How Does One Become a Game Tester?

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?"

Comments

Insider's opinion.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been in the games industry for little bit (6 years) and have worked with various QA departments over the years. Beware I'm a programmer and those actually in QA may think I have a distorted view of reality. There are several distinct breeds (or "pockets") of QA:

(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 QA team the people who put the game in the box. Mostly verifies that the developer is delivering as per contract and that the game will sell (and sometimes is the spark of stupid game change requests because of this).

(3) Platform QA teams (Microsoft / Sony) - A QA team that verifies your game is up to scratch for their platform and that it passes certification requirements (it uses the right logos & terms in the save menu, the game doesn't freak if it meets a corrupt memory card, final burn-in test, etc, etc).

(4) External public "beta" tester - MUHAHAHAH! Public tests are to make sure our networking code works and that our game can handle a thousand monkeys pressing random buttons. ;) Seriously though - community feedback is very important from these types of things, but it's usually a little late to change the core of a game by this point. It tends to be little things - balance and shine. Although if something catastrophic comes up, that would obviously be fixed as well.

Note that some of the above numbered "breeds" may be the same entity if you're self-publishing or being published directly by, eg - Microsoft. And regardless of their primary focus, every QA team is looking for stability and usability above all else.

Turn-around tends to get slower as you move down the list - internal QA may get several builds a day, be feeding bug lists directly to the team and verifying fixes in a tight feedback loop. Publishers sometimes like a build a week (or every day at crunch time), platform guys maybe every milestone or just at the end of the project for compliance testing. The further away from the developer, the fewer bugs should be found because the game should have been strained through the QA teams before it. However, publishers can sometimes afford to have huge QA teams compared to a developer and won't have the disadvantage of having prior knowledge about the gameplay (ie: won't know not to do something).

The places I've worked (a developer published by a 3rd party & a self-publishing developer), first-time testers are often hired on a temporary basis at the end of the project. We put flyers up at our local university advertising part-time work. After a horribly messy screening process (we once had ~400 people apply for 3 testing positions - although most applications were obviously flawed), hopefully we'll find a few suitables who are enthusiastic, able to follow instructions and work long hours. They then work under supervision of our senior testers, often in shifts so that we can have a 24/7 testing cycle available for the development team(s). QA teams tend to expand when there are projects almost finished (we sometimes have 2 or 3 projects in development in parallel) - then QA shrinks away until it's needed again. If someone does good work, we'd probably call them back for the next project to test. For a permanent opening they'd probably have to re-apply and go through an inteview process (not sure about this though, like I said - QA is not my department).

Turn-over of the permanent testing positions is not that common unfortunately. However, testers can rise through the ranks to level / game designers - that sometimes opens up positions.

It's tough getting a foot in the door. Persistance pays off, as does being intelligent, objective and anal. LISTEN, THINK, OBEY, SUGGEST (but only when relavent).

And assuming you manage that - Warning! High stress ahead! As a game tester you'll get instructions like:

Voice Of Experience.

[immanis]

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.