Feature: Take This Job and Love It! - Game Testers - Eric Wackerfuss
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Name: Eric Wackerfuss Title: Product Analyst - Midway Notable Past Projects: NFL Blitz 2002 & 2003, Slugfest 2003 Current Project: Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Schooling/Degree: BS in Computer Science from Bradley University Starting Salary Range: about $30,000 (depending on location & company) General duties of your position/title: The whole testing process can be summed up like this. During a production cycle, we constantly get new builds of game code. We sit and hammer through the code, all the while writing down what things aren't working, aren't implemented, or just don't look or feel right. Then, when we get a new version of the game code, we regress the old bugs that were previously reported to make sure that they are fixed. At the same time, we hammer through the code, looking for new bugs. This cycle of "regress/report" continues until the game is ready for submission. How many people are in your department/team? We are a relatively small QA group. We have 4 full time testers (including me) and 3 part time practically full time testers. The San Diego division of Midway has scores of testers though. They have well in excess of 30 testers. What was the most valuable bit of knowledge or experience you brought with you to the job? My knowledge of video games, what else! But seriously, I think that my CS degree brings more of a technical and analytical aspect to the testing side of things. Knowing about games sure does help though! What was the first major lesson you learned once you started working in the industry? That the almighty product schedule reigns over everything. If a game was slated to come out during a certain quarter, most of the time it will, even if it could use some more work. The reason why this is such an issue is because we here at midway make sport games, and so we have to make sure that they come out in time for the start of that sport's season. Companies like Blizzard (who take 3+ years to release a game!) are the exception, not the norm. What academic focuses would you recommend for someone who wants to do your job someday? Hmmm... That's hard to say really. As far as testing goes, there isn't really type of class that you can take. You have to have good communication skills (so that you can tell other people how to reproduce the bug), and a great eye for detail to find the stuff no one else can. But you can't go wrong with computer classes. It will help you know more of what goes on behind the scenes. Common misconceptions about your job? It's not all fun and games. Well, it can be fun, and it is games, so maybe it is... But what I mean by that is it's not just sitting around playing games and having a grand old time. The testing can get Is college a necessity, a really good idea, or not required for your line of work? For testing, college is definitely not a necessity. Many of the older testers got their jobs while they were still in high school because they were the best Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 players around. After all, who better to test your game than the best players of your game? However, I would say that college is a really good idea, if not for the reason that it makes you look that much more attractive to game companies. It separates you out from the pack. It certainly helped me. What tools and software do you use on a regular basis? We have a few cool little programs for each system that helps us test certain memory card situations. For example, we can use them to create corrupted files or full memory cards, and then see how our game responds. We can also fill it up with the exact amount of data size that we want, so that if a game of ours creates different sized save file, we can easily test it to make sure the game handles things correctly. What's your advice for breaking into your line of work? A good way is to start up a fan web site for your favorite game or games. But not just any old run of the mill site that is just borrowed and/or copied material from other sites. It has to be top notch, THE site to end all sites about your game. This is a great thing to do for many reasons. One, in order to have such a top notch site, you have to know something about computers & programming, so this will show your technical side. This way, both fans of your game and the creators will see your zest and zeal for video games, and maybe inquire you about part time testing. Other than that, you just have to be lucky.
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