:1)
Re:There are plenty of games that don't require ex (Score:2)
QA folk have to mercilessly replay every nook & cranny of the game looking for buggies. Worse yet, when found the next step: Play the buggy area over & over until you can provide a "recipie" for recreating the bug.
Hmmm (Score:2)
And yes, people pull crap like this all the time.
What people get away with (Score:2)
Re:What people get away with (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm (Score:2)
Simple steps to game testing (Score:3, Funny)
Step 2: Bend WAY over
Step 3: Bite down on something sturdy
Step 4: Squeeze your eyes shut
Congrads! You're now a game tester!
Seriously. Actually talk to someone that's DONE it. Never, ever take a job like that is you actually enjoy playing games as it will kill your love for them forever. Perhaps it would make a good cure for a game addict, however...
Get ready for low pay and long hours (Score:1)
Game programming (software development) is where the good pay is at for the same hours.
Three steps (no Profit Joke) (Score:2)
2. As it becomes popular (this might take several years)--you will become a blip on the game companies' radar.
3. Remember to rip/praise the game on your website.
Write your own video game (Score:1)
To get your 6 months experience, do like I have been doing since late 1997. I have written my own video games [pineight.com], acting as lead coder and lead tester.
It is not hard to become a game tester... (Score:1)
Insider's opinion. (Score:1, Interesting)
(1) Developer QA teams - in-house at the company making the game. Often in the same building, maybe just the next cubicals over from the development team. Mostly makes sure the game is fun and that the design worked.
(2) Publisher QA teams - A
Are you sure you want to be a tester? (Score:3, Insightful)
1. lock yourself up in the broomcloset until the urge to become a game tester subsides. If that doesn't help:
2. run into a wall several times until the urge to become a game tester subsides. Oh, you're still game for the job? Well:
3. have your dog sick you in the genitals until the urge subsides. Hmm you don't have a dog huh? Oh well...
If you can stand that, _AND_ still want to be a game tester, you might be the right man/woman for the job.
Seriously, being a game tester will totally _spoil_ the games you are testing for yourself. You have to HATE the game to find the smalles bugs in it. The game is done when there's no reason for the game testers to hate it anymore. Oh, and when they can stand playing it several _more_ times.
It's not at all a glamorous job, and the beginning stages of development of a game is usually painful (for you, blech, lotsa bugreports). pre-pre-pre-alpha-tests are not end-user quality.
You have been warned :)
Re:Are you sure you want to be a tester? (Score:2)
Well, not necessarily. When I was coding pinball machines we had one hardcore tester. Loved pinball, and loved finding bugs in the games. What's more, he could reproduce those bugs when someone else was watching!
You don;t need to be a perfect match (Score:1)
You don't. They just give an indication of the sort of skills the company is looking for. You say you have software test experience. That's great! You say you love playing games. That's great! You have qualities that are clearly relevent, and can obviously be presented in a way that show that you are suitable for this career.
The games industry (Score:2)
just do NOT get any better than this! We have multiple openings at one of the world's most successful software companies for experienced game testers of varying skill levels! Platforms and tools are not important. If you love video games and have at least 6 months experience you CANNOT miss this awesome opportunity!
OK, the idea that you will get paid to play games is misleading. This is not gameplaying for fun. This is running throu
Easy experience (Score:1)
Three words: Lie on Resume
During College I had about 2 years of "play-testing" NCAA Football on the PS2, with multiple bug reports and cheats the computer exploited.
Being a Game Tester (Score:1)
"They put you in a room full of broken toys. As each toy gets fixed, they take it away from you and replace it with another broken toy."
But seriously - getting a game tester job is a common way into the games industry, especially if you are short on experience. It's long hours and a lot of work, but if you're really wanting to make games for a living it's a way in.
I don't require experience.. (Score:2)
But at least you're not stuck play-testing "Elevator Tycoon: The Revenge" for 8 hour stretches.
