Make Time for Games UX || Networking into the industry [Games User Research 👾]
Create time to do your job | Networking into your first research role | Player Research's Ula Karpińska | Jobs | A new research library
Hi friends
Another packed issue this month, with new features on how to make time for games UX research in busy production environments and how networking can get you ahead when applying for games jobs.
Plus an exclusive interview with Player Research’s Ula Karpińska, new research library from my friends at Apple and Banana, new games research jobs, and more…
What are you waiting around here for? Let’s go! 👇👇👇
Better Playtesting
Make time for Games UX
Developing a game can be a project management disaster, lurching from crisis to crisis until we hit the launch date (and then diving straight into developing the DLC!)
For UX researchers or designers this can make it difficult to do our job ‘properly’.
Our processes require time, and there never seems to be time to do proper research, explore design options, or think about what we’re doing.
Often UX practitioners aren’t given the space to do the job they were hired to do – they know what they are meant to be doing, and have the UX skills required, but feel stuck or unable to do their job. And iteration becomes a pipe dream.
This is frustrating, and leads to disengagement or burnout. This month I’ve written up a selection of immediate and long-term tactics that we can use to create the time for proper playtesting, research, UX design and iteration to happen.
From the archive: Write a playtest survey
Surveys are an important tool to get right, and one of the hardest to master - it’s hard to spot bad data from a survey, and easy to get mislead into bad decision making. Oh no!
I’m currently working on more guidance for writing excellent surveys - but in the meantime, here’s an introduction from last year on How To Write A Playtest Survey.
Organising playtesting with kids
The fantastic Mégane Lacroix has written on the Player Research blog about how to organise and moderate playtests with kids. Read the full article on Player Research’s site here.
The Playtest Kit: New Email Course
Welcome to all my new subscribers. If you’re here for better playtesting, you need The Playtest Kit.
…the perfect tool for game development teams of any size...
Jo Haslam - Design Director at Snap Finger Click
New this month is a free email course to help you get your first 100 playtesters. Find it at the bottom of the page!
Get into Games User Research
Networking into Games UX research
It’s hard to get your first job in games user research. Despite putting hours into a CV or cover letter, you often don’t even get an interview, and never hear back. This is disheartening, and eventually leads to disillusionment, and giving up on your dreams to work in video games.
Networking is one tool available to us to make sure that your resume gets read, and you make it through that first review stage.
I’ve completely rewritten last year’s guide to networking when trying to join the industry, to help people who are trying to get started maximise their chance that their resume or CV gets read.
Career Interview: Ula Karpińska - Games User Researcher at Player Research
This month I’ve been talking to Ula Karpińska, who is a games user researcher at Player Research, based in Brighton.
She shared her journey from community management into games user research, the challenging parts of the recruitment process, and getting her dream job!
Games UX Research Jobs
Team 17 - Junior User Researcher - Nikka from the excellent research team at Team 17 has shared two junior user research roles for people with no previous UX experience.
Player Research - Games User Researcher - roles based in the UK and Montreal with Player Research (thanks Anirudh Ganesh for sharing the role)
Find more roles, including a senior role based in New Zealand on the website.
How To Be A Games User Researcher
Want to kickstart your journey into games user research, and learn how to ace games job interviews? Pick up the bestselling How To Be A Games User Researcher
Essential reading for anyone aspiring to work in games user research and those who are early in their careers…
This is a book I sincerely wish I had at my disposal when I was a grad student.
Jess Tompkins, UX Researcher at EA
A new research library
My friends at Apple and Banana have just released their new research library and toolkit, and have shared an exclusive code just for us.
Here’s what they had to say:
Fruitful, powered by the globally-read UX research publication Apple & Banana, is here! Packed with 6 research collections covering every phase of experience research, 15 tactical guides that address the most common situations with new content updates automatically included every 90 days, Fruitful was crafted to do one thing: unlock and upgrade your experience research. Unlock it now at https://fruitful.appleandbanana.org/purchase and use our special code GUR20off at checkout to save 26.67%.
I’ve been following the development of this for a while, and briefly worked with them on a game in the past. I think the guide gives unique perspectives on the research process, beyond the same ol’ stuff covered on the internet. Do check out the free samples, and then pick it up!
Next Month:
🍾 Learn how to master pop-up research
🎓 How to make the move from academia into games user research
💬 Career interviews with some excellent games user researchers
💼 New games industry jobs
🧑🚀 More!
Have a great month!
Steve
(Made it this far? Here’s another duck as a reward for making it to the end 🦆 )