作者：Richard Robledo

在你最喜欢的主机RPG中，整整三个小时你都在杀一条上古巨龙，这家伙害你挂了无数次，现在终于只剩5%的命值了，多亏了你那把闪电剑之忠诚。只要杀掉这龙，梦寐以求的铠甲就到手了。另外，任务给的经验值可以让你再升一级，并且开启地图其他部分的任务；地图上的好多区域你还没去探索呢。

身受重伤的巨龙在绝望中喷出一串火焰，还好你用黄金盾牌挡下了。你勇敢地向巨龙冲去，一边不忘换上你的矮人剑。就在你将剑用力刺进巨龙脖子的时候，动作停止了。游戏就定格在凯旋的一瞬间。你等了几秒，以为游戏会回过神来，然而它再也没有响应。你只能重启游戏机，再做一次任务。你遇到的是一个漏洞，所有电子游戏都出现过这种情况。对付这些问题的就是，重复成百上千个小时寻找然后报告这些“故障”位置的游戏测试员。尽管这些小故障可能很隐蔽，但你的游戏可能因此让玩家受挫，多亏了那些所谓QA测试员（或也叫作游戏测试员）的辛勤工作。（请点击此处阅读游戏设计师定义及职业规划）

什么是游戏测试员？

游戏测试员是指那些连续数月重复重复再重复地玩一款或多款游戏的人。外行人对他们的一个误解是，测试员先玩一个小时的《天际》，然后再花几小时玩《星际争霸》，剩下的时间再玩《愤怒的小鸟》。他们总是问：“你一天到晚就是玩各种游戏，对吧？”错！一名测试员可能在整整6个月的时间内都在玩同一款任天堂3DS游戏。在这6个月里，每周工作6天或7天，每天12小时以上，都在玩同一款游戏！所以你可能很想知道他们在QA部门里用这些时间做什么。

游戏测试员的主要职责是玩游戏并找出游戏故障或没有体现开发者意图的地方。电子游戏的所有领域——设计、美术、动画、声音或程序都可能出现漏洞，可能是由于开发者的疏忽、大意或疲劳导致的。一旦发现，测试员必须向开发者报告，以便其他开发人员及时修正。在开发人员确认漏洞已经修复，测试员必须再次测试新版本，确定这些问题已经解决了。这个循环一直持续到游戏最终交付。到项目的末期，QA部门可能在一款游戏中找到不下10000个漏洞。

QA部门

游戏行业中有存在几类游戏测试团队。他们的成员都搞测试，但QA部门根据它的从属关系，对项目有不同的处理方式。

发行公司的QA团队

在游戏发行商如EA、动视或育碧公开发行游戏以前，他们会要求自己公司的QA部门对游戏进行全面的测试。记住 ，QA的意思是“品质保证”，尽管这并不意味着游戏测试员负责保证游戏的质量，但确实意味着游戏应该让玩家感到满意。信不信由你，一个小小的漏洞也可能影响整款游戏的评分；所以游戏在交付以前必须尽可能找出所有漏洞。

发行商的QA团队可能非常庞大，这取决于发行公司手头上有多少游戏在制作。测试员可能在某段时间内在几款不同的游戏之间辗转。能在发行公司当测试员是不错的，因为即使现在你的工作时间长，工资又不高，但你仍然是大公司的一份子，仍然有机会拓展自己的职业生涯。有许多执行制作人，副总裁和总经理都是QA测试员出身。另外，你更有机会接触到AAA游戏大作，这会让你的简历比别人的更显眼。

优点：

职业前景好，测试员可能直接进入游戏制作部门。

与其他部门相比，工资较低，但比第三方QA测试员更高。

简历中可以罗列出很多你测试过的游戏。

缺点：

随时都会遇到紧急状况，并且紧张的时期持续久。

长时间坐在电脑前测试游戏可能产生健康隐患，如腕骨神经综合症。

QA部门里人人都想上位，所以竞争压力大。

开发公司的QA团队

游戏开发工作室也需要测试员。做内部测试员的好处之一是，报告上去的漏洞能很快被开发团队处理掉。开发测试员往往与真正的开发工作联系紧密，所以当漏洞出现时，程序员自己会从游戏的代码中发现错误的地方。开发测试员也可能直接去找设计师或美工谈刚刚发现的漏洞。

