Best of Games User Research in 2022
Write a survey, find playtesters, create a portfolio, make time for UX research and more. Hectic!
Welcome to the last games user research newsletter of 2022.
It’s been a busy year for me - from the launch of the PlaytestKit in February, through sponsorship of the #gamesUR summit, the Games UX Summit, and some incubators.
My end of the year has been full of busy preparation for my 2023 projects throughout the rest of the year (more on this below).
I’ve also been really blown away by the growth in interest for these newsletters - we hit over 2,000 subscribers this year, and I’ve heard some great stories from people it’s helped.
I wanted to wrap up the year with a recap of some of the most successful posts from this year, in case you missed them.
As always, you can find the full list of posts, including some excellent interviews from earlier this year with games user researchers at Bungie, Meta, Player Research, Ubisoft, Activision, EA and more, on the website…
Top playtesting skills posts
How to write a playtest survey
Avoid some of the most common errors on how to write a survey, including how to avoid biased questions, the importance of finding the right players, and remembering to pilot!
How to find playtesters
Not all teams have the budget to use professional recruitment services. For everyone else, this post explains a process for creating a panel - a group of playtesters you can call upon when needed!
How to make time for games UX research
Teams always struggle to get the space they need to do proper UX research (or a proper UX design process). Here’s some tactics for creating the space needed to ‘do proper UX’
How many players do I need for a playtest
A more nuanced answer to ‘how many players are enough for my playtest'. The answer is 5. Except when it’s not.
Top career posts
Moving from academia into games user research
This year, I completely rewrote this post on the challenges of moving from academia into the games industry, and some tactics for showing that you are ready to work in games. We’ll return to this theme again next year!
How to get games user research experience (before you have a job)
Having genuine experience of working with games puts you in the top 10% of job applicants. But how do you get that experience when you don’t work in the industry already? In this adaption of my 2021 GRUX conference talk, this post explains a process for getting real experience of working in game development, so you can stand out from other applicants,
Make a games user research portfolio
Do you need a portfolio to work in user research? No. Will it make it easier to convince hiring managers to take you seriously? Yes. Learn how.
17 Interview questions to prepare for
Once you have the interview, prepare to ace it with these mock interview questions.
What’s coming in 2023
The start of 2023 will be packed…
The next free e-book should be ready in January, which is based on my interviews this year with hiring managers. I’ve asked them to explain all their secrets, and what they are looking for in candidates - unmissable if you hope to get a job in games next year!
I’ll also be launching the first of my research method masterclasses, focused on survey design. More on this soon!
The gamesuserresearch.com website is being entirely refreshed in January next year, to move away from its origins as ‘a landing place for the How To Be A Games User Researcher book’, towards being more appropriate for the community it’s grown into.
I’ll also be moving these newsletters away from substack, as I’ve hit some limits in what it offers. This shouldn’t mean a disruption to subscribers (unless it all goes wrong).
Happy New Year
I hope everyone has a great December, and finds some time to play some excellent games - For me, I’ll be finishing Guardians of the Galaxy, and then hope to fit in Telling Lies, the new Stanley Parable remaster, and the new Monkey Island… wish my luck!
See you all in 2023.
Steve