Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

C H A P T E R 1 1
You’ll probably meet all kinds of interesting folks in the test department with you.
I’ve met people with business degrees, people with law degrees, child actors, wrestling
fanatics, chefs, a neuroscientist, a professional gambler, and a guy on trial for
manslaughter. Everyone shares a certain love for games (you’d be insane to do this
without loving them!), and most are looking for a way into a game development studio
in a full-time capacity. You will probably even meet some “professional” or prize
competition-oriented players. Some of these players have won game publisherhosted
competitions and are among the best players in their category. Don’t worry if
you’re nowhere near as good. Test departments need a wide range of player abilities
from total pro to near novice. It can be a badge of honor in the test department if you
manage to beat a game champion at something (or at anything for that matter).
You will get to play a wide range of games. You may love some of them immediately
and you’ll probably hate others. It’s easy to get tired of anything when you are playing
it all day long. You will start to learn what is really a bug, and what isn’t. Hopefully,
you’ll get good at writing up solid and descriptive bug reports. Even at this point, you
want to be growing your communication skills.
From there you have to keep your eyes and ears open day and night. Soak up
everything you can like a big sponge wearing contact lenses. Ask plenty of questions,
but not too many. You want to gather information and express your interest without
driving people insane. You’ll undoubtedly make some great friends. If you enjoy the
QA process, you might have already found your niche. If you want to move into
development, start watching for opportunities. It can be difficult and it probably
won’t happen overnight. Like any other career, building games for a living asks for
many kinds of sacrifice. Learn what you can and enjoy yourself. Remember that
developers are not looking for people on the quick take; they are looking for people
who genuinely enjoy building games.
INTERVIEW WITH YOU!
We’ve heard from many talented game developers in previous chapters (a big “Thank you!” to them
again) about the process of building games, but this is a career chapter. It is your chapter. It’s probably
time to ask yourself some questions about gaming, and where you might like to go in the game industry.
With that in mind, I’ve assembled a few questions to ask yourself as you pursue your own goals in gaming:
� What kind of foundation do I need to achieve my goals in gaming?
� Which aspect of game development grabs my attention the most?
� Can I see myself doing something other than working on games?
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Game Development Career Choices