Just imagine: you play video games all day long and get paid for that… Is that really so? Well, not really.
The truth is, video games testing is challenging work that requires a lot more than just leisurely playing video games. You may be a top-notch Halo player, but that doesn’t mean you can do a great video game tester.
What is the essence of the game tester profession?
This is a QA testing games specialist who identifies bugs in computer games before they reach the end-users. This is a standard, but an extremely important stage in the development of a game that affects commercial success. After all, if a player encounters errors in the first hours of acquaintance with the game, this significantly reduces interest in the game.
It is worth distinguishing between the following concepts: gamer and game tester. The tester’s goal is to find errors in the program code that can negatively affect the gameplay. The gamer is on the other side and interacts with a ready-made software product. But the gaming experience can greatly help the tester because it will allow you to evaluate the gameplay more deeply.
- How long does it take to test the game depends on its complexity? For example, a test of a new characteristic, the skill of a virtual character, can last five or more hours. Moreover, this is about the work of the whole team, not just one tester.
- Generally, no special knowledge is required to start working as a game tester. But some skills can give you an added edge. First of all – English.
Knowing a foreign language will come in handy when completing tasks. Many games are translated into at least English. It will be much easier for you to test the English version if you have at least a reading level of the language.
A foreigner may also be needed for communication on a project. Increasingly, the game is created by international teams, which include representatives from different countries. In this case, English acts as the language of communication and internal documentation for the game.
It might surprise you, but you need strongly skilled in communication and writing. If you’re able to write in a clear, concise manner that will help you to describe the glitches you found and how you found them. Your detailed letter will give developers a detailed path to finding the problem and fixing it. You don’t have to be a poetic, flamboyant author; you need to be an explicit, concise, and particular communicator.
The profession of a game tester is not taught at the university. People come to it in completely different ways. Someone would like to build a career in the field of creating games, but they don’t have any experience and knowledge for the position of a developer or designer. It happens that people who have done a different type of testing are retrained as game testers.
What are the benefits of being a video game tester?
- training within the powers of each newcomer (often carried out by companies that themselves “raise” young personnel), while you can gain knowledge and practical skills in the field of software and game development;
- excellent opportunities for freelancing;
- the research nature of the activity, which combines technology and creativity;
- it is a young and promising profession that is only gaining momentum in the labor market.
So testing a game is an integral part of the game’s creating cycle. The gaming industry companies aspire to release as high-quality products as possible. And of course, they need testers!
Studying game testing is an easy process, and everyone can do it. The main thing here is to be assiduous, patient, and attentive. This is difficult to learn, agree. You have these qualities or you don’t. Look inside yourself, do you see a tester there?
