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wow! Ive been totally absorbed by all this info! Especially the games tester (Quality Assurance Technician)!! That sounds like a way cool job! Getting paid to PLAY games?!? Of course i could be wrong again..Originally posted by the_dude
They dont specify what kind of courses u have to do for that either.. U have any previous experience on this?
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Being a tester is not fun if you read the accounts of peoples' experience on forums over the years. You basically have to comb every inch of a game for bugs, and when you factor in that some games may be messes at alpha and beta level, (even after), it doesn't quite appear the dream job it seems.
A lot of people get their foot in the door by being a tester though.
Just expect long hours and little pay.Comment
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hmm.. ok point taken. anymore views on this?
heres a book i found: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...books&v=glanceComment
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whats the most rewarding position in the gaming industry?Comment
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I'd imagine it'd be a game designer, level designer or artist. I'm sure some programmers love their work, but it seems a very hard job when the people on the front bench take the reward. As mentioned earlier in this thread though, unless you've had several years of industry experience, it's a position almost impossible to obtain (the former that is).Originally posted by kyo_244
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Money's not very good and the hours are long and you have to do very weird shift work. Or that could of just been EA....Originally posted by kyo_244wow! Ive been totally absorbed by all this info! Especially the games tester (Quality Assurance Technician)!! That sounds like a way cool job! Getting paid to PLAY games?!? Of course i could be wrong again.. They dont specify what kind of courses u have to do for that either.. U have any previous experience on this?Comment
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Like Concept said, testing is not all it's cracked up to be.
That's how I started though, was the only way to get a foot in the door as I wasn't a programmer or artist and had just finished a degree which was in no way related to the industry. A cpl of years of that then lead test for a few more and then finally got myself in to a design position which I've been doing ever since. Absolutely love it!
Testing is a good way in, especially if you have no other/relevant qualifications but expect long hours and absolutely the base rate of pay, it's just the way it works. And even if your working on a decent product, after you've played it to death (and I use the word 'play' in the loosest possible sense, as yr not playing yr testing which ppl can't always get their head around) for getting on for a year you do sometimes become slighlty jaded shall we say...lol!
Wouldn't want to put you off though, just be aware of what it involves. That said, if you really want in then I say absolutely go for it, took me a while but here I am 8/9 years later and I wouldn't swap it for anything.
So good luck...
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Yup, testing isn't playing games all day.
It's playing 1 game. 8 hours a day. For 2 years.Comment
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Originally posted by ConceptI'd imagine it'd be a game designer, level designer or artist. I'm sure some programmers love their work, but it seems a very hard job when the people on the front bench take the reward. As mentioned earlier in this thread though, unless you've had several years of industry experience, it's a position almost impossible to obtain (the former that is).
I see it the other way. Good programmers can pretty much do as they please because nobody else really understands/cares how they do what they do. They also get paid loads, which is the whole reason for going to work in the first place. On the other hand, every arsehole in the world has an opinion on artwork/design and artists/designers spend a great deal of their time being moody because they're not allowed to do exactly what they want.
And, good programmers don't find it hard work. In fact, it's piss easy once you know your vectrons from your matricles. So, if you were to dot product our normalised thought vectors you'd get a result near -1.0, hahaha lololoollllolol!!!1!Comment
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I had to think for a moment there. Very clever.Originally posted by razu
JimComment
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ok ive kinda made up my mind here.. Im gonna go for a digital art/design/computer animation course. I think its my best bet since im not too fond of maths. (although it cant be THAT hard getting your head round vectors and matrices surely when u put your mind to it..)
If i dont like it im gonna drop out and go for psychology, my second choice. Never mentioned that before did i?
Sound like a plan?Comment
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What degree did u do m8? and where if i may ask.Originally posted by LenLike Concept said, testing is not all it's cracked up to be.
That's how I started though, was the only way to get a foot in the door as I wasn't a programmer or artist and had just finished a degree which was in no way related to the industry. A cpl of years of that then lead test for a few more and then finally got myself in to a design position which I've been doing ever since. Absolutely love it!
Testing is a good way in, especially if you have no other/relevant qualifications but expect long hours and absolutely the base rate of pay, it's just the way it works. And even if your working on a decent product, after you've played it to death (and I use the word 'play' in the loosest possible sense, as yr not playing yr testing which ppl can't always get their head around) for getting on for a year you do sometimes become slighlty jaded shall we say...lol!
Wouldn't want to put you off though, just be aware of what it involves. That said, if you really want in then I say absolutely go for it, took me a while but here I am 8/9 years later and I wouldn't swap it for anything.
So good luck...Comment
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I did a BA Hons degree in Urban Development at Leeds Met. Basically town and country planning in the city, a mixture of economics, politics and geography.
Like I said, absolutely no relevance to the industry at all...lol! Finished it and did odds and sods for a year to pay the rent (never had any intention of going into a job related to the degree, just did it for the bit of paper in the end as they do open a few more doors) and then sat down and thought what do I actually want to do...? Getting into the games industry was exactly what I wanted to do. Took another year of knocking on doors and interviews and finally got a break.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you really want it you'll get it. It's that simple...
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I don't have any experience in the games industry, my trade is Web Design/Development. A friend of mine worked for Rockstar North as a games tester, he was one of many games testers on GTA3 for the PC, it was cool to see his name printed within the game credits (both in game and manual). It wasn't experience that got him the job, it was his passion for games!Originally posted by kyo_244wow! Ive been totally absorbed by all this info! Especially the games tester (Quality Assurance Technician)!! That sounds like a way cool job! Getting paid to PLAY games?!? Of course i could be wrong again.. They dont specify what kind of courses u have to do for that either.. U have any previous experience on this?
Once GTA3 was shipped he was laid off and thus out of work, i'm sure he would've got another game testing job else where, but in Scotland those types of job are far and few between. He would've had to move down south to England as there's loads of game testing job's there.
He couldn't move down south as he's got kids and a wife, plus the pay in that type of role isn't great. He's now doing a computing course in Edinburgh and loving it.
As for yourself it seems you still don't know what to do? To be honest, i would do a Graphic Design or Multimedia course, rather than a course focused totally on Games Development. The reason being that when you finish doing your Games Development course your degree will be geared only towards games, but if you do a Graphic Design or Multimedia course you'll still have an opportunity to get into the games industry, plus you'll be specialised in other forms of media development!
Get this months Computer Arts (issue 117) it has a list of the best Graphic Design courses in the UK. It'll be of great help to you! If you don't manage to get a copy, then let me know and i'll give you the listed Uni's within the magazine, plus links.
CheersComment
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