What a Game Tester Does on a Daily Basis

Game testing sounds like a glamorous job in which you spend hours of each day playing video games while on the clock. What could possibly be better? But, in reality, game testing is a job like any other and it can be quite grueling at times. It has its rewards, but before you jump at the chance to work in the game industry, make sure you understand what will be expected of you well in advance.

Reviewing the Test Cases

Every game is developed in different builds. Each build is an independent version of the game that has been updated with bug fixes and is set for testing. However, just because a build has some bugs fixed doesn’t mean it won’t have any bugs at all. So, as a tester, your job may often involve going through the same segments of the game over and over again between builds to make sure bug fixes went through.

Test cases are written up between builds by the lead tester to identify what portions of the build have changed and what needs to be tested. Your job at the beginning of each build then is to read the test case or the test suite provided and test the specific list of items highlighted for your review. Many times, the programmers will specifically want to know about certain things that have been changed in the game.

Testing the Game

When you start testing the game, you will follow the directions or instructions in the test case very specifically. As you move forward, you must record each step taken and any potential bugs that appear. If you do encounter a bug, your job will be to recreate the bug as many times as possible and document the situations that occur to create the bug.

Simply creating a bug is akin to solving a math problem in school without showing the work. Sure, you did it, but you won’t get credit unless you can prove you know how you did it. Similarly, the programmers cannot fix anything unless they know under what circumstances it happened in the first place.

Game testing can be tedious at times, and depending on what cycle you are currently in, it can be more than a little boring, but it is also very rewarding when something finally works and you see the fruits of your labor in the final game build.

Want to know what you’re getting into with a job in the game testing field? What about how to actually land one of these dream jobs? Check out Beta Gaming Testers today for more information. CLICK HERE