How To Be A Games User Researcher: Run better playtests, reveal usability and games UX issues, and make games better

Love video games? Start your career making them better.

Games user researchers run playtests to ensure games are understandable and enjoyable, and are a key part of making games that people love. The video games industry is full of passionate people who care about making fun experiences. If you love games, and want to make them better, consider a career in games user research.



Drawing upon ten years of experience working on top games and helping people start their career in games How To Be A Games User Researcher is the essential guide on how to run professional quality playtest studies and get a job in the games industry.



What's in the book?

Discover

How games development works and where research fits inHow to plan, run, analyse and debrief professional quality playtestsThe importance of building relationships with game teamsHow to start a career in user researchThe skills required to excel at job interviews



Who is this book for?

This book is for:

Students considering a career in games user researchUX researchers looking to transition into gamesNew games user researchersAcademics studying games design, development, or HCIGame designers and developers looking to improve the quality of their playtests



About the author

Steve Bromley led research studies for many of PlayStation's top European games including Horizon: Zero Dawn, SingStar and the PlayStation VR launch lineup. He continues to work with games and VR studios to improve the player experience of their games.



For the last five years, Steve Bromley has run a games user research mentoring scheme, which has partnered over one hundred students with more than fifty industry professionals from top companies such as Sony, EA, Valve, Ubisoft, and Microsoft, and helped many people get their first job in games.

This book covers many of the topics that mentees have asked as they start their games user research career.