hi all-im new around here
hi-i can see that im one of the first people to reply here-second if to be accurate-so,i hope the place will grow and as oded said lets bring it(israely comunity) back or forward to her glory days it deserve...
if any one want to talk or get together and discuss any game developing-please contact me at:dvd28000@gmail.com
hi oded, im a sixteen years old gamer who found this place by looking for a game testing job.of cource I know its one of the most wanted jobs on earth but its still good to be part of such a young comunity,which can become to a very big one if it will be advertised seriously.
im living in the north of Israel in the city of zefat,not religious at all(everyone thinks me to be religious for living there).
im looking for a game testers job in israel but as I said before-its still nice being here-as i understand there are very few people here to read this,but never mind...
so Oded-how old are you,how are you related to computer/video games??
if anyone can help me with my goal(game testers job) i will glad to get any help possible.i know how hard it is to be one-its not just sitting on couch and eating piza all day-im sure its more than that...
so i hope we will grow to be bigger than now:)
I think you should forgot it.
Your ultimate goal isn't to be a game tester, is it?
I think most game testing in Israel is done by the developers.
(I'm not actually in the industry, so I might be talking out of my ass :p )
Figure out what you really want to do, and start working on it.
If it's programming, learn C++ or something, and start writing code.
If it's Art, learn 3DMax or Maya.
If it's Audio, learn about the tools of the trade
If it's game design... study one of the above.
Once you break in, you could start pitching ideas.
Good luck.
as i said before-im not looking for any advice about how to become a game tester i want to become one maby,and not for small low priced game developers- iwas actually talking about big trademarks like sega or microsoft israel...i was told that becoming a game tester is all about connection in the right industry and with the right people.
I think the point Hamsta is trying to make here is that game testing is usually not seen as a goal but rather as a stepping stone to a more significant position that allows you to express your artistic and technical skills.
Saying 'I want to be a game tester' is sort of like saying 'I would like a career as a McDonald's burger-flipper'.
Also, I'm not sure there would be game testing jobs at the big corps in Israel since as far as I know there are no games being developed in Israel by the likes of Microsoft and it would be rather illogical for them to put a continent between the bug testers and the developers.
Not that I mean to sound discouraging. =P
At the begining i was realy trying to find such a job,and saying that doing what you love(playing lots and lots of video games) and getting paid for it is like flipping burgers-is being absolutly wrong...
oh-and I just want to say im right now lerning java language and i already know the basics of html code...
I realy hope at the end of the day to become a game developer- and ithink the one who helped me the most with understanding what i need is the second replyer-hamastad or whatever his nick was...
so ijust wanted to hank you:)
Hey
I have to somewhat agree with some of the other posts.
First, you're 16. go and excel in school. make some indy games or mods on your own in your spare time. go to the army, study something. only then go ahead and look for a job. You still got a lot of spare time, why waste it ?
next I think you don't understand what a game tester does.
A game tester doesn't play games all day.
He procedurally, and methodically runs the SAME game over and over and over (and did i mention over) again.
The he has to fill out reports and write documents describing how the game should be run to be tested. Trust me, it gets boring really quick. And you usually don't actually play the games for fun.
There are two jobs that you're probably referring to where they do get to play games are game evaluator and game journalist.
Historically, game journalists need to know something about journalism, and have to have writing skills. I would try contacting vgames if i were you.
Game journalists don't only play games, they need to read a lot. game sites, games news, follow up on publications etc.
The other job is usually being an in-house game evaluator in one of the big big publishers. Usually this isn't a whole job but a sub-task of game producers.
However, i would warn you that this isn't a very sought out task because you need to evaluate hundreds of game sin a month, and 99% of them are crap. and yet you still have to try them. It also mens you have to write reports about them or communicate with the game developers and do other tasks as this is only a part task in a game producer's job.
your dream job, i'm afraid - doesn't exist in my opinion.
just like there's no actual job for a person to watch TV all day.
and usually food critics also have other jobs to pay the rent.
Hi DVD280.
First of all, the world is switching to HDDVD/Blue-ray - just wanted to let you know.
As for your dream job, if you are still interested after all the things mentioned above, I think that there are very few companies who actually need game testers:
Oberon games is an Israeli company and they mostly do casual games. They're pretty big and have several studios worldwide. I'm pretty certain there's some small scale activity in Israel as well.
Gamearray develop a unified platform for cellular games. They're located in Jerusalem.
Funtactix is another company developing a debut game. They're located in Tel Aviv and their game is now in a closed beta testing stage. You can apply at their website if you want to.
Dobulefusion is another company located in Jerusalem. They are in the in-game advertising business. They are also looking for hardcore gamers to help them with the design of a new product.
I doubt that anyone will actually pay you money for this, at least in this step where you're still a teenager and have no experience to show for. But that's a start.
You can also participate in closed and open beta tests for many different games. Plenty of game developers do public beta testing, especially on the PC, and there are always some good games to look for in beta stages. Once again, you will probably not see any money from it and it's still considered 'work'. But at least you'll have a chance to play some (hopefully) good games before the rest of the world, and perhaps your feedback will actually make a difference on what the final game looks like.
Hello dvd280
Glad to have you here at our forums. Could you tell us something about yourself - like your Name ? What do you do in relation to games ?
Always happy to talk about game and game dev.
Oded