开发工作室的QA团队人数不多，因为测试工作通常会由开发商的测试团队负责。然而，当交付期逼近时，或当游戏开发接近尾声时，开发工作室会将游戏的build版发给发行商，而这个build版必须没有明显的漏洞，否则就会干扰发行商展开他们的测试循环。如果开发商提交的游戏样品漏洞太多太明显，不仅让发行商觉得开发者工作太草率，也会拖延项目进度，因为开发商又得修改那些漏洞，然后制作新的build版，最后再发给发行商。如果这款游戏刚好是AAA主机游戏，开发商的一个小小疏忽可能就会浪费项目开发的一整天。所以，内部测试员在交付游戏前找出build版的漏洞，是游戏开发过程的重要环节。

优点：

能直接向游戏设计师、美工和程序员报告漏洞。

有可能进入游戏设计领域。

竞争压力小；努力工作的测试员容易被提拔。

第三方QA团队

当发行商没有足够的人力测试某个项目时，可能会请第三方测试员协助。这些“测试工作室”与发行商签约，帮助测试玩法容量大的游戏的大部分内容。例如，在包含30个角色、30张地图、支持四人模式的格斗游戏中，每个可能的变量都要检查。角色4、角色19、角色30和角色8同时在地图21游戏会不会导致游戏崩溃？只有测试了才知道。

测试工作室的报酬通常是最低的，并且职业前景最差。但是，你会测试到大量游戏，积累大量经验，这为你获得发行公司或开发公司的测试职位打下必要的基础。你甚至可能因此在游戏发行公司找到初级制作的工作。

优点：

比发行公司或开发公司的QA部门更容易进。

提供相关的QA经验。

能测试到的游戏类型、规模、品质更丰富。

缺点：

工资低。

在工作室的职业发展有限。

专职测试的工作室很少。

Beta测试

在网上，你有机会玩到游戏的Beta版。这些游戏基本上都是PC游戏，并且往往是MMO。因为这类游戏太大了，要真正地测试游戏除非将早期版本公布出来。你要做的就是填写一份在线表格，回答你的电脑型号、有无游戏经验等等。Beta测试是进入游戏行业的良好开端，虽然没有报酬，但会很有趣。

优点：

在游戏面市前就能玩到。

引导你进入QA测试工作。

你的简历中能写上这一条。

缺点：

零报酬。

你的辛苦工作极难得到认同（你只是数千名测试者中的一员）。

漏洞报告和回归

报告漏洞是测试员每天的核心工作。报告上来的漏洞将进入开发者能进入的漏洞库。对测试员来说，清楚的表达是很重要的，因为开发者很需要周密的报告书作为重制的依据。表述不清楚的漏洞报告可能会浪费开发人员一整天的时间。漏洞的发生过程应该有一步接一步的说明。以文章开头提到的杀巨龙漏洞为例，不能写成这样：

描述：

1、打上古巨龙

2、攻进它的颈部

3、观察

结果：

游戏崩溃了

玩同一款游戏300天的某个早上写出了的例子通常就是这样。测试要求忍耐力超强，因为你可能得测试你已经玩了不下1000个小时的糟糕游戏。优秀的测试员会牢记提供漏洞产生的确切步骤的重要性。如果你不想听到开发人员向你的制作人或QA经理报怨你的漏洞报告太差，那么你应该这么写：

描述：

1、装备闪电剑之忠诚，然后与上古巨龙战斗直到它的命值下降至5%。我还装备了黄金盾牌。

2、将武器切换成矮人剑，然后在巨龙的颈部来个致命一击。

结果：

当你击中它的颈部时，游戏画面冻结了。

注：在我打败巨龙以前，它已经杀了我好几次了；我是一边跑一边装备矮人剑的。

你描述得越详细越好，开发人员会感谢你的。当开发商明确要提出要你来测试游戏的某个部分时，你就知道你的工作被认可了。有时候，在项目的末期，开发商会要求测试人员去他们的工作室工作，如果你表现得够专业，那么你就有机会去了。如果开发商不在你所在的地区或国家，那你去开发工作室工作就等于出门度假一回了。

当漏洞进入数据库后，就轮到开发人员去修复了。一旦修复工作完毕，无论是谁修复的，都会在数据库上标记“已修复”。这就开始了漏洞的生命的第二阶段，即“回归”。

漏洞的回归很简单。你要做的只是确认你上报的漏洞已经修复了。当新版本放出时，QA经理或主游戏测试员会打印出需要回归的漏洞。所以如果你玩游戏20个小时后发现了一个导致游戏崩溃的漏洞，报告修复后，你猜接下来要怎么样？你必须再玩20个小时确认那个漏洞已经被处理了。如果漏洞确实没有了，那就可以在数据库中标记“已关闭”。这个循环会一直持续到游戏交付。

