Videogames Tester

CCCP^

Oh hai...so, Videogames tester. The alleged dream job and final stage of enlightenment for all true Gamers. My Girlfriend got on to me just recently about this job that's come up with a company over here in British Columbia, Canada, doing games testing. I have to admit, it does sound very tempting. Not just the idea of playing games all day, but getting to test them out, seeing games before they come out, having an inside view of the development of a game and helping to shape a perfect product. So I was just wondering, has anyone done this or thought about this? Or is anyone doing it right now? What's it like?

If the chance came up tomorrow, would you do it?

RedXIV

Hey man, i did this last summer for a few months on the PC game World in Conflict and a little on the Xbox360 title timeshift. the work is handy enough but repetative. You will play the same game over and over again until they tell you to stop and i don't know if many people are able to say they "enjoy" this every day. i know after about 2 months it was starting to bore me.

But apart from that it can be quite interesting. i'm one of the limited few that knows that in World in Conflict, there was a cheat to get a foot soldier called Chuck Norris and delivered roundhouse kicks with damage equal to 3 direct nucular strikes. also, your average tank had 400Hp, chuck had 49,000,000Hp.
If playing games all day is your cup of tea, go for it. just don't expect stimulation all the time. and remember, you may end up testing barbie's dream stable just as equally the next AAA title

jonski

I was . as I am sure many others have been here , a beta tester for one of the many UT mods . Not the same as an official games tester job but I would imagine the idea is the same . You are encouraged to play the game but not concentrate on the actual game but on any bugs you find , either map bugs or game play bugs . So you would be reporting things like , the laser light does not show up on step 4 5 6 of stair case B but does on 1 2 3 7 8 9 .( I use this as an example because it was one of the bugs I found ) .

All in all it was pretty boring .

Silverfish

Well, there's a difference between 'games tester' and 'testing a beta game'.

Some testing is done by a team of people each being given one section of the game, i.e a certain room, and having to walk into that room 100 times from every possible angle to make sure there's no bugs, and write a report on it.

I'd imagine it would kill any love of gaming that was left in someone. Then again, its better than or as good as most jobs.

the_syco

Read an article about this a while back. You could be playing Battlefield 2 one week, and Barney and Friends next week, each time engrossing yourself into each game untill it's smooth and bug free.

Last year, IIRC, there was two companies in Dublin that did game testing, but you needed knowledge of programming, or ability to speak German to get a job there.

K.O.Kiki

I test an average of 7 ****e games before I get anything half-decent.

I know that atm there's 3 localisation (needs language skills usally) houses in Dublin -- Vivendi in East Park, Activision in town & Keywords in Sandyford. You can give it a lash but tbh it can be horribly boring at times.
Also it pays less than an equivalent office job (AFAIK)...

Royale with Cheese

Had a friend who did this for a summer, probably in the company the syco is talking about as he was testing the German version of a game.

Spent 3 months playing Crash bandicoot. Didn't play anything else. Seriously boring apparently, but then most jobs are.

satchmo

It depends where you work. On our team we have a small team of testers (lead QA + 5 testers) who all work closely with programmers & artists to get bugs resolved and sort out build stability. While a large part of their job does consist of playing the game repeatedly, and that might not be everyone's cup of tea, they are part of the team and get treated as such, and get to see a lot of the development cycle and get personally involved in it. I'd imagine in general it's more varied than a lot of other testing jobs.

However if you work as a tester for a big publisher, then chances are that you'll be part of a big shared QA team that is separated from the developers and only interact through bug tracking systems when a game goes alpha or beta. This is probably a bit more mundane, but if you're into games then I can see it being interesting just being a part of the process.

Creamy Goodness

i really couldn't see myself doing this.

you're playing games all day, the last thing i'd want to do when i get home would be to continue playing. whereas atm i have a programming job but can come home and play a game for an evening no problem.

i feel like you wouldn't be able to play the finished game after testing it, or if you could you'd fly through it as you know it pretty much already and with the current trend of games getting shorter you wouldn't be getting your money's worth.

steviec

I did testing for 9 months and it was probably the most enjoyable job I've had. The only reason I left in the end was the relatively poor wages and the fact my programming qualifications were going to waste.

I was lucky however to be working for probably one of the best developers in Europe, and being one of the initial team of 6 testers working very closely with the development team from quite an early stage in what was a massive project. Features were added to the game very frequently so it never got repetitive (the fact it was a multiplayer game helped too) and being the people with by far the most exposure to all parts of the game meant that tester's opinions were very much valued by the design team and we were able to give an input to how the game was shaped. And the best part, the feeling when the game was unveiled to the public, and reading so many extremely positive articles about videos that I was involved in making, really can't be beaten.

