Become a Video Game Designer Online

When it comes to online video games, the market is a strong one, and being a video game designer can be a lucrative career. Unlike technological fads that may come and go, the video game industry has only grown stronger since its beginning, and video games are appealing to a wide demographic. A video game designer will be in constant demand as long as he or she has the training and the skills to keep up in this highly lucrative and competitive business.

The Art Institute Online has a comprehensive program that can get people into the video game designer business quickly and successfully. Their Game Art and Design Bachelor degree program helps students focus on all aspects of video games, including producing detailed graphics, scene and set design, animation, background, and characters. A successful graduate of the Art Institute Online's Video Game Design program will be qualified to enter into the video game industry as a sought-after video game designer. Video Game DesignerVideo game tester, background artist, conceptual designer; these are just some of the fields that a graduate of the program will be able to enter.

If you are interested in enrolling in The Art Institute's Online Video Game Design program, then this probably means that you love video games. Although it may seem like a moot point, it is an important one. The video game industry is a fast-paced and intensive one, and in order to succeed in the business, video games should be one of your life's passions. Believe it or not, potential employers are going to be looking for this as well as training and skill. Employers look for experience in playing an assortment of video games as well as being able to design them. You need to be able to know what is currently popular and what is becoming yesterday's news; what is a well designed and produced video game and what is low-quality. A good video game designer needs to have his or her finger on the pulse of the video game playing public.

The Art Institute's Online Video Game Design program is constantly updated to include any new technology that has recently developed. This, coupled with your love for video games, makes a strong combination when you are applying for positions in the video game industry. The The Art Institute will give students a firm foundation for beginning a good, solid career, and for continually advancing as a successful video game designer.

With a Video Game Design program that is offered completely online, students can work any day of the week at the time that's convenient for them by completing assignments and participating in online discussions. Courses are six weeks long, and very study-intensive. No more than two courses should be taken at the same time. Instructors at The Art Institute Online are available for consultation through email or during the course of the online discussions. Students taking online courses through The Art Institute Online will receive the best training, as well as a consistently strong support network.

There is every reason in the world to turn your passion for video games into a lucrative career as a video game designer. Why simply play video games in your spare time when you can be designing the kind of games that you wish were available to you right now? The Art Institute Online can help you reach your goal of becoming a video game designer, and help ensure that you will always be involved in a business that you love and that is financially rewarding.

Copyright 2006 Michael V. Gruber, MPH

Find free information about online design degree programs that educate and develop artistic and imaginative students for careers in the fields of commercial art and design at http://www.design-degree-online.com.

