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Taking a Look at Game Testing as a Career Choice
Game Tester as a career, its myths and job outlook.
We had a teacher recently ask about our addition of the Game Tester Tutorials to our Web and Mobile Game Design curriculum. They were curious as to why we added the section since the curriculum was focused on game design. Let’s take a look at the reasons why we did this.
There are a number of ways for people to break into the game industry. For many, the start is by becoming a game tester. As in many industries, you have to start somewhere and prove yourself and your value to the work. Game testing is a way to start off as the barrier to entry is much lower than, for example, a game programmer.
Game testers are a critical part of any game development. They find the flaws in the game, whether they are small or large, and then carefully describe and document the error to the coding, systems and graphics teams.
Failing to test well can lead to epic disasters. One game company released a game called
Fallout: New Vegas. The game had so many bugs that the publisher 505 Games pulled the game off of STEAM and pledged to refund all purchases.
Myths
Game testing involves only playing video games: it is true that game testers spend time playing the game, but there is nothing easy about the job. You have to play the game methodically. You will have to play, over and over again, portions of the game to be able to carefully identify and explain, in detail, what it takes to trigger the issue.
Game testers don’t have skills: being a game tester requires a number of skills to identify and explain issues to the game developers. Developers rely on the skill of testers to find mistakes that were made in the development process and prepare the game to be ready for the end user. Testers must have a deep understanding of game design, attention to detail, the ability to explain issues to game developers, and much more.
Anyone can be a game tester: just because you can play a game does not mean you are cut out to be a game tester. You have to be organized, detail-oriented, methodical and a critical thinker. You also must be a good communicator (written and verbal). When you think about it you can see why you can move from game testing into other higher level jobs in the game industry. All the skills you demonstrate in game testing are the same skills companies look for in other career paths including graphic design, project management, quality assurance (QA), and development.
Game testers don’t have job growth opportunities:
not only are game testers in more demand every year, but game testers have the skills that translate well to related roles. Game testers can go on to become managers in the game testing space, software developers, business analysts and more.
Game testers will be replaced by AI:
although it is likely that AI tools will continue to grow in importance in the technology space, there will always be a need for human game testers since games are made for humans to play. Human game testers can do a much better job of evaluating whether characters, music, graphics, colors and more all merge to create a pleasant user experience.
Job Outlook
Fortunately, game testers will continue to be in high demand in the coming years. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers will grow 25% between 2021 and 2031. In that time, 162,900 openings for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers are projected each year, on average. Some of this change will be from new job openings, while some will be to fill positions of those retiring. As of May 2021 the median annual wage for software developers was $120,730, and for software quality assurance analysts and testers it was $98,220.
Reach Out to Us Today
To learn more about our Web and Mobile Game Design course or any of our other courses, contact us today at 913-764-4272 or hello@ctelearning.com.
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