I've heard so many horror stories from other people in the industry though so it really does depend on who you work for. Make sure you work for a) a developer and not a publisher, and b) a developer who's known for producing great games and taking their time with them.

Irishtrekkie

I am in games testing been doing it for about a year, like the lads said its can get boring at times , but a hell of alot better then other jobs ,

i got into it cause i justed finished two years in college and got myself a Higher national diploma in games design and i am not studying for my computer sciene degree , i hope to be making games really but testing can be handy , well it depends some times they want alot of input and opinions , and if you know your programming all the better , or time they just want to you to play the 5 level 1000 times , anyway the money was good consider how easy the job is , but its not a career , most of the testers i know wanted to get into the industry , not just programmers , but others where just artist , are guys who loved games who think having exp on your c.v. helps , and i guess its does to be honest . but i was spending so much time on testing i was not working on my game development stuff like programming and modelling lol so thats not good .

and whats it like well , you have to be really into your games , plus you might get a game you hate ( oh how you hate it ) , oh and if you speak another langrauge that helps ,

CombatCow

Cremo wrote: »

i really couldn't see myself doing this.

i feel like you wouldn't be able to play the finished game after testing it, or if you could you'd fly through it as you know it pretty much already and with the current trend of games getting shorter you wouldn't be getting your money's worth.

Depends on the game but generally you'll get a free copy at the end of it neway....I played FEAR again at home after working on it. Think thats about the only one tho.

CC

K.O.Kiki

CombatCow wrote: »

Depends on the game but generally you'll get a free copy at the end of it neway....I played FEAR again at home after working on it. Think thats about the only one tho.

CC

Hello my fellow tester!

CCCP^

They contacted me back, and I'm waiting for them to send me a link to some website. I have to watch a video and try spot as many bugs as possible within 3 minutes, and then give an accurate description of the bugs and when I encountered them and why I think they happened! Woo!

CombatCow

Hello K.O.Kiki :pac:


Nice one, good luck with it.... throw in a few "graphical corruption" and "text truncation" keywords into your report

CC

CCCP^

They never sent it =/ must be all on the lock because it's Friday!

CCCP^

They sent me the link in the end, it was acutally pretty fun to do, I enjoyed it. There were alot of errors, to do with presentation and audio and the screens. They sent me a video of MVP Baseball 2004 by EA Sports

Tusky

I'm interested in getting a job as a games tester. I'm fluent in English. Can anyone point me in the right direction ?

S.I.R

i would, not questions asked.

Shiminay

Activision and PopCap have places here in Dublin where testing goes on afaik. Look at the Careers sections of their websites I'd say and have the aul CV ready to go.

Dont be at yourself

Does anywhere in Ireland do localisation from Japanese - English? I'm keeping my eye out for a job like that. I know Square-Enix are based in London, but it would be great to get even closer to home!

K.O.Kiki

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Does anywhere in Ireland do localisation from Japanese - English? I'm keeping my eye out for a job like that. I know Square-Enix are based in London, but it would be great to get even closer to home!

PM sent.

Attol

I speak Finnish but there don't seem to be too many localisation jobs in that around Dublin

I applied to the only one I found on Jobs.ie but found it like 2 days before the start date which is a shame.

Bubs101

I actually have an interview for one tommorow and they say that the language that I have (italian, but certainly not fluent Italian, haven't used it in 6 months) isn't necessary at all. I'd recommend that anybody who wants to do this should chance their arm on the jobs sites. Just hoping the interview goes decently

Sabre0001

May be of use: http://www.gamestester.com/

tHE vAGGABOND

If you are serious about getting into the games business you should move to the UK. There are developers all over the UK [You could go to Canada or USA too, but UK is just easier for us]. [Random Search - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs/search?category=35&location=2

I moved to London and was a QA Manager for a [then] independent games developer 7 or 8 years ago [back home now after doing that job for nigh on 5 years]. I had no QA experience, but they liked my other 'real world' experience and my generally games interest and knowledge.

One small point of note, at this level [and 90% of levels in the games industry] the wages are generally rubbish, you are working long hours for job satisfaction not to get rich [which for me is worth it - for others, not so much!]

Ross_Mahon

Kharn wrote: »

Activision and PopCap have places here in Dublin where testing goes on afaik. Look at the Careers sections of their websites I'd say and have the aul CV ready to go.

Where do i sign!?! :eek:

A-Trak

Tusky wrote: »

I'm interested in getting a job as a games tester. I'm fluent in English. Can anyone point me in the right direction ?

I've a friend working in an upcoming MMORPG if thats your bag, they're looking for testers.

PM sent

Tusky

A-Trak wrote: »

I've a friend working in an upcoming MMORPG if thats your bag, they're looking for testers.

PM sent

That would be much appreciated!

Ross_Mahon

I'm sure they can make room for another great worker

GET US A JOB! Please