GAMES TESTERS

unamused

Dose anyone know how you get into this field, my partner is a gaming nut who drives me crazy playing xbox 360, playstation 3 ,wii, and any other console he can get his hands on I've always thought he should go into games testing but we have no idea how you go about this any ideas?
he doesnt speak another language just english

chin_grin

Go nuts.

http://www.google.ie/search?q=games+testing+ireland&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Overheal

Colleague of mine in college got in with Activision because a) He was a Freak at Guitar Hero, and b) Competed at tournament level.

He had to sign into an NDA but we now know he got his hand at playing World Tour beta.

Cuddlesworth

In general not a ideal job. try a week bug testing Hello kitty Island Adventure and say it seems ideal.

rizzla

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

In general not a ideal job. try a week bug testing Hello kitty Island Adventure and say it seems ideal.

Exactly playing early builds of crap games and your job is to try and break them.

Although when I went to Napier in Edinburgh one of my mates got to do some bug testing for GTA 4. It was a part time contract and the game was nearly finished, they just needed some people to do some final QA.

As a full time job I can't say it would be that great. Probably put you off playing games as a hobby.

Genghiz Cohen

Try this.
Take any game.
Roll some dice to decide a level.
Roll some dice to decide a difficulty.

Play that level for the entire day, looking for ways to break it.

Then see if you want to do that for the next 6 months.

scudzilla

rizzla wrote: »

Exactly playing early builds of crap games and your job is to try and break them.

Although when I went to Napier in Edinburgh one of my mates got to do some bug testing for GTA 4. It was a part time contract and the game was nearly finished, they just needed some people to do some final QA.

As a full time job I can't say it would be that great. Probably put you off playing games as a hobby.

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Try this.
Take any game.
Roll some dice to decide a level.
Roll some dice to decide a difficulty.

Play that level for the entire day, looking for ways to break it.

Then see if you want to do that for the next 6 months.

What do you mean by Break them?? Find bugs or something?

Genghiz Cohen

scudzilla wrote: »

What do you mean by Break them?? Find bugs or something?

Yes.
Find holes in the levels, get where you shouldn't.
Try to find ways to get the game to act how it shouldn't.
Theses things can be very specific. Heard of one that was something like;
Turn 180° left
180° right
Pause
Unpause
Jump
Fire

Then the game breaks.

Retr0gamer

There's no better job to kill your love of gaming.

Soby

scudzilla wrote: »

What do you mean by Break them?? Find bugs or something?

No like getting a hammer and physically trying to break the game in as few whacks as possible

Helix

apparently the single most horrible job on the planet

anyone ive spoken to who did it said it was excruciating, and almost made them hate games

Silverfish

Maybe games reviewing would be better to consider than games tester.

Games testers generally do not get to sit down and play the game straight through and get paid, they get to sit there with one section of the game and play it over...and over...and over... trying every possible combination of movement and area and ....no, you'd go mad.

One person I know had a 'cool job' of testing <famous game> - their job was to walk into one room from every possible angle. And take notes. And do it over, and over, and over, in case on the 5th time, something triggered or didn't trigger.

I'd crack up.

Soby

Ye and if you did find a glitch you would have to restart the level/checkpoint and recreate the glitch..which would prob be next to impossible to half of them

Jazzy

wasnt Combat_Cow a games tester ?

dreamers75

tell him to get his lazy ass a job.


is this PI?

Reckoner91

Read this comic and see if you still want to do game testing.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/1/25/

CombatCow

Yeah I was a QA tester for over 7 years, getting back into it next month. It hasn't dulled my passion for gaming at home either... If anything it's made me appreciate/love games even more.

Soby wrote: »

Ye and if you did find a glitch you would have to restart the level/checkpoint and recreate the glitch..which would prob be next to impossible to half of them

Sure that's half the fun of testing

unamused

CombatCow wrote: »

Yeah I was a QA tester for over 7 years, getting back into it next month. It hasn't dulled my passion for gaming at home either... If anything it's made me appreciate/love games even more.



Sure that's half the fun of testing

i dont think it would alter his love of gaming either in fact he makes me play levels again and again and again until we get the max score or have covered every inch of the level and sometimes he makes me not want to play cause he goes on too much about having to get every minuet detail esp GTA drives me mental

but will pass on all the advice to him and he is looking at doing a course of some sort that will help him get into it easier as only experience he has at present is driving me mad playing up to 10 or 14 hours a day of everything and anything

also know this is cruel but if it did kill he passion would it really be that bad :rolleyes: hehehehehe

Lab_Mouse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's no better job to kill your love of gaming.

read an article years ago in pcgamer and it was an interview with a developer for some game(cant remember which)and he said he started off as a games tester and that he had a lucky break and got a chance to do some proper coding which led to where he was.If he hadnt got the break he would givin up p-rogramming and gaming as it showed a soul destroying side to it

CombatCow

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's no better job to kill your love of gaming.

I think you mean the love of the game, not gaming in general....:rolleyes:

Helix

Lab_Mouse wrote: »

read an article years ago in pcgamer and it was an interview with a developer for some game(cant remember which)and he said he started off as a games tester and that he had a lucky break and got a chance to do some proper coding which led to where he was.If he hadnt got the break he would givin up p-rogramming and gaming as it showed a soul destroying side to it

lots of programmers get into their preferred job that way

testing would mostly be for someone who wanted to get into another line of game development work, not so much for someone who just wants to play games

Sisko

Is it really that bad? Can't be wore then most jobs that sit you in front of a computer.

