GAMES TESTERS

unamused · 21-05-2010 1:16pm #1

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 · 21-05-2010 2:08pm

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 · 21-05-2010 2:32pm

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 · 21-05-2010 3:22pm

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

rizzla · 21-05-2010 3:37pm

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 · 21-05-2010 5:04pm

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 · 21-05-2010 5:08pm

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 · 21-05-2010 5:23pm

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 · 21-05-2010 5:25pm

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

Soby · 21-05-2010 7:01pm

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 · 21-05-2010 8:06pm

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 · 21-05-2010 9:06pm

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 · 21-05-2010 11:51pm

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 · 22-05-2010 7:35pm

wasnt Combat_Cow a games tester ?

dreamers75 · 22-05-2010 8:35pm

tell him to get his lazy ass a job.

is this PI?

Reckoner91 · 23-05-2010 4:57pm

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

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

CombatCow · 23-05-2010 4:58pm

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 · 23-05-2010 5:17pm

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 · 23-05-2010 7:17pm

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 · 23-05-2010 9:07pm

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 · 24-05-2010 2:34am

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 · 26-05-2010 12:35am

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

Helix · 26-05-2010 1:43am

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 · 26-05-2010 7:58am

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 · 26-05-2010 9:35am

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 · 26-05-2010 9:49am

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 · 26-05-2010 3:36pm

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 · 26-05-2010 5:35pm

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

docdolittle · 27-05-2010 12:35am

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 · 27-05-2010 12:33pm

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 · 27-05-2010 4:52pm

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.

GAMES TESTERS

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