Everyone has something they love to do. A passion, a hobby which we pursue in spite of opposition. It can be found at different times, or we might never find it no matter how long we search. In Naveen’s case he found it when he was just a kid, playing on his game boy and consoles.
He looked at the screen and knew that this was what he loved to do. While he had no idea where his passion for gaming would take him, the seeds of his passion first sprouted during his early childhood.
If we were to describe Naveen in a few words, it would be dedicated, hardworking, somewhat short-tempered and a big Anime lover. His favorite animes are Naruto, One Piece and Death Note.
How it started
While Naveen’s love for gaming started in childhood, it was further developed during his college years when he came across a gaming course which led to him entering the gaming industry. His initial interest was in game art production, and he learned the basis of creating game art in this course.
But while he loved this aspect of the gaming industry it was not enough to keep his interest. In his own words “While game art development was interesting to learn, there were certain limitations on what you can contribute. You will be given a concept and you will draw it out and push it out into the pipeline and that will be it. But as a game tester, you can play different genres of games and give your input which can be used to improve the overall specs of the game. I felt it was important for me to see the games from the user’s perspective and I could do that as a game tester.”
This eventually led him to iXie.
From Game Art to Game QA
His first introduction to iXie was through the IGTA (The iXie Game Training Academy), where he learned everything he needed to know about the gaming industry and about his role as a game tester. After completing his training at IGTA, he joined iXie as a Test Associate in September 2018. Naveen will be completing 5 years with iXie this September.
On being asked how his time at iXie has helped him scale up this is what he has to say “At iXie, we can learn a lot about all aspects of gaming, not just the technical aspects. The learning at iXie is great.”
His 5 years of learning and growth at iXie have been a great help to him in his career. From a Test Associate he is now a senior test engineer who is currently working on a pretty cool VR game project. This is a very exciting project for Naveen, as VR is a relatively new field, and he looks forward to bringing this project to fruition.
Future Goals
Going forward, Naveen wishes to make use of the knowledge and skills he has in game art production and involve himself in game development in order to expand his scope further.
His advice to gamers who wish to enter the gaming industry is “You should not expect to be immediately given a high-end game to test when you have just entered the industry. So, keep your expectations to a minimum. Once you are familiar with your job role, you can get exposure to other genres and improve yourself. Game testing is not like other 9-5 jobs with fixed hours where you can come, work and then leave. While the timings are flexible you should also constantly keep improving yourself to advance further in this field.”
