7 hours ago, Paarth said:
How can it be doable for testers to play/test the overall game in one sitting? Like how can testers test saving, game progressing, data checking etc separately if there is no debug mode?
There are many different kinds of tests.
One type of test is to jump around to key areas to ensure nothing is obviously broken. This typically means starting the game, getting into gameplay, opening menus, and running through some very basic functionality. This is called a smoke test or a build verification, with the "smoke" name coming from the terms for major systems being on fire, looking for smoke or signs that the major systems are broken. These usually take a few minutes, and is one of the first tests that happen to a new build.
It is fairly rare that testers play the entire game in one sitting, and for some games, such a continuous play-though test requires multiple people to run it continuously or requires the tester to pause for the night. Usually a continuous playthrough only happens with smaller games that can be won within a few hours.
As for no debug mode, there are typically cheats enabled for testing. Skip to levels, skip to zone, spawn items, lock player health so no damage, kill nearby monsters, complete the round, score a point instantly, that sort of thing. Details depend on the game. A golf game could have cheats to jump to any hole, drop the ball anywhere on the course, give an instant win or perfect shot by teleporting the ball to the hole, and other testing cheats to make it easier/faster to test arbitrary conditions.
8 hours ago, Paarth said:
how is a game testing job in demand if its not a well paid one? And how does it not work like that for a programmer's job?
Game testing generally requires a minimal skill set. Testers generally range from high-school dropouts to college students, hired on a short-term contract from 1-6 months, and dismissed at the end of the project. Testers need to be creative at finding new ways to break a game, but most testers do little more than superficial tests. Skilled testers tend to be hired permanently and are quickly promoted to lead roles among other testers.
A game tester will generally earn more than less skilled jobs, more than flipping burgers or working a cash register at Walmart, but it is not highly paid.
A game programmer, on the other hand, is a highly skilled job. Programmers generally get the highest salary of all the game development roles. There is an annual game developer salary survey put together by Gamasutra, Game Industry Career Guide, and a few other groups you may wish to read.
8 hours ago, Paarth said:
Didn't you once say in your lessons that nothing is ever enough?
Context is important. Many things are enough, some things are never enough. Often looking for "enough" is a person's way of asking "what is the minimum I have to do?" Other times, never being enough is for tasks that must be continuous through your life, like constantly learning. Still other times, games are never truly done, they reach a point of being good enough to ship, as good developers could find improvements to make for many decades.
In this case, referring to the workload of testers, that is plenty of work to keep testers busy. As the game gets close to final and is finishing out the last few rounds of testing, it is often enough for hours of overtime work as the overtime hours are generally cheaper than hiring new testers and getting them trained on the game testing procedures.
