Saturday, August 28, 2010

Tips to Be a Good Video Game Tester!

Video game tester is one of the most demanding job profiles in today’s scenario. It has created a craze among all generations of people to earn some fast bucks without the need of any educational qualifications. But there is one major qualification that a wannabe video game tester must possess and that is s/he must be a game freak.

For a beginner, it might be quite tough to get into the profession but with a little research you can get easy access to video game testing jobs. And once you get access to it, getting a job as a game tester is a child’s play.

This is one such job profile where an average game tester can earn as much as $ 40,000. Though it does not require any qualifications but it is no different from any other jobs.

To be a great game tester, there are some steps which you must be aware of. Get to know these steps to equip yourself with the qualities of being a great video game tester.

1)Before you go ahead with your job, make sure to go through the guidelines and the procedures to be followed minutely. This will be helpful in shedding more light in the type of work you are going to perform and what are the things expected from you. You will be required to give them your feedback as per their instructions. Deadline must be met strictly and a standard format must be followed while submitting the assessment.

2)Keep in mind that being a game tester involves more than playing it for fun. You will need to adopt different strategies in order to examine every aspect of the game. Be alert while playing the game and try to figure out even the slightest problem that you noticed while playing the game.

3)Make sure to take down notes, as you continue to test the game. These notes are important as you will have to make the report based on these notes. Always make it a point to be concrete and describe in detail about the bugs and glitches that you have come across while playing the game.

4)Every bit of information that you collect is valuable and will be helpful for the programmers to rectify the problem. In any case if you ever come across a bug then try to recreate it and find out the reason behind it. Make sure to give each and every detail of the bug like its location, level, character and other related information. Also take note of any errors like misspelling, discoloration, error in graphics and music/sound.

5)If you complete the assessment of the game well before the deadline then make it a point to start playing the game right from the beginning. This way you will be able to ensure that you have not missed out on any part of the game. Prepare your final report and include all the information that you have collected no matter how small it may seem. Your report must be well organized and professional.

Also it is important to know that the type of games that you play will determine the type of companies for you to apply. With these tips handy, you can be a go getter and move on to become one of the most successful video game tester.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Types of Video Game Testers


With the number of people being more interested in becoming a video game tester, it is quite evident that the job of video game testing is on demand. Game developing companies in order to generate more revenues are hiring video game testers. So finding the correct source of the companies whichever is hiring is a must. There are basically three types of video game testers. These are:

1) Freelance Video Game Tester Job: These are those game testers who are well experienced and seek out for companies that outsource upcoming games for testing. Punctuality, communicative and clarity in writing are some important characteristics that you must possess.

2) Self-employed Video Game Tester: These game testers are those who write Blogs, reviews, and providing information about the latest games released. They make money in their own way by telling others about the game and playing it themselves.

3) Full Time Corporate Video Game Tester: There are possibilities of being hired by big game developers for full time. For those who have a passion for playing video games no other job can be as intriguing as this. And the only qualification required for this kind of job is experience. No degrees and diplomas are mandatory.

If you want to adopt video game testing as your career then get to know the types of game tester that are responsible for testing different parts of the game. Alpha testing, Beta testing and Quality assurance are the three types of game tester’s role you will always have to start with if you opt this field as a career.

In order to apply to this kind of job all that you need is to be serious, active and know the source of video game testing job. All that you need is to sharpen up your writing skills, build up an interest in gaming and have the desire to share your knowledge with others. These are the three requisites that can help you get a great job.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Game Testers

Game testers are people who have passion for video games and has become one of the sought after profession. By combining your skills with your interest, these testers earn their bread and butter and hence are less fatigued. Becoming video game tester isn’t all that cumbersome job! No professional degrees are required and all you need is an understanding of certain graphics and combined with your passion for video games, you can see yourself to be a through gaming professional.

Technically, game testers job requires reporting of software glitches called bugs to the programmers who are in the process of writing codes for these complex programs. These testers are required to do rigorous testing for every level of the video game in order to remove all the bugs. As an industry practice they are made to play games for repeated number of times in order to come up with errors. With more and more complex video games coming in the market, game testers responsibility has increased many fold, they are incorporated in to the software development life cycle in very initial stages.

They may be asked to present a gaming scenario from a user’s point of view; and help the software developers to come up with new ideas for development of the game. Thus a complete end to end role has been earmarked for a gaming wizard who wants to take up the challenge of a game tester.

Initially, a game tester was responsible for catching and reporting buys in the complex programs, but now these professional are also entrusted to give their key inputs in developing and analyzing the game environment from user’s point of view. No wonders, the job entails sitting for long hours and going through rigorous tests so as to make a game bug free.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Games Tester

Game testing was never a sought after profession as the game developer was in charge of testing various facets of the video game. With the gaming programs becoming more intricate in nature, and heavy interwoven programs gaining importance, the need for games tester is needed. Hence a newly found occupation “Game Tester” has come into existence.

With times, game testing is becoming more structured and various game development companies have started to invest million of dollars to invent next generation computer games, catering to the need of people from all walks of life.

Gaming has never been such a fun, and with the next generation hi-tech games roaming around, there has been all the more excitement and lot of expectations from gaming enthusiasts. The need for game testers has ultimately found its rightful place in the gaming industry, and the professionals are bestowed with critical phase of gaming development life cycle.

The world of a game tester is full of opportunities and challenges. The testing professional has a final word from a user’s point of view and developers heavily count on them for the final outcome of the gaming program. Any misses on the part of game testers can lead to wastage of million of dollars, as these are not usable in the commercial market due to the incorporated hidden bugs.

If one sees a role of game testers from outside, he or she would feel that the tester is a useless chap who is being paid to play video games for long hours. In contrast, the role of a games tester is all the more important, considering that the final outcome of the game depends heavily on his shoulders.

The game testing conventions allow these professionals to work on many testing software available in the market. Some companies also rely heavily on the process of manual testing. The games tester should have enormous patience levels and an eye for intricate details so as to spot hidden bugs. They are the professionals whose focus is on reporting the critical program errors to the programming team. Finally the testers are asked to re- run the software and check for any further misses. This cycle is repeated on number of occasions to the satisfaction of the games tester. Once he is done, the final version of the game is ready to be launched in the commercial market.

Quality assurance is the backbone of game development therefore game testers are always in demand as they are the people who have the responsibility for proper quality checks on the initial and final version of the game so developed. Testing can be a pain in the neck as the repeated steps involved bring a feel of boredom, the game tester needs proper training and motivation from time to time to perform his responsibilities with precision.

Therefore, next time you bring a video game at your home to play, see to it that the software program runs perfectly fine, if it doesn’t, then not only blame the programming brain behind the written piece of code but also the game tester. is full of opportunities and challenges. The testing professional has a final word from a user’s point of view and developers heavily count on them for the final outcome of the gaming program. Any misses on the part of game testers can lead to wastage of million of dollars, as these are not usable in the commercial market due to the incorporated hidden bugs.

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