Being A Game Tester: Answering The Common Questions

“I assure the quality of video games!” Won’t you be jealous of this answer if you ask someone about their job?

A dream job for game enthusiasts, of course, like any other software-based jobs Game Testing also has pressure and stress.  But none can deny the fact that the job is exciting and would evoke jealousy in many.

Due to this exact reason, there are a lot of questions and misconception about the job.

Let’s address all that once and for all.

What’s Game testing?

Like in normal software testing, a Game tester will check for any bug and issues that prevent the user from experiencing a quality game. They would play the game continuously and systematically to check for errors and measure the performance. While doing so they will also evaluate it against the aim of the designers and will make sure that everything is aligned perfectly.

Is it a fun job like they say?

Proficiency of a game tester is proportional to the bugs that he finds.  For that to achieve he/she has to constantly play the game for months which is tiring and demanding. Not only that, once the glitches or bugs have been found it has to be reproduced in front of the developers so that they can fix it.

What’s it like to be a game tester for a day?

There is a widespread misconception that Game Tester’s only responsibility in the office is to play a game all day long. Even though working with video games is a part of the job a game tester has to break down the game find out issues and should report it to programming, design or art teams (DEVs). Apart from there will be team meeting, Client conversation and emails to reply to.

What all processes does a game go through in QA testing?

First of all, a thorough understanding about the game (storyboard, game architecture, Game features, characters, rules, game points, stages of the game, the concept of the game etc.) will be carried out by the testing team so that they will be able to come up with an effective testing strategy.

Next would be the devising the testing strategy for implementation. For that to happen data’s such as in-scope, out-scope, timeframe, no: of testers, Testing cycle count, type of testing, defect documentation style, Service level agreements, risk calculation mitigation etc. are taken into consideration.

Third in the process would create test cases, both positive and negative. Followed by test cases is critical path testing to identify the critical path in the game. This process helps a tester in revealing factors which caused the failure.

5th is to evaluate through exception path testing to find out an alternate path and document it.

6th would be error guessing, boundary value analysis and equivalence portioning.

7th in the process is to execute the game test cases. Along with that alpha, beta and gamma testing will also be done to evaluate the quality of the game.

8th in the process is to test the content of the game to make sure that everything is conveyed to the audience.

Above all, Screenshot of errors should be saved with notes accordingly and all the information regarding the tests must be documented.

What are the different types of testing in game development?

• Combinatorial Testing:
• Clean Room Testing
• Functionality testing
• Compatibility Testing
• Tree Testing
• Load Testing
• Play Testing

To read in detail about the testing methods, click the link below

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How to be a Game Tester?

Obviously to be one you have to be an avid game player who has got deep-rooted knowledge about the gaming industry and has to be an ardent game player.

Patience and perseverance is the most important trait of a game tester. If you wish to be one you have to be

Regarding the educational qualification, Game Testers are usually educated in gaming design, programming or some courses related to video graphics or computer science or any other software related course.

There are certificate courses on game testing which will make sure that you are learning what’s needed to gain a job in the industry.

Apart from the educational qualification communication and documentation skills is also needed to that bugs can be reported to the programming team.

What’s the salary for a game tester?

Obviously, like any other job salary of a game tester solely depend on his/her proficiency, experience and track record. An average salary of a game tester can start from 15000 USD per annum to 60,000 USD. There are testers who work on an hourly basis too. Their average salary is about 16.86 USD per hour.