Anyone work in the computer game industry in any form?

Begbie said:
I think Booner does.
Click to expand...

Azza said:
Think he mainly does marketing stuff.
Click to expand...

Correct, I don't get involved in the development cycle...only when it affects the marketing side of things (release schedules, awareness campaigns etc). Marketing wise, basically silly budgets to do silly things....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7599639.stm

A stunt in which £20,000 of petrol was given away in north London to promote a computer game has been criticised as "irresponsible and dangerous".
Click to expand...

;) :D

I have heard first hand that the dev cycle can be quite demanding and stressful due to the criticism alongside unrealistic time lines pushed by publishers. On the other hand, it can be very rewarding (seeing the finished product) and exciting with lots of perks. :)
 
Last edited:
Im a 3D Artist / Modeller.

I worked at a company creating simulators of various sorts on a uni placement which I imagine to be very similar to a games studio. The job entailed only doing low poly stuff really so I found the job to be very easy which is both good and bad. Good becuase I was basically running the place by the time I left but bad becuase I didnt feel I was pushing myself or having to aim higher in anyway... but saying that, the managers and staff were incredible and the pay was VERY good for a dirty student on a placement.

I was there for a year and found the job abit boring. (inside and outside of the workplace)

Im currently back at uni finishing off my degree. Im still diciding what I want to do after it. Take a year off and travel, do some contract work or just jump straight into applying for games companies full time.

I dont worry about getting a job becuase i know im very good at what I do. My only worry is not having a life again like when I was on my placement :(

Suppose thats life though...
 
Guitarman0 said:
I want a job as a tester. Being paid to play...... sounds so good :)
Click to expand...

It may sound good but I suspect you'll find the reality to be rather different, it can be long hours testing games that are nowhere near ready, you've got to make good notes on where the problems exist (or the programmers will hate you even more than they do to begin with), replay sections so many times that you hate the sight of them and many other no doubt tedious tasks that I don't know about - if the game is good and nearly ready then I'm sure it can be fun but you'll have to deal with a lot of boredom to get to that stage. And the other posters are right it isn't necessarily a good way into the games industry if you want to progress, it is certainly possible to move to other jobs from it but it's not a quick route to progress.
 
semi-pro waster said:
It may sound good but I suspect you'll find the reality to be rather different, it can be long hours testing games that are nowhere near ready, you've got to make good notes on where the problems exist (or the programmers will hate you even more than they do to begin with), replay sections so many times that you hate the sight of them. And the other posters are right it isn't necessarily a good way into the games industry if you want to progress, it is certainly possible to move to other jobs from it but it's not a quick route to progress.
Click to expand...

pretty much this, I start at Microsoft on Monday testing games, and I'm under no illusion that it'll be long, boring and hard, but I just need any kind of experience to be able to get anywhere in the industry, my name on a few published games and I'm away :D

I've been told I'll most likely get a free copy of the games I work on once they've been released, but chances are I'll be so sick of them by that time that the shine of it will have worn off ;) (and no, I'm not selling them :p)
 
mac1st3 said:
I've been told I'll most likely get a free copy of the games I work on once they've been released, but chances are I'll be so sick of them by that time that the shine of it will have worn off ;) (and no, I'm not selling them :p)
Click to expand...

You should get free copies of the game(s) and working for Microsoft you should also get copies of retail Microsoft software at near cost price so that's a decent perk.

You ought to get credits on the games so good luck with your new job - do follow the procedures they set out though of course and do your best to make detailed notes so that the programmers can replicate the bugs if at all possible, I am partly joking about them hating you but you'll make their job and yours a lot easier if you do that relatively simple task well.
 
semi-pro waster said:
You should get free copies of the game(s) and working for Microsoft you should also get copies of retail Microsoft software at near cost price so that's a decent perk.

You ought to get credits on the games so good luck with your new job - do follow the procedures they set out though of course and do your best to make detailed notes so that the programmers can replicate the bugs if at all possible, I am partly joking about them hating you but you'll make their job and yours a lot easier if you do that relatively simple task well.
Click to expand...

of course, though I already got windows 7 ultimate for £10 :p
but the rest will be nice hehe

Not sure about the credit system, I know EA did something similar, and had a game library to buy all their stuff from, but not sure about MS

I know not to discuss the games as I'll be signing a non-disclosure upon starting, and having a degree in Computer Games Technology, I'm already fairly aware of how things will go, and know what I'll be looking for when testing.

and I hate programmers :p mainly cause they can do it and I can't >.>

but thanks for the luck wish :D
Really looking forward to it!
 
I'm not part of the games industry, so feel free to correct if wrong, however I would have thought that some level design experience, not neccesarily a degree, would benefit. Anyway, valve have released some developer kits and level building programs for their games, L4D2 as a recent one springs to mind.
 
Last edited:
$loth said:
I'm not part of the games industry, so feel free to correct if wrong, however I would have thought that some level design experience, not neccesarily a degree, would benefit. Anyway, valve have released some developer kits and level building programs for their games, L4D2 as a recent one springs to mind.
Click to expand...

from my understanding, experience and ability far outweight any degree etc.

we were told on our course, the degree will get you the interview, but obviously not the job on that alone
 
Bullets said:
did no know they were based there?

Got me wondering now, ill go knock on there door :D

Live close enough :D
Click to expand...

Are you asking about Lionhead now?? They are in Guildford, well just outside, they are actually doing both an intern and graduate scheme :)

Stelly
 
I aim to be in the industry working as a programmer in roughly one year's time. You can quote me and see how I do. :)
 
Whilst not games testing, I have done plenty of software testing over the past 18 months (not anymore, I'm a trainee teacher now :)) and all I can say is, errrgh. It was single handedly THE most boring thing I have done. Going through test scripts, telling the programmers they'd done a **** job of something, repeating said test over and over. I'm sure games testing is a bit more interesting, but the repetitiveness of the whole thing really put me off the idea of going into software testing in any form.
 
Darg said:
Going down the testing route is also pointless. They try and sell it as a good way to get into the industry, don't be fooled. If you're a good tester, guess what, they'll want to keep you as a tester, if you're a bad tester you'll be fired, thousands of others who want the job. There simply is no magic way to go from testing to the actual development team
Click to expand...

I doubt it is much different from other industry areas.... in some companies you can use low-end roles as a stepping stone, at others you can't. It's unlikely a games tester would land a 'better' job at a different company, but they might be able to move up the ranks within that firm depending on how they approach staff development (see Tunney's anecdote for an example). Plus don't forget that there are Test Lead / QA Manager type roles available in the long term (although probably heavily contended).

As a general rule though people interested in testing are better off working in IT in general (typically £20-60k) as opposed to the games industry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom