Game Testing

[TooNice]

Has anyone here done it before (I think one member mentioned that he tests for Rockstar)?

It's something I've thought of doing when I was younger, but never really pursued. Recently, a friend linked me to a job advert for game testing that is really appealing to me, even though I've spent years learning something completely different.

The main thing I am wondering though, is what sort of career path is available from there. Will it allow me to get into a proper foot into other part of the industry (e.g. business/marketing side) or is it largely a dead-end? I don't want to be too short-sighted.

[kalniel]

Yes, it's a good route into any other part of the industry. But a number of factors have to fall into place if you're going to move beyond it - there has to be a position available for starters, which is quite rare at the moment (for the non-QA stuff), you have to have done QA for long enough, and made a name for yourself by showing your interest, skills and competence in other areas, and even then really low numbers get further.

But it is the best way of getting started in the industry - just so long as you don't mind giving up playing games for fun - you will almost never be able to enjoy a game you've done QA for, and it'll spoil your enjoyment of other games a bit too - the magic goes

[TooNice]

Thanks, what would the average day involves doing? Does the responsibility go beyond spotting/documenting bugs? And what sort of 'state' are the games when you start testing?

[kalniel]

There's no set answer to those questions, it all varies on what you're contracted to do and who you're working for - is it the QA dept. of a publisher, the QA dept. of a developer, or an independent QA company you're looking to work for? Will the QA be on one title, or a range of titles? Will you be testing internal tools, websites etc?

You're the one with the job advert in front of you, you should be telling us what the responsibilities and job role will be QA is hugely varied and covers just about everything at every stage.

[kasavien]

A friend of mine did games testing as a way into the design side of game production. He'd already done a degree in computer graphic design. As far as I'm aware from what he told me, testing is very thorough, so you can spend ages just testing one particular part of a game over and over again. Pay was minimal for him too, but it paid off for him and he's now a designer in the same company, but you have to be prepared to put a lot in for not much reward at first.

[doddsy]

A friend of mine tested for rockstar, he enjoyed it at first but ended up leaving because he hated it. I thought it sounded cool but apparently playing a new build of grand theft auto IV for a year or so gets pretty annoying.

[TooNice]

It's an online title, though it's not clear if it's for an existing one or one under development (I know the company has an existing one, and is working on one too). The line I do not fully comprehend because it sound quite general is: ’General tasks related to the quality assurance (QA) process’.

[Barrichello]

I used to be jealous of an old friend/flatmate at the time way back when he was a games tester for Probe (now part of Acclaim) he said he went into it from a gamers perspective thinking it would be the best job in the world but said the constant repetitive QA testing really got tiresome after some time.

[scaryjim]

... The line I do not fully comprehend because it sound quite general is: ’General tasks related to the quality assurance (QA) process’.

That basically means you could end up doing absolutely anything and would have no room to complain if you didn't think they were making best use of your skills! "The head of QA wants a cup of tea"... that's related to the QA process