Memoirs of a Game Tester - New Game Network

After several years spent hopping between multiple media industries (sounds more impressive then it was) I’d like to think that I came out with some valuable information. Like when Indiana Jones escaped from the cave with the golden idol.

I guess this article will come across as a short memoir of what learned that will perhaps shed some light on people’s decisions about how to go about breaking in to the industry and what path they choose to amble down.

For me coming fresh out of an English college the only option that presented itself and was hammered on by both the college, the government and my parents was that University was the way to go. A few years ago, when the recession had yet to hit, everyone in the world (minus the millions of starving of course) walked down a gumdrop highway where our dreams were within our chocolate soaked reach.

It seemed like the perfect time to enroll as every industry was doing quite well for itself and possibilities after graduation seemed plentiful. So, I packed up and headed for old London town where the streets were paved with gold to complete a degree in Computer Games Design: Story Development. At the time there was no other degree of this nature available that combined design with creative writing and it appeared right up my alley.

Now, a degree is usually the first logical step for a person who wants a well respected form of qualification for an industry, it shows focus, commitment (both financially and time-wise) or, for a few select individuals, a chance to waste three years, of which I knew many. It was the equivalent of the government handing them a big bag of money, which they set on fire and then took a leak on to extinguish the flames. Money well spent.

The pro’s of university in my experience was that you got the chance to learn from professionals, perhaps make contacts, collaborate on projects, maybe they even get a professional in to speak about whatever it is they do. Again, it feels pretty good to come out with a qualification and already have work that you can display in a portfolio. Right?

Well… it’s one half of the equation.

I learnt the hard way that the industry runs in a vicious cycle like a rabid dog chasing its tail. Many places operate in a strange paradox where you apply for a position that you are capable of but are rejected because of a lack of ‘experience’. The question that many of us asked, and not just in the game’s industry is how we were expected to gain experience when no one would offer us a job to be able to get the experience. It felt like one of those lateral-thinking puzzles that eventually lead to a brain aneurism.

Internships are the next steps that some people choose to take, however in England these endeavors are usually not paid for. If there is an opportunity where a company will pay for you to work there for a month or so it acts like the bat-signal, except about one thousand people in the city are batman and the chief can only take one of you. So attempting to get in that way can also be tricky.

For me an internship worked, I garnered a good amount of experience and got a hand in a few industries but I literally had to knock on the door of twenty-plus companies to get ONE face to face with someone. Einstein once said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” and you might as well have that tattooed on your sweet behind because you have to live by it.

Persistence is a big part of it, and working hard obviously but you also have to be quite a cynic. There was work in both design and writing that I committed to, for people and companies that gave me their word to credit me or give me a push up the ladder. Time came round when I did the work for them for nothing and they just took it and jumped shipped. Graduates are easy pickings for free work because they have more to gain than the company does so you have to be a hardass and after a certain time you have to demand you get an agreement in writing. That is also a double-edged sword because at the end of the day you have more to lose.

So after a couple of jobs I found myself working for a games company doing testing on a triple A title. They said I had gotten the job then told me the only way I’d really have it (like this was the Matrix) is if I agreed to travel one hour and half to, and from work every day. So I took it, I thought that route was really the best way into the industry… and it was, for a certain path.

Here’s a breakdown of various positions and what I have learnt/was told was the best way to get into them.

Testing: Testing only begets more testing in higher up positions, if you know another language perhaps you could go into the languages department. We were on contracts that meant they could drop us with about a week’s notice and the job was only dependent on what games they had on their roster. It was the job equivalent of running down one of the halls in a platformer where the ground could go at any moment, everyday was a suspenseful day.

Also, I worked with some great people but I’ll be honest I was surprised some games even got released with the amount of idiots in the test department. You could’ve slashed about 3/4 of the staff and it would have been more productive. The contracts we were on also meant that no matter how bad you were they couldn’t have fired you AND they had to hire you back before anyone else new was brought in. COME ON!

One of the advantages from this is that job opportunities in any field of the company are first given to their employees before they cast out their net to the rest of the populace. That was perhaps the most lucrative part of working in a low-level position.

Programming: Companies want a great portfolio and examples of work, anything published draws wood from them. A degree isn’t as important (but helps a lot) as the work you have produced. If you’ve created a great game, interface, whatever then they’ll beat a path to your door. Also, choose a company you’d like to work for and get to grips with their programs and tool sets.

Games Designer: Senior programmers, artists, producers’ maybe, people who have worked their way up or been present since the company’s inception. If one leaves from their studio they either get the next guy in line to do it or send out for someone who has had years of experience doing it at another company. NO ONE starts off in the industry doing this job.

Artist: Be good at art. If you’re a great artist then that’s enough, when contacting a company it’s pretty good to show your own style and maybe something done in their vein to show that you have depth. As far as software goes, it’ll help but it won’t be the reason they won’t take you on.

Producer: Not necessarily from a games background, and not that I know particularly much about it but from what I heard it’s about knowing a product and knowing the market. Others deal with costs, budgeting and scheduling, making nice with press, team-building etc. Google it.

It would take more time and require me to have a greater attention span delve further into the minutia of the industry, and again those ‘insights’ and I use the term very loosely are mine and mine alone. In reality it’s not all bad, it’s just the emotional equivalent of the scene in “The Shawshank Redemption” where Tim Robbins had to trawl through an ocean of crap for sweet, sweet freedom.

In the end, it’ll be worth it. Right?