通向游戏设计师之路

得到游戏测试工作是不容易的。至少，你得证明你是一名游戏玩家并且沟通交流能力强，但即使这两方面你都具备了，也不能保证你得到测试工作。工作室要求你有专业的测试经验，但如果没有人雇用你，你怎么可能积累到这种经验？

人脉

如果你有朋友已经从事游戏行业，那么你就比那些没有业内朋友的人更有机会获得测试工作。当有测试部门有空职时，叫你的朋友告诉QA经理你能行。即使你没有任何经验，如果你的朋友可以保证你玩游戏、知道怎么找漏洞，那么你还是有可能接到面试通知的。只要过了这一关，一切都看你自己的了。

教育

如果你是从游戏学校毕业的，那么你的简历就很有份量了。一定要指出你在学校的项目中做过多少测试，甚至表示你不但会报告漏洞，还能自己修复一些。

自学

Beta测试可以让你的简历更有看点，特别是如果你可以列举出一些热门的游戏。如果你写求职信，那就描述你如何在你玩的游戏中找到漏洞，还要举出例子。QA经理希望看到的是求职者不只知道玩游戏是一种娱乐，还把这种娱乐上升到专业的程度。

游戏测试员的职业生涯

最后，多年的测试工作能给你带来什么？这得看你所在的团队和你的能力。

下图表示的是在大型游戏发行公司的测试员的职业前景。如果测试员的交流沟通能力强、了解游戏开发流程，并且有职业野心，那么他会很快进入制作领域。

成为游戏测试员会很有乐趣，但记住，这始终是工作。如果你在工作时玩游戏就像在家一样，那么你是不可能成功的。优秀的测试员在游戏时会发挥自己的创造性。他们会跳出游戏规则的约束，反其道而行。比如，如果任务要求你向北走，你就偏向南走。如果敌人攻击你，你不要条件反射似地杀死它，你要逃跳，看看它会追你多远；看看你能不能把那家伙困在场景中的哪个地方。在加载时关闭控制器。将你的主机硬件空间填满，然后新建一个新的诸存文件夹。在游戏保存时拔出游戏硬盘。在游戏保存时拔出硬盘再换上另一个硬盘。从这些行为就可以看出专业测试员与普通玩家的区别。如果你每天都变着花样玩游戏，你就可能发现一些其他测试员可能忽略的漏洞。在游戏交付的当天发现一个100%会导致游戏崩溃的漏洞，还有比这种感觉更爽的吗？（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What is a Game Tester?

By Richard Robledo

You find yourself playing three hours into a quest on your favorite console RPG. The Ancient Dragon that has killed you numerous times is finally down to its final 5% of health, thanks to your faithful Lightning Sword of…Faith, and you know you’ll get the plate armor you’ve been longing to collect. Plus, the XP earned from defeating the dragon will level up your character. Even better yet, completing this quest opens up a whole new set of quests on a different part of the map that, up until now, you’ve been unable to venture into.

In desperation, the injured dragon spews forth a stream of fire, but you successfully deflect it with your golden shield. Bravely, you charge the dragon while equipping your dwarven great sword, and let loose a powerful overhand slice into the dragon’s neck. Suddenly, the action halts, as if the game is taking a screenshot of your victorious moment. You wait several seconds for the game to resume…but it never does. You’re only course of action is to reboot the console and begin the quest all over again. What you’ve just discovered is a bug, a “hard lock,” and every video game ever made is infected with these bugs. The only way to repel this software infestation is to employ a team of individuals who will dedicate thousands of hours to finding and reporting the locations of these “glitches.” Although some bugs sneak by, your video games would be a whole lot more frustrating to play were it not for the hard work of the Quality Assurance Tester also known as the Video Game Tester.

Who’s the Game Tester?

The Game Tester is the person in the game industry that plays one or more games over and over and over again for months. One misconception from industry outsiders is that a tester shows up to work and plays Skyrim for an hour, then moves onto Starcraft II for a few hours, and then plays Angry Birds Space for the rest of the afternoon. They’ll often ask, “All you do is play a stack of games all day, right?” Not right. A tester might play the same Nintendo 3DS game for 6 months straight. Throw in crunch time, and those 6 months now includes a six or seven day work week, 12+ hours a day, on the same game! So you’re probably wondering what they do with all that time sitting in the QA department.

