Heuristic Analyses – otherwise known as ‘expert analyses’ – are a powerful method in games user research. They’re also some of the most difficult to perform: no player data, no triangulation, and a game-wide remit.
At the 2018 gamesUR conference in San Fran I presented a talk in the Foundations track, based on a meta-analyses of expert reviews by junior researchers.
A GDC microtalk session on the types and value of player data for exploring retention. Slides are available free, but the video requires GDC Vault access.
Max Pears – level design guru and podcast host – invited me onto Level Design Lobby. We discussed the origins of games user research, the role player data has in gamedev, and how to test if things are fun.
At 4C in Prague I joined Shawn Stafford, Mia Lahteenmaki, Celia Hodent & Jason Schklar to discuss the challenges, practices, and methods of UX researchers.
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I chaired the fourth gamesUR conference, hosting talks from researchers and data analysts from across Europe.
4C Conference in Prague hosted a user experience track. I shared advice on the means by which player data can be used throughout development.
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In 2017 I project managed the establishment of Player Research’s second branch. Montreal is host to hundreds of game development studios, and a community of talented games user researchers.
Sporting a new venue and new visual identity, I chaired the gamesUR conference again in 2017. The Cavendish Conference Centre provided exceptional hospitality for a series of wonderful talks.
My talk on designing a playtest lab had a certain Jakob Nielsen in the audience. It was subsequently featured in the NNGroup article explaining the myriad differences between mainstream user research and games user research.
Sebastian Long from Player Research in the UK described his company’s playtesting lab: The observation room included a big projection display with reduced versions of 12 users’ screens, as well as a pushbutton switch for observers to select one of the 12 screens to be magnified. […] This need to alternate between surveying many peoples’ broad behavior and detailed attention to a single person’s specific interactions is rare outside games research.
Jakob Nielsen, NNGroup
Running playtest sessions is remarkably difficult. It’s easy to overlook simple practices that can ruin the feedback you collect. This article considers common mistakes, through the lens of the playtester’s five senses.
To get unbiased and honest feedback from invited members of the general public you’ll need to carefully consider their every sight, sound and smell during your playtests. So what does a great playtest smell like?