Voice Of Experience. (Score:3, Interesting)
I was a game tester for Sony Computer Entertainment of America (989 Studios). My work credits included Crash Bandicoot Warped, Spyro the Dragon, Medevil, and Syphon Filter, among endless counts of PlayStation Underground and Pack-In disks.
Being a game tester is a great job if you are single, or if you have no bills, or if you have no ambition to be financially successful. We got paid $10.00 an hour (in the San Francisco Bay Area, that amounts to jack and squat), and we worked anything between 40 and 80 hours a week. If we did not like the hours, or the work, or the way we were treated, tough luck, because there were a hundred people waiting at the door to take our place.
I got in because I knew someone on the inside who put my name on the top. This was how most people who worked there got their jobs. I had an interview, in which I was advised by my insider friend not to wear a "Dope" t-shirt like the previous candidate. The interview was simple, so I thought until I worked there for a while.
I had the pleasure of working with some of the most unbelievable human beings on the planet. You prolly think I mean that in a good way. But between the guy who fell asleep at his console every day, the guy with mysterious scalp problems, the racist, the interestingly unstable 'nam vet, the people who could not find their asses with both hands and a map, and of course, the guy whose young life was forever changed (arguably ruined) by a 6 year old who had beat him at Street Fighter 8 years earlier (he dedicated his life to being the best Street Fighter player there was. He was a ranked California champion - do they have such things???) - well, these people were unbeleivable. Not that they were all insane. I met some great people, and have some very fond memories of that time.
We had a bomb threat my very first day. One day, someone fired a shot through one of the windows at us.
Now, most people have said "For the love of god, don't do it!" I think I can temper my response somewhat. It's a fun job that has it's down times. People think it's all about playing. Sometimes it is. Sometimes, you spend the day plugging in every joystick you have in the house and pressing X-O-UP rapidly because someone yesterday got it to crash that way but they don't remember which controller it was. Sometimes you get to see games pre-alpha before the world. Sometimes you spend a whole weekend with nothing to test other than a PSU disk with nothing but video. Sometimes you test games like Jersey Devil, which make the bile raise up to your throat every time you see the damn main character. And then sometimes, you play through a game so much, that by the time it comes out on the market, you can visit a friend's house and kick their arse without looking.
To sum up - you get in by knowing someone (or getting very lucky). You stay in by enduring the sweatshop mentality and living with the crazies. And if you hang in there for a long time, put in your due, get a sharp head about you, you might just land the coveted Perm Tester position and the 36k yearly that comes with it.
Re:Voice Of Experience. (Score:2)
$36K...gee, if I didn't have to relocate, that would be good (more than I make now.) But since nobody but me lives here (not true, but it sometimes feels like it) I'd be doomed. For all the abuse, that $10 and hour just ain't worth it--and I know what I'm talking about, 'cuz I was telemarketer for 2 years..and I'm still filled w
Work for free (Score:2)
The risk to the company is that you'll tell people about their game, or that you'll quit quickly, so you'll have to convince them otherwise somehow.
When the game is finished, you'll have a game on your resume and if the company likes you, you might have a job.
(And when you find bugs, say something like "I was in this awesome firefight which lo
Re:Work for free (yes, this is an Advertisement) (Score:1)
These are unpaid internships, but if you turn out to be someone who isn't a total jerk, we would be more than happy to write you letters of recommendation and if you are a real asset to the company even hire you on ourselves.
S
I wouldn't.... (Score:1)
Re:I wouldn't.... (Score:2)
The sad reality is that a lot of game testers are really lacking in the professional skills they need to leave Test; if you have previous experience as a tester, you should be a
[ANGRY POST] (Score:1)
Re:[ANGRY POST] (Score:1)
RESOLUTION: Bug closed. Software works as designed.
*rimshot*
(On a more serious note, if you haven't heard of Galactic Civilizations [galciv.com], check it out. Good stuff.)
The Mother Ship (Score:2)
Don't listen to the complainers (Score:2)
The best thing to do if you are having trouble getting in, is to beta test as much as possible, and put that on your resume. Keep your resume concise and to the point, showing efficient literacy. And let them know how much yo
So obvious... (Score:1)