Ten Phrases You Need to Know in the Gaming Industry

Before you jump into the video game industry, it’s very important you know what you’re talking about. The people who hire new employees need to know that anyone they hire will be well versed in their work and the requirements that each programmer, developer and tester is held to. Here are ten terms that you’ll hear a lot as you start your search:

·         Alpha Testing – This is the earliest stage of testing, when the game is roughly 75% done. Alpha testing is done entirely internally and strives to find game crashing bugs in the build.

·         Beta Testing – When the big bugs are tracked down and quashed, the next stage of testing starts. Beta testing occurs internally and sometimes externally to test for small bugs, user interface problems, or simply balance issues in the game.

·         QA Testing – Finally, QA testing is done just before launch to find any remaining bugs. Many QA testers will play through a game level for hours, simply looking for ways to break it.

·         Black Box – This refers to the experience a player would have playing the game. Testing is done in this phase later in the cycle to see how the game operates under consumer circumstances.

·         White Box – A game tester can access the game as well as the code so they can see what is happening under the hood as they test.

·         Build – A build is a single iteration of the game as it has developed. Each build is numbered and separated during testing. Bugs will be fixed in one build and tested again in the next build to see if they have been effectively patched (or if new bugs have developed).

·         Test Plan –A walkthrough of the specific needs for a game tester. Programmers or lead testers will map out test plans to help the tester go through the content in the necessary order. A test suite is a set of test plans that will describe the testing needs for an entire build.

·         C++ - A common Object Oriented Programming language that focuses on function based code. This is a very common programming language used in game development.

·         XNA – A relatively new programming language developed by Microsoft to help game developers speed through certain common functions and reduce potential bugs in the testing phase.

·         Bug Report – A report produced by a tester after a test case has been followed outlining a bug, how it was produced and what it specifically did to the game when activated.

This is only a starter list of terms you’ll need to know as you get going in the game industry. If you’re truly interested in learning more about how to become a game tester or developer, make sure to read up on the industry as much as possible. Not only does your technical knowledge need to be top level, you should understand the world into which you will be entering if you get hired.