Video game testing is a bit more involved than just playing video games and getting paid for it. Yes, it's fun and it's entertaining, but in no way does that make it a "do nothing, make money" type of job. There is work you'll have to do as well as deadlines you'll be required to meet.
Video game testing is definitely not for everyone, which you'll soon find out as you learn more about it. However, for tried & true gamers who want nothing more than to play video games and get paid for it, well, no career could possibly measure up to professional video game testing.
Monday, July 6, 2009
What kind of games will I get to test?
If you have to work as mobile game tester then you have to test for the platform
Symbian OS
Java
Flash Lite
BREW
WIPI
iPhone OS
Android
Palm OS
video Game testers test all games for release on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 (PS3), Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii & PC. Genres include sports titles, RTS, FPS, MMPORGS, action, adventure and much more. It's is impossible to tell what games you may test as a game tester, because most will be games that haven't even been released to the public!
Symbian OS
Java
Flash Lite
BREW
WIPI
iPhone OS
Android
Palm OS
video Game testers test all games for release on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 (PS3), Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii & PC. Genres include sports titles, RTS, FPS, MMPORGS, action, adventure and much more. It's is impossible to tell what games you may test as a game tester, because most will be games that haven't even been released to the public!
how much will I get paid to test video games?
According to a 2008 Game Developer Magazine survey, game testers earn an average of $39,063 annually. Testers with less than three years experience earn an average of $25,142 while testers with over six years experience earn $43,056. Testing leads with over six years experience earn on an average of $70,658 a year.
Game Testing, Not As Exciting As You May Think
Anybody who plays videogames on any sort of a regular basis has had that thought at least once, how cool would it be if I could get paid to play videogames? And as we all know, for a select few there really is a career available in which you are paid to play games, that is the job of the videogame tester. Someone who plays the game in the beta stages to point out flaws and anything else that may be problematic throughout a game’s development cycle. While this sounds like it could be an awful lot of fun, game testing is actually no picnic.
First off, it’s not like you’re going to be getting to play your favorite game for hours on end, having fun and making a living wage from your efforts. In actuality you’re forced to play something that’s likely to he horrible, for long periods of time, and analyzing every second of the experience. Game testers are around to spot the smallest things, such as graphical errors, or collision detection issues with a game’s physics engine, and these require a massive amount of time to completely figure out. So instead of playing through a level and getting paid for it, you’re really critiquing every pixel in the level to a daunting extent, and reporting back to development teams so that they can fix and edit the game accordingly.
Not exactly a party.
Not to mention a game testers schedule becomes increasingly more grueling as deadlines begin to loom. Meaning a tester could end up putting in 12 to 14 hour days, playing the same levels and portions of gameplay over and over again, with the same repetitive movements and requirements, in an effort to nit pick every single detail. Not exactly a dream job, and you can see why most testers burn out in a relatively short period of time.
I’m thinking most people misjudge the opportunity as a dream job, and then find themselves shocked into reality when they see just how much work playing videogames can be.
First off, it’s not like you’re going to be getting to play your favorite game for hours on end, having fun and making a living wage from your efforts. In actuality you’re forced to play something that’s likely to he horrible, for long periods of time, and analyzing every second of the experience. Game testers are around to spot the smallest things, such as graphical errors, or collision detection issues with a game’s physics engine, and these require a massive amount of time to completely figure out. So instead of playing through a level and getting paid for it, you’re really critiquing every pixel in the level to a daunting extent, and reporting back to development teams so that they can fix and edit the game accordingly.
Not exactly a party.
Not to mention a game testers schedule becomes increasingly more grueling as deadlines begin to loom. Meaning a tester could end up putting in 12 to 14 hour days, playing the same levels and portions of gameplay over and over again, with the same repetitive movements and requirements, in an effort to nit pick every single detail. Not exactly a dream job, and you can see why most testers burn out in a relatively short period of time.
I’m thinking most people misjudge the opportunity as a dream job, and then find themselves shocked into reality when they see just how much work playing videogames can be.
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