A game tester’s primary objective is to play a game and find where that game fails to perform or be presented as intended by the game developers. All areas of a video game – design, art, animation, audio, or programming – are susceptible to bugs. These shortcomings are a result of developer oversights, or even carelessness and fatigue. Once found, the tester must then report the issue to the developer so it can be corrected. Then, when the developer has confirmed the bug is fixed, the tester must attempt to reproduce the bug on an updated version of the game to confirm it no longer occurs. This cycle continues until the game is ready to be shipped. At the end of a project, some games can have over 10,000 bugs found by the QA department.

QA Departments

There are several groups of game testers within the industry. They all test, but QA departments handle their projects in different ways depending on their affiliation.

Publisher QA Teams

Before a game publisher like EA, Activision, or Ubisoft releases its titles to the public, they rely on their QA department to thoroughly test the game. Remember, QA means “quality assurance,” and although that doesn’t mean game testers are responsible for making a quality game that is fun to play, it does mean the game should perform to your satisfaction. Believe it or not, a buggy game can affect a game’s overall Metacritic score; this is why it is very important for a game to ship with as few bugs as possible.

Publisher QA teams can be quite large depending on how many games the publisher has in production, and testers can expect to find themselves bouncing between more than one games at any given time. It’s exciting to be a tester at a Publisher, because even though you’re working long hours on a humble salary, you’re still part of a recognizable gaming company with an opportunity to move way up on the career ladder. There are many Executive Producers, VPs, and General Managers who all cut their teeth in QA. Additionally, you have a greater chance of working on AAA titles, which makes your resume and portfolio stand out from others.

Game Testing at a Publisher

Pros:

Great career path, testers can go straight into game production

Humble salary when compared to other departments, but higher when compared to developer and 3rd party QA testers

Quickly builds up your library of shipped titles

Cons:

Crunch time can occur at any time and it can last a long time

Sitting and playing for long hours over several years may lead to health issues like carpal tunnel syndrome

Lots of competition striving for a higher position with the QA department

Developer QA Teams

Game development studios also have a need for testers. The benefit of an in-house tester is the speed at which reported bugs can be addressed by the dev team. A dev tester will typically be hooked up to an actual development kit, so, when a bug occurs, a programmer can automatically see where the error is happening in the game’s code. The dev tester can also walk over to a designer or artist and have them directly come and look at a bug that has been discovered.

Dev studios don’t have large QA teams, because it’s generally the publisher’s responsibility to test a game. However, when milestones are due, or when the game is close to being final, the developer delivers a “build” of the game to their publisher, and this build needs to be free of any obvious bugs that would hinder the publisher from beginning their testing cycle. If a developer sends over a build that crashes on the title screen, not only does it make the developer look a bit sloppy, it also delays the project, because now the developer has to address the bug and fix it, create a new build, and send it over again to the publisher. If the game is a AAA console title, a simple oversight from the developer could end up delaying the project for an entire day. Having an in-house tester who can “spot check” builds before they’re sent off is a critical component in game development.

Game Testing at a Developer

Pros:

Working directly with game designers, artists, and programmers

Offers an opportunity to move up into game design

Very little competition; a hard-working dev tester can stand out within the studio

Cons:

Takes a long time to build your discography; a developer often works on one game at a time

Seasonal work; a dev studio doesn’t always need a lot of testers at the start of a project or after a game ships

Crunch time most of the time

3rd Party QA Teams

When a publisher does not have adequate resources to test a particular project, it may look to 3rd party help. These “testing houses” are contracted to help test the heavier portions of a game that have a high amount of gameplay combinations to check. For example, in a fighting game that features 30 characters and 30 arenas with 4-player support, every possible variable should be checked. It’s feasible that playing character 4 vs. character 19 vs. character 30 vs. character 8 on arena 21 will crash the game. You just never know until it’s tested.

Testing houses often pay the lowest, and have a very short career path. However, you will test lots of games and gain the experience you need to get a publisher or dev testing position, and it’s not out of the question to land an entry-level production job at a game publisher.

Game Testing at a 3rd Party QA house

Pros:

Easier to get into than a publisher or dev QA department

Offers relevant QA experience

You’ll test lots of games varying in size and quality

Cons:

Low pay

Limited career path within the company

Very few testing houses in existence

Beta Testing

Online, you can find opportunities to beta test a game in development. This will almost always be a PC game, and they tend to be MMOs. These games are very large, and the only way to truly test what the game can handle is to release early versions to the public. All you need to do is fill out an online form that asks about the type of PC you have, and whether or not you play games. Beta testing is a great way to get your feet wet, and it can be a lot of fun at no cost to you.