Helix

Sisko wrote: »

Is it really that bad? Can't be wore then most jobs that sit you in front of a computer.

youre repeatedly trying to do things the game isnt supposed to do

youre not trying to do the things the game IS supposed to do, like be fun

Sisko

Yeah I get that, again my question/point remains. I realise its not a job that pays you to 'play' video games , and I've had to spend hours bug testing stuff before , granted it was my own stuff.


I mean most jobs are shitty , this sounds a little less shitty. I'm talking about comparing it to your typical office IT - computer job , not comparing it to having fun at home gaming.

CombatCow

If you have to play a game you don't like it can be hard but yeah imo it's a lot less shítty then your bog standard IT job.

Kiith

I wouldnt do it myself. Playing a game to break the game just doesnt sound fun. Granted, my normal it support job isnt particularly fun, but i wouldnt want to hate playing games, as i quite like playing them.

Helix

i honestly think itd be one of the most mind numbingly tedius jobs of all time

couldnt do it

reviewing them is bad enough at times

hal9000

Its a quality control job....if you like repetition, documentaion and a testing matrix. go nuts!

docdolittle

Just seen this thread after I applied for a load of QA jobs in England :pac: They all seem to be pretty bad pay, but it'll nice to get my foot in and get my portfolio up to a professional standard before going for artist jobs

Sierra Oscar

When you have to start analysing a game as a professional game tester . . . lets just say it can be tedious.

All the same no doubt that it can be an opening into the industry!

satchmo

Not all testing jobs are created equal. We take on some in-house testers over the course of a project (towards the end of Prototype we ramped up to around 8 contract QA in addition to our fulltime QA lead ). While a large majority of their time was spent testing the game which can be very repetitious, a few of them were also given other jobs (tuning rumble, prop placement, scripting, asset creation etc). They also got to be part of the team for the better part of a year, got to work closely with designers, artists & programmers. This experience is quite different from working for a publisher's QA department, where the only interaction with a game team is through bug reporting software.

It is also definitely an opportunity to move further in the industry; I know one of them then continued on to a junior artist position, and another who's working now as a game designer.

Doodee

satchmo wrote: »

Not all testing jobs are created equal. We take on some in-house testers over the course of a project (towards the end of Prototype we ramped up to around 8 contract QA in addition to our fulltime QA lead ). While a large majority of their time was spent testing the game which can be very repetitious, a few of them were also given other jobs (tuning rumble, prop placement, scripting, asset creation etc). They also got to be part of the team for the better part of a year, got to work closely with designers, artists & programmers. This experience is quite different from working for a publisher's QA department, where the only interaction with a game team is through bug reporting software.

It is also definitely an opportunity to move further in the industry; I know one of them then continued on to a junior artist position, and another who's working now as a game designer.

Bingo.

Not all Q.A. positions are the same.
A large portion of game testing involves playing stuff over and over, but to say that it destroys your love of gaming is nonsense.
If anything game testing will give you more appreciation for properly developed games. You become more analytical and critical when you approach a game and just find faults easier.
I would also argue with people saying that it is very boring. I've been doing both development and porting testing and the latter can be boring at times but often it is down to the issues you have been assigned in reproducing.
If it's simple graphical truncations or text string stuff then yeah, it is not the best. However, when dev testing you can find some very interesting stuff. Often there is a great challenge in finding issues. You can often baffle the Engineers but also help them plug holes. No piece of software is 100% bug free, and to assume so is dangerous.

In Popcap we are given some extra duties apart from traditional consumer experience testing. We often get asked to help in the balancing, scoring, flowchart creation, UI mock-ups and other design and development stuff. One of the former Q.A. members from my team is now in the design team as a result.

I would not dismiss all Q.A. positions as being soul destroying but do be apprehensive towards the company you are applying for. Short Term contracts are often for the more monotonous work. If you are considering a long term Q.A. position then you would want to have some previous software testing experience under your belt. A love for gaming and it's development are also essential. Try and go for a position in smaller development studios rather than larger more well established ones as you will find yourself learning far more as the studio grows and finds its feet.

the_syco

Doodee wrote: »

If you are considering a long term Q.A. position then you would want to have some previous software testing experience under your belt.

Does "previous software testing experience" include beta testing games coming out, and also would your "love of gaming" have to be cross console (have gamed on PC's since forever )?

Helix

the_syco wrote: »

Does "previous software testing experience" include beta testing games coming out,

i wouldnt imagine so no, since you need no qualifications or training to beta test

jimi_t2

Any such work in Dublin? I had a good look but it all appears to be localisation

Doodee

the_syco wrote: »

Does "previous software testing experience" include beta testing games coming out, and also would your "love of gaming" have to be cross console (have gamed on PC's since forever )?

anything is an advantage tbh.
If you could prove that you help to locate bugs or logged any yourself during the testing then it would be very beneficial.


A lot of positions are mixed Loc and Testing, hence why they require more than one language.

docdolittle

jimi_t2 wrote: »

Any such work in Dublin? I had a good look but it all appears to be localisation

I've looked, couldn't find much apart from localisation with Activision, Gala and others... All I've found in the area I'm looking for is 3d modeling and the like in the digital hub. I applied for 4 game tester jobs in England last Wednesday, haven't heard anything back yet, but really hope I do! All I can do is keep looking, but I'm prob going to give up looking for a job after this week in the games business and just get any job over here to finally move out of the parents house

B0jangles

Activision in Ireland does localization testing, not pure functional testing, which means you don't get stuck trying 1001 ways to climb the same set of stairs for 6 months, and they work on fairly complete versions of games.

They always have a few people to test the UK versions of games so you don't have to speak 2 languages, but you do stand a better chance of being hired there if you have another language.

btw Hi CombatCow!

-Bojangles (AKA Col Hapablap)