Hey!

So I'm currently learning more about the gaming industry and have been playing around with a few engines over the last few years to see how things work. I find myself enjoying the troubleshooting part of the development process and am curious now to see what companies look for when they want a QA/QC tester?

Thanks in advance!

-Steven (Tathius)

QA is cool in mobile game dev. And terrible in AAA games. You can playing in bad build for a months and after that must fix 300 bugs in several weeks (before release or milestone). Very nervous environment. PM comes to you and asking for a playable build. You say somthing like "It's crush on start!". OK, fix it.

8 hours ago, Tathius said:

what companies look for when they want a QA/QC tester?

1. Communication skills (you need to be able to clearly explain your test findings).

2. Good judgment (that you don't waste time on things not essential to a profitable game)

3. A realistic outlook (that you don't insist on fixing unfixable things)

4. Facility with computers (so you don't need a lot of handholding if it's necessary to wipe a hard drive, install an OS, install different hardware, etc.)

For more about QA, see these:

http://sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.htm - the job of tester

http://sloperama.com/advice/lesson17.htm - more about testing

http://sloperama.com/advice/faq75.htm - how to write bug reports

Oh. And #5: you live nearby. (See http://sloperama.com/advice/m84.htm)

They look for exceptional attention to detail and ability to spot nearly invisible problems or inconsistencies where no one else can. They also look for tolerance for relentless repetition, such as playing the same exact game in exactly the same way over and over and over until it's not fun anymore and then doing it again ten more times.

Thanks for the replies! This gives me a better idea of what to expect and where to focus on my skill sets.