from tester to producer

[Sonicrain]

Guy asked me about my testing background and I can't reply to him cause im new. User: eyixon
I'll use this to talk about my experience but to be honest it's nothing special at all.

I got a job at a big company and I worked on a big project straight from the getgo. People think you get paid to play games but it really isn't and in most places, the work evolved into something else. At the time, it KINDA was just playing, finding bugs (visual, crashes, functional and whatnot), and doing walkthrough. I'm good at video games so I can beat games faster than most so I became to go to guy to do walkthrough to see if the golden path was doable. Plus my quality of bugs was bigger than most. I honestly forgot where im going with this but testing is fun but it's not a sustainable life since money is poor. Hope that helps.

 

[Vexicrypt]

it's not a sustainable life since money is poor

Is it because a lot of people want to do playtesting and it devalues this job in general?

 

[Sonicrain]

Is it because a lot of people want to do playtesting and it devalues this job in general?

playtesting is actually something else but i'll assuming you mean game testing here (Quality Assurance). Yes and no. Its because the entertainment industry in general just pays low but also its a low skill job. I'm a school drop out. All you needed to have, at the time, was basically two hands and gaming experience and know what a bug is vs what isn't at various stage of game development. QA in video games, in general, does not pay well.

 

[bjork]

Am I wrong in the assumption that this is a position people without any sort of prior industry experience use to get their foot in the door, to prove that they know a little about games and also that they'll show up for work, with the hopes of moving up once the current project ends, provided they're retained with a contract for the next period or project? I know a couple people who've gone this route to pretty great success, but I always got the feeling that they were the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Sonicrain]

Am I wrong in the assumption that this is a position people without any sort of prior industry experience use to get their foot in the door, to prove that they know a little about games and also that they'll show up for work, with the hopes of moving up once the current project ends, provided they're retained with a contract for the next period or project? I know a couple people who've gone this route to pretty great success, but I always got the feeling that they were the exception rather than the rule.

Like any place of work that enables it, when you are keen to learn and progress, the door usually opens up. There is nothing wrong with being a specialists and a tester. Ive gone down that route myself but it depends on your personality and your personal goals and aspirations. I've trained and met people that went to greet me years later and told me "thanks to you im now a level designer" or someone else was like audio designer and i told em I only pointed in one direction, they did the rest of the work based on their own aspirations and what they like. I also know plenty of people who are stuck in that role because they are poor performers, dont have a drive to go somewhere else or are just content.