How To Become a Video Game Tester - A Few Very Powerful Tips

Being a professional video game tester is a dream job. Most gamers would love the chance to be able to play great video games and get paid for it. Unfortunately though, most gamers think that paid video game testing is too far out of reach and will remain a dream forever. Well luckily, it's not a "dream" and anybody can be a paid video game tester with the right amount of experience and guidance.
The following tips should help you get started with a career in professional video game testing.
Tip 1: Don't Wait For Jobs to Find You, Get Out There and Find Them.
Video game tester jobs are not going to fall from the sky, so you can't expect to find them with a few glances at the Sunday newspaper. Therefore, instead of just sitting around and waiting, be proactive and actually chase those high paying testing jobs.
Make a beeline straight toward the game developers and present your case, no matter how poor or excellent it might be. Let them know who you are, what you do (game tester), and why you would make a great addition to their team/project.
It's important to remember that developers aren't going to hire you on the spot; so, don't let rejection get you down. They have lots of video game testers applying for projects and jobs, which means they can literally be as picky as they want to be. With that being said, be as confident as you can and be sure to let them know of all your gaming accomplishments and deeds. They should know about what games you play frequently, what consoles you own, what communities you are apart of, and any websites/blogs you own or help operate. No matter what the gaming accomplishment, big or small, it will help with landing you a job.
Tip 2: Don't Think "Hobby with Pay", Think "Career With Benefits!"
You have to keep in mind that developers pay video game testers as part of a job. They are not paying testers to merely enjoy video games at their own expense. Therefore, when you land a testing job, don't simply play it to have fun; play it like you are earning a paycheck. Does that mean you can't have any fun? No; it simply means you shouldn't make "fun" your top priority while testing video games.
If you take each and every testing job seriously and give it your all, you should have a much more successful game testing career.
Tip 3: Know What To Expect
The biggest part of being a professional video game tester is knowing the golden rule; which is "You are paid to test games, not to play them." There may be a fine line between the two, but any real game tester will tell you that the difference is definitely there.
The subtle difference between testing and playing is, well, work. A game tester will have to do actual work, such as filing reports & filling out questionnaires; as opposed to a regular game player, who will just relax and play the game at a leisurely pace. Admittedly, the work isn't back breaking, but it is work nonetheless.
The questionnaires are the easier part of game testing, as all the video game tester has to do is answer some general questions about the game and give his/her honest opinion. The reports, on the other hand, are a bit more difficult to do. These reports need to be filed on every bug/glitch that the tester comes across, and they have to be remarkably accurate. In each report, the video game tester has to describe what happened, where it happened, and how it happened. With this detailed information in hand, the developers & programmers will then fix the problem and find out why it happened in the first place. Every video game goes through this basic cycle, which is precisely why video game testers are so vital to the gaming industry.
As you can see, there really isn't all that much work involved with video game testing, but that doesn't mean it isn't a serious profession.
Tip 4: Build up a Network of Reliable Contacts.
Networking is a crucial part of professional video game testing. Although it is quite possible to have a prosperous career without a reliable network, having one just makes things easier.
A network of contacts can actually help your career in many different ways. The biggest thing it can do is give you heads up about new job openings and testing assignments that have been announced. Also, some of your contacts can even act as valuable references when applying for testing jobs. And, as if those two things weren't enough, your network can give you the inside scoop about what's going on behind closed doors.
Much like a video game tester job, a reliable network is not going to just jump out at you. Therefore, you will have to build it up all on your own. The best way to do that is by getting to know the industry and the people who work in it. Anyone that spends time around video games (professionally, of course) can be included in your network; game testers, developers, programmers, concept artists, art designers, graphics designers, technical support specialists, audio specialists, etc. Basically, if they know video games and work with video games, you want them in your network.
Tip 5: Don't Give Up. Keep Trying!
The unfortunate fact is that you are not going to land a video game tester job whenever you want one. As a matter of fact, it may be weeks or even months before you land your first testing job. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have what it takes; it just means you have to keep trying & giving it your best. Not many newcomers start off at the top of their game, which means you likely won't either. Hence, just give it time. After a few months and a few jobs, you should be able to get your footing and begin advancing in your career as a professional video game tester.

Do You Think You Are Ready For a Career as a Video Game Tester? Are You Prepared To Make Up To $120 an Hour Testing Video Games? If You Are, Click Here To Find Out How To Get Started With Your Very Own Game Testing Career.

To Get More Information on Video Game Testing & a Free "Quick Start" Game Tester E-book, Visit This Website... www.GameTestingParadise.com

How To Become A Video Game Tester - What You Need To Know!

How To Become A Video Game Tester is a commonly asked question onlin, probably because it seems to be such an attractive job! Just imagine being able to get up and the only work you had to do is get paid for playing video games.
That said and it sounds wonderful in theory but what do you need to know to learn How To Become A Video Game Tester? Today I am going to tell you a bit about how video game testing begun and explain why it is not as simple as just playing games for money!
When video games first started in the 80's there really was not much need for video game testers as a lot of the testing could be done by the programmers who were designing the games. This was mainly due to the size of the games that were being designed. As time went on and the video games became more complex there became more and more bugs in the games that the programmers themselves simply did not have time to spot or test for.
This was when the video game tester was born! The reason being was if a game was released that was too buggy and it got bad reviews then this would lead the video game company to lose a lot of money!
So what does a video game tester actually do?
Well in short what a video game tester does is during the building of a paticular video game, when it is nearly complete say 80% it is up to the video game tester to play the game and test for any errors or glitchs that may be in the gameplay, normally they are called bugs.
To learn How To Become A Video Game Tester you will need ti have good attention to detail and excellent communication skills as you will have to relay the info about the video game directly to the company or you might have to write it to them.
The pay for a video game tester can be quite high but does depend on your experience, also if you are wanting to know How To Become A Video Game Tester it is advisable to get a video game tester job part time at first and build up some experience to get the higher paid jobs!
So what can you do to learn How To Become A Video Game Tester?
The first thing you should do is seek out a video game developer as this can be an excellent starting point and they are the most likely to be able to land you a job. Although if you are not lucky enough to know a video game developer then I suggest you search the net for websites of game development companies and either search for video game tester jobs on the website or give them a call!
There are loads of video game development websites out there so if you ring enough you should strike gold. Another way you can learn How To Become A Video Game Tester is to search the net for sites that have done all the hard work for you and contain databases of video game tester jobs!
I hope this has helped you learn How To Become A Video Game Tester and helps you find your dream job!

