Ask the question: “if you could do anything as a job, what would it be?” and the response for most gamers will be the same – a video games tester. Little wonder. Play video games all day everyday, and then get paid for the “effort”? That has to be one of the sweetest rackets going on.

A common and idealistic misconception about game testing is that the tester will do little else other than playing games 24/7. Whilst there can be no denying that this is a part of the process, it is by no means the only part of the puzzle.

Testing a game is often a tedious, dull, time consuming affair because the tester will be playing through the same segment of the game over and over in an attempt to remove any bugs, glitches and technical issues that may decide to rear their ugly heads. The process is an intricate and pain-staking one, and doing the same thing over and over can really take its toll.

The tester will also need to ensure that they record and note their findings carefully in order to then pass on the relevant details to the game development department who will then seek to remove the bugs and fix the errors. The tester will need to be very explicit and thorough as to the level of detail they submit, in order to help expedite the process.

Now that we have cleared up the issue of what a video game tester will actually involve, the next burning issue that we will need to look at is the issue of pay, i.e. how much money does the average tester get for their efforts?

First and foremost, it is important to appreciate that there are a number of different factors that come into play when it comes to this issue, although by far, the two most important and obvious of these are time involved and the level of experience of the tester. When you compare the typical salary of a video games tester to those of other personnel involved in the game production process, it deosn’t look great in comparison, but then it’s one of the few positions in the industry available to someone without a college degree. Another key variable is the quality of work of the tester, i.e. how accurate they are with their reports, how well they spot bugs, how effectively they communicate their findings. Roughly speaking, the typical average rate clocks in at the 20-30 dollars per hour mark, and it provides the tester with something much more valuable than just money – experience, and a “foot in the door” of the games industry.

For a free report on how to break into the games industry, and start earning a game tester salary visit betagamestester.com and download the free ebook to learn the secrets of how to test games for a living.

Unless you have been living on the planet Mars for the last few years you will have no doubt noticed that there has been a significant increase in the popularity and usage of Flash games. Many website owners are now finally realising that these games are an efficient and cost effective means of getting more clients and traffic to their website, as well as helping to raise awareness about their brand in general. Flash games and social network sites are very powerful allies indeed.

For a considerable period of time, Flash games and their creation along with the distribution of them was a very expensive and laborious process which typically involved the website owner having to wade through the portfolios of a lot of different programmers to find the right one for them, and then pay top dollar for their creation. This has all changed now with the availability of rebrandable Flash game source code at an affordable price.

The great thing about these games is that they are fully customizable and they can be altered with whatever material and content you require, and this makes it even easier to raise more awareness about your services and your website. Just insert your website name, logo, and some information about it and you now have a marketing tool.

Whilst you can alter the logos and links for the Flash template it is important to note that it is also possible to change the very way in which the game is displayed and how it functions. For example, you can alter the color scheme of the game, promote a mascot or logo, or change the gameplay to suit your visitors.

While Flash games are bread for driving traffic and building brand awareness, you can also profit from them directly. All you need to do is to rebrand them for your client and charge a suitable fee. Alternatively, modify the games and embed adverts from networks such as Mochiads to be paid every time someone plays the game.

Download Flash games FLA source code to learn from, modify, edit, rebrand and create brand new games at ViralFlashGames.com or find Actionscript game tutorial, articles, book reviews, game source code and more at FlashGamesClassroom.com