zdlr
02-06-2004, 07:07 AM
Well, I thought this would be of interest to some people, I concerns my first week as a Games Tester at Atari Australia, I added the Australia part so I arent linked in any shape or form to the game known as Horizons.
Anyhow, I got a phone call last Friday offering myself a 1 week trial at Atari Australia, a 'foot in the door' if you will, which may lead on to full time work. So from that call Friday afternoon, I quit my comfy full tiem job as a PC tech for Retail stores with 3 hours notice, and moved 200kms away to the city of Melbourne, in a nice place near the beach (hooray! girls, surf, sun and sand!)
I walked in to Atari HQ at 9.30 on Monday morning, being prompt on time, as always ;P
I rang the reception bell since no one was there, only to have a wall panel open behind me and someone pop out and ask me what I wanted. A secret door. Impressed already, but I am easily impressed.
I was guided in to to the main QA office by the QA manager who was just setting up a Playstation 2 and TV at my desk, and told me I would be testing thier latest game in the works, Transformers Armada.
While I got giddy at the thought of playing as Optimus Prime, my favourite transformer, I was given instructions about the report I should prepare while playing through the game. This report would be my salvation.
Now, I consider myself a keen gamer, I know my games, I know my shit about games, and I play a lot. Nothing could prepare me for the mental torture that would be ahead.
Imagine playing a game, 9 hours a day, you wake up, get ready, go to work, play the game. Only that game, with no break except for lunch. You cant turn it off, you have to run around collecting every single fucking item in the game, and complete it 100% of 3 diffculty levels.
Welcome to my world. This game wasn't what I would call 'Fun' after 3 large 9 hour days of playing it, with little breaks, and many screams of frustration that I couldnt let out due to the office enviroment.
The report however, gave me some grace, I could type in MS Word my report which ended up being 10 pages long, at the end of the week, Friday afternoon, I found MS Word to be more fun than playing the game.
I never, ever, want to see the game Transformers Armada ever again.
Not saying that it is a bad game, Its actually quite entertaining, and is great fun, with a Halo-ish style of play, however, the conditions that I played it under made me hate it.
Also, if anyone, at anytime, has said you should get glasses, or shoudl wear your glasses if you have them, please listen to them if you choose to follow this path. Im meant to wear glasses, but I never did, the strain on my eyes over the past few days in beyond grasp. Its the most tiring game experience I have ever had.
I still however, want to be a games tester, or even better, a designer. I guess i'm batshit insane. I should be hearing back from Atari about full time work in the next 2 weeks :)
Anyhow, I got a phone call last Friday offering myself a 1 week trial at Atari Australia, a 'foot in the door' if you will, which may lead on to full time work. So from that call Friday afternoon, I quit my comfy full tiem job as a PC tech for Retail stores with 3 hours notice, and moved 200kms away to the city of Melbourne, in a nice place near the beach (hooray! girls, surf, sun and sand!)
I walked in to Atari HQ at 9.30 on Monday morning, being prompt on time, as always ;P
I rang the reception bell since no one was there, only to have a wall panel open behind me and someone pop out and ask me what I wanted. A secret door. Impressed already, but I am easily impressed.
I was guided in to to the main QA office by the QA manager who was just setting up a Playstation 2 and TV at my desk, and told me I would be testing thier latest game in the works, Transformers Armada.
While I got giddy at the thought of playing as Optimus Prime, my favourite transformer, I was given instructions about the report I should prepare while playing through the game. This report would be my salvation.
Now, I consider myself a keen gamer, I know my games, I know my shit about games, and I play a lot. Nothing could prepare me for the mental torture that would be ahead.
Imagine playing a game, 9 hours a day, you wake up, get ready, go to work, play the game. Only that game, with no break except for lunch. You cant turn it off, you have to run around collecting every single fucking item in the game, and complete it 100% of 3 diffculty levels.
Welcome to my world. This game wasn't what I would call 'Fun' after 3 large 9 hour days of playing it, with little breaks, and many screams of frustration that I couldnt let out due to the office enviroment.
The report however, gave me some grace, I could type in MS Word my report which ended up being 10 pages long, at the end of the week, Friday afternoon, I found MS Word to be more fun than playing the game.
I never, ever, want to see the game Transformers Armada ever again.
Not saying that it is a bad game, Its actually quite entertaining, and is great fun, with a Halo-ish style of play, however, the conditions that I played it under made me hate it.
Also, if anyone, at anytime, has said you should get glasses, or shoudl wear your glasses if you have them, please listen to them if you choose to follow this path. Im meant to wear glasses, but I never did, the strain on my eyes over the past few days in beyond grasp. Its the most tiring game experience I have ever had.
I still however, want to be a games tester, or even better, a designer. I guess i'm batshit insane. I should be hearing back from Atari about full time work in the next 2 weeks :)