The Right and Wrong way to get into the Video Game Industry

I was reading a few interesting stories on my Pulse News Reader the other day and coincidentally read 2 very different experiences of starting (or attempting to start) a career in the video game industry.  I happened to read them one after the other despite having starkly unrelated headlines.

The right way can be found through Eurogamer here: The Right Way

The wrong way can be found here through Kotaku: The Wrong Way

Personally I had never attempted to contract as a tester myself, although that may be due to the very limited opportunities in Australia in the first place, but I do feel like it would definitely be the wrong way to go about starting a career.

Finding bugs in video games takes skill for sure, but less obvious bugs are often addressed in post release patches these days.  That leads to one very harsh conclusion.  As a game tester you need to be happy to play games FOR FREE.  Therefore getting paid, however little it may be, is simply a bonus.  If you think about it for a second, game breaking bugs are often found immediately or require only a handful of testers going through 1 play-through to find.  Anyone could do it.  Why place value on somebody working a position that anyone could do?  It sounds harsh but it's the brutal truth that can be seen in almost every industry.  Working hard might help but when less obvious issues are left to the release's player base to report. Your hard work then becomes like lending somebody some cash on their way to an ATM.  They don't need it but they'll gladly take it before paying you back, leaving you with nothing more than what you started with. 

Making mods on the other hand, have been a tried and true method for breaking into the games industry.  Some notable individuals and studios that entered the industry this way include Minh Le and Jesse Cliffe (Counter-Strike), Garry Newman (Garry's Mod), IceFrog (DOTA) as well as the interviewee in the above article, Adam Foster (Minverva: Metastasis).

Why? How? When?  To answer Why and How, they added extra content to an existing game for free whilst utilising assets within the original game that helped solidify the prowess of the original developers.  They would have contributed a great deal to the sales numbers of the games they modded without seeking any reward.  An employer sees value where the revenue gained equates to no expense.  To answer When, they were all hired at a point where their particular skills became abundantly obvious in terms of delivering content, and adhering to the player-base's requests.

The most important difference between the right and wrong way was the passion shown between each example.  The right way shows a sincere love for making games, whereas the wrong way had the mindset of anyone working a temp job.  "This is only temporary, I won't be here forever".  Anyone who finds themselves thinking the latter will find themselves in limbo for longer than they intended.


For me in Australia, the best way to get into video game development is through the now thriving indie scene.  I am working on a little something special in my spare time, and I'll hopefully be able to share it with you soon.