There’s no doubt, that computer games are here to stay. They have to be one of the most prevalent forms of software around. You can find them on PC’s, Macs, cellphones, pdas, and BlackBerrys. They even have their own genre of hardware. Specifically for gaming. There are living room styled consoles like Xbox, Wii’s, and PS3s. As well as a horde of portable gaming platforms, like the PSP, GameBoy, and DS. I can’t think of any other software that warrants it’s own hardware platform. We sure do like to play don’t we?

It’s a basic human need – for some even an obsession. Play time is a stress reliever, a much needed distraction, and arguably a self esteem builder for the winners. But another basic need that computer games can feed, is that of creation. Everyone loves to create. Whether it’s a five year olds finger painting hanging on the fridge, or Stephen Kings next great horror epic. Anyone with an emotion to express, story to tell, or movie to capture can do their thing.

I must confess to be a wanna-be game developer from way back. I first tinkered around with building games on a Commodore 64. And if I really want to date myself, I’ll confess to writing a very basic random number generator type game in Basic on a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer. Fortunately for the inspired gamers of today, the technology supporting game building has improved by several light years since then. From the simple to use yet powerful GameMaker from YoYo Games to the Unreal Editor (UnrealEd) that ships with the purchase of most games powered by the Unreal engine. This enables anyone who owns the game to create their very own version of the game using the same tools as the professionals. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine waking up and being excited to go to work. Imagine getting paid for what you love to do. This article will show you exactly what you need to do to become a video game tester.

The first thing I did was contact game developers. Most of the companies that produce video games do not post ads in the daily classifieds or online like most other companies do. I am not sure why they don’t but I have never seen a job posting like that.

Search online for “a list of video game companies”. There are hundreds of companies that create video games that need beta testers. All you have to do is find these companies and present yourself to them. Make sure you are professional though, don’t just email them and say you want to test video games.

Create a resume. It might sound silly, but if you have a resume about your gaming experience then you will look much more professional and you will be more likely to get hired to test video games.

The next thing you need to do is follow up. Follow up with the companies that you talk to and let them know what systems you own and that you are available to start testing games immediately.

You will eventually get your first game to test and what you will also want to do is continue contacting companies to test games for. You are not actually employed by these companies so once you test a game for one company they may not have another game for you to test for a few months. It is a good idea to spend a few hours a day contacting companies asking to test games even if you already have plenty to test. You don’t want to run out of work.

For many, working as a video game programmer at a famous development studio sounds like a dream job. I have been a video game programmer for seven years now and would like to share my four best tips for making this dream a reality.

Know what you’re getting into

Before you dive into becoming a video game programmer, spend a little time to research what working at a video game studio actually entails. You don’t want to spend time and effort becoming a video game programmer only to realize that it’s not what you were hoping for.

Working as a video game programmer takes a lot of effort. The work hours and deadlines can get stressful, especially near the end of a project. Talk with people who are in the video game business, either in person or online, about any questions you may have about the business.

Create your own games

Try your hand at making your own games at home to see what it’s like. You can start with simple projects first, such as basic text games or simple shooters. Grab a book on video game programming at your local bookstore (there are many to choose from) and dive in. C and Java are good programming languages to start out with. Read the rest of this entry »