Sunday, February 8, 2009

STEP TO MAKE MONEY

Step1
UNDERSTANDING THE FIELD: There are many many many many methods to going about getting a job as a video game tester, but before hand, you should understand a few things about video games/ and or testing. As only a novice programmer, I admit, I do not have all the answers on this topic, but let me share what I do know with you in this first step. Almost anyone can play a video game, but what these companies are often looking for is people who know how to break games -or cause a glitch. The skill of playing the game well is commonly far less valuable to those creating it, they want people to play it bad. For example: In one of my games, I had some of my friends play it before it was released, these friends had some experience playing games so their playing style was more 'normal' or efficient. However, I had one of my 'less inclined' not so 'gamer' friends play the same game and experienced immediate problems that I had overlooked. In this case, he (my non-gamer friend) was continuously walking into walls, where as the other's were not. After running into a few walls, I would watch his character get stuck and figured out that it was because when the character turned -it's opposite sprite was being forced to 'appear' within the walls causing it repeat it's stopping or bouncing actions. So, the ones that played the game well were not as useful to me as the one who played the game badly.
While it is not necessary to have a full understanding of how video games are created and programmed, it is important to understand the basic fundamentals. Typically, video game testing jobs require vast amounts of tedious non-goal oriented game play.

Step2.
FINDING A JOB: You will find this much easier if you live in a city where a game company resides, otherwise you might have to move for the job -who knows, each situation is unique. I'm not sure if any companies presently offer these jobs to be performed over the internet or from home, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Step3
ONE METHOD: Get newspapers and keep a watchful eye on the 'help wanted' or classified ads. From time to time these companies advertise their needs and if you do find one, respond quickly as these opportunities often go fast.

Step4
ANOTHER METHOD: Search the internet, especially employment sites for jobs fitting this description. Again, keep looking and respond quickly!

Step5
YET ANOTHER METHOD: Get out a pen and some paper and write a list of all the game companies you know of. You can compile this list by either browsing through your own collection of games (many have a website listed on the back of the box) or by looking around on the internet. Go to the websites of game developers/ publishers or companies and look for links that suggest 'jobs' 'employment' or 'opportunities' See what the individual companies are looking for, and if you qualify, apply! And even if a company is not currently looking for a tester, they may soon have such opportunities, so keep an eye out for upcoming video game tester opportunities and who knows, you might get lucky enough to grab one of these awesome jobs!