Beta testing online games

Pros:

Play games before they’re released on the market

Introduces you to QA testing

Something you can put on your resume

Cons:

Zero pay

Extremely difficult to be recognized for your hard work (you’re one of thousands of testers)

Bug Reporting and Regression

Reporting bugs is the core of what a tester does each day. Bugs are entered into the bug database which the developer has access to. Clear communication by the tester is important, and the developer relies on a thorough write-up so that the bug can be reproduced on their end. A poorly written bug can cost the developer a lot of wasted time. A bug entry should have step-by-step instructions on how to make the bug happen. Here’s an example of how NOT to write up the sword bug that we read about at the beginning of the article:

Description:

1. Fight the Ancient Dragon

2. Attack his neck

3. Observe

Result:

The game will crash.

The above example is usually written this way at 1AM on the 300th day of playing the same game. Testing requires endurance, because you may have to test the worst game you’ve ever played for over 1000 hours. A good tester remembers the importance of providing the exact steps that were taken to create the bug. If you want to avoid having the developer complain to your Producer or QA Manager about your bug reporting, then try writing it like this:

Description:

1. Equip the Lightning Sword of Faith, and fight the Ancient Dragon until its health is down to about 5%. I also had my golden shield equipped.
2. Switch to the Dwarven great sword and deliver the death blow to the dragon’s neck.

Results:

The moment you hit its neck, the game will freeze.

Note: The dragon killed me several times before I was able to finally defeat it, and I was running while I equipped the Dwarven great sword.

The more details you provide the better, and your developer will appreciate it. You know you’ve been doing a good job on the project when your developer specifically asks for you to test certain parts of the game. Sometimes, late in the project, the developer asks for testers to work at their studio, and you can be sure they’ll want you there if you’ve done your job professionally. If your developer is out of state or in a different country, it almost feels like a vacation when you go and work at their facility for a time.

Now that bugs have been entered in the database, it’s the developer’s job to fix them. Once fixed, whoever fixed the bug on the developer’s end will mark it as “Fixed” in the database. This begins the second part of a bug’s life (not the movie) called “regression.”

The bug regression is simple. All you have to do is verify that the bug you reported is truly fixed. When a new build is delivered, the QA Manager or Lead Game Tester will print out the bugs that need to be regressed. So if you discovered a bug that crashes the game after playing for 20 hours straight, guess what? You’ll need to play for another 20 hours to make sure the bug was addressed. If the bug was, indeed, fixed then either you or your lead will mark the bug as “closed” in the database. This cycle runs continuously until the game is shipped.

The road to the Game Designer

Getting a game tester job isn’t easy. At the very least you have to prove you’re a gamer and can communicate well, but even these skills won’t guarantee you a job. Studios require that you have professional testing experience, but how do you get that experience if nobody hires you?

The Buddy System

If you have a friend already working in the game industry, then you have a better chance of landing a testing job than those without a cool friend in the biz. When a position opens up, have your buddy let the QA Manager know that you can do the job. Even though you don’t have any experience, if your friend can verify that you play games and know how to find bugs, you might be able to get an interview. After that, it’s all in your hands.

The Education path

Attending or graduating from a game school looks good on your resume. Be sure to point out the amount of testing you did on your school projects, and how you not only reported bugs, but even fixed some yourself.

The Self-starter path

Beta testing games can give your resume some nice bullet points, especially if you can name-drop a popular title. If you write a cover letter, express how you also find bugs all the time in the retail games you play, and give examples. What QA Managers want to see are candidates who understand that testing is not just playing the game for entertainment, but for improving its overall quality.

The career path of the game tester

Finally, where will all those years of testing games take you? It depends on the team and your abilities.

The diagram below represents a tester’s career path within a large game Publisher. If a tester can demonstrate great communication skills, an understanding of game development, and a desire to advance in the industry, then making the jump into Production can happen quickly.

Being a video game tester can be a lot of fun, but remember that it is a job. You will not succeed if you play the games you’re working on in the same manner as you do at home. Great testers find ways to be creative when playing. They’ll do things out of order and go against the way the game tells them to play. If a quest tells you to go north, then go south. If an enemy attacks you, don’t just automatically kill it; try running away from it and see how far it will chase you. See if you can get your character stuck somewhere in the environment. Turn off the controller during a loading screen. Fill up all the space on your console’s hard drive, and then try to create a new save file. Eject the game disc during an autosave. Heck, eject the disc during an autosave and replace it with a different disc. These are the types of actions that separate a tester from the average game player. If you make it a point to play differently each day, you’re going to discover bugs that all the other testers overlooked, and there’s no better feeling for a game tester than to find a 100% crash bug on the day the game was about to be sent out the door. (source:animationarena)