Michael Fieldings is a qualified computer programmer and has ten years experience in IT. He writes articles and product recommendation on anything that can better your IT World!
For more info on How To Become A Video Game Tester and to learn how you can get your dream job in as little as 1 week Click the link below How To Become A Video Game Tester

How Do I Become a Video Game Tester? - Becoming a Video Game Tester

It's possible for you to become a video game tester. You can't just become a video game tester just like that. There are some things you need to know, have and do in order to become a game tester.
What are the things you need to know?

There is a reason why game manufactures assign jobs to interested video game testers. Your responsibility as a video game tester is to discover bugs in any game you are given to test. If you aren't experienced in playing video games, I tell you, you are not qualified for this job. Tell me; are you able to detect bugs in a video game? What is these bug you are talking about? Bugs are errors made why designing video games. As a human being, we have this spirit in us that tells us that this thing should be this way, that way or the other way round. If you are the type that has been playing games since you were a kid, I believe you would be able to detect bugs. Your job as a video game tester is just to detect bugs, write it in a report and your assignment is through, the next step is to submit to the report to the company, and then wait for your pay check. I tell you, detecting bugs is not so easy but you can do it. What you need is a short course on how this job is done and with it, you would conquer.
The short course I am talking about will guide you to successfully pass your first test. If you are able to impress the person that gave you the games to test at first, you've got a contract to continue to test and test games until you don't want to test anymore.
Furthermore, the compensation for testing games is encouraging. Won't you be okay with $40 to $150 per hours times the total number of hours you spend testing a particular game? There is no way you won't be okay with that salary. The video game industry is a multi-billion dollars industry, it even makes more revenue that the film industry.
Salary of a video game tester

The pay is okay compared to other testing jobs. You are paid with regards to the number of hours you spend testing games. The pay ranges from $10 to $150 per hour, which means that the more hours you spend testing video games, the more money you are going to earn.
Where to find a video game testing job

After you are familiar with what video game testing is all about, the next step is to apply for a video game testing job. This is another difficult stage of a video game testing career. It would be easy if you have the connections and know how to make them, but if you don't, it won't be so easy like eating hamburger and coke. All hope is not lost because I am going to offer you a guide on how to find one. How am I going to do that? It's possible to see a video game testing ads on the newspaper, classified sites and game magazines. Find these stuffs, both old and recent ones, and check if you can see any openings. If you see one, use their contact information like email, phone no or website to locate them and enquire if there is any opening for a video game tester.
Think of any game manufacturing company. Let's say, Microsoft Xbox, Sony, Nintendo and the rest of others. They normally post openings for video game testers in their website. I recommend you browse through their websites. Who knows? You might be lucky to find one. Apply for it with sufficient reasons why you are going to make a good testing job. Video game companies accept ages from 15 and above. There's no special degree to get a video game testing job but if you've got one in a video game related field, it will be an advantage. If after trying all these and you are able to get one, I recommend you try out some websites that have the listings for game companies that are hiring. One of them is gametestingground. They have a database of video game companies looking for video game testers with their contact info, how to apply and make sure you get the job.

GameTestingGround is a site that contains step-by-step guides on how you can learn the works of a video game tester and they also have listings of video game testing openings around the States. Visit them today and begin your video game tester career. Check it out at http://gamertestinggroundreview.blogspot.com/