I help people start a career as a user researcher in the games industry, and unlock better playtests for game developers.
Do you know enough about games development? [🎮 gamesuserresearch.com]
Do you know enough about games to work in the industry? |
If you want to work in games user research, you need to:
Many people coming from other industries, or academia, have a lot of experience running user research. But they often struggle with the latter - showing they know enough about game development to convince hiring managers. An introduction to game developmentThis month I dive into the game development process, and explain how games user research can help at each stage. Learn what you need to know about the development process, the people we work with, and typical research objectives throughout development. It also features a fantastic talk from Dana Nightingale revealing the interaction between user researchers and her design team on the development of Deathloop.
Getting your first game credit before you work in the industryThis month I also spoke to Cole Davis, a recent graduate on his way into the games industry. He has partnered with a small developer to get his first games user research game credit. In the interview we discuss his approach, and his advice for others looking to get their first experience working in games.
Look out for another email from me later this month, where I share a free video course for developers to find appropriate playtesters, and some recent articles I've written for PlaytestCloud about how to run player interviews. Have a great month! Steve |
Suite 1, The Courtyard, The Old Monastery, Windhill, , Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 2ND |
Steve Bromley - gamesuserresearch.com
I help people start a career as a user researcher in the games industry, and unlock better playtests for game developers.
Hello friends! You may remember we spent the first half of 2023 asking developers about their playtesting habits - what do they playtest, when do they playtest, how often, and what problems they face. We had hundreds of responses, which far exceeded my expectations. I'm really glad to share that Jackson Herd and myself have finished combing through the results, and are ready to share what we learned! What did we learn about playtesting? Some highlights (including fantastic illustrations from...
gamesuserresearch.com Define your players "Who are my players" is a valuable question for any game developer to ask. Vague (or non-existent) definitions of your players will make it harder to make good design decisions, harder to target players with marketing, and will lead to inaccurate playtest conclusions. But many player definitions are vague, or unhelpful. In this article, I've explored why it's valuable to define your players - shared what a bad definition looks like, and the steps...
gamesuserresearch.com Run better internal playtests Many studios spend a few hours each Friday playing their own game. This 'dogfooding' is hugely important for understanding the current state of the build, get a feel for the game, and getting some rough feedback on current design decisions. But I also hear complaints. Teams tell me that: They are receiving too much feedback and don't know how to handle it The feedback they get is vague or unspecific, and often defaults to just spotting bugs...