Checking spelling on Google - this automated summary hurt my brain...

I’ve posted it before, but it feels evergreen The two hardest problems in Computer Science are 1. Human communication 2. Getting people in tech to believe that human communication is important

Great talk, including showing the impact of research studies to help inspire and inform decisions throughout iterative development!

I’ll probably go for the paperback version…

Finished Expedition 33, a while after everyone else. Not normally my genre, but I was hooked by the mystery of the prologue, and couldn't put it down.

Games are complex systems, requiring multiple disciplines to go in the same direction often without a clear map of where we are going- it’s why team alignment is one of the most hardest parts of game development: www.eurogamer.net/new-report-c...

This LinkedIn -> English converter hurts.

Enjoying Parseword this week, from @josh.powerlanguage.co.uk It feels like I’m learning a skill (how to do cryptic crosswords), creating an incentive to stick with it each day.

It's Tuesday: #EnduringPlay day! We move from last week's research of games on the market to very practical playtesting of individual #videogames while they're in production with @stevebromley.bsky.social, author of How to Be A Games User Researcher, with something for all. #gamedev #uxresearch

Excellent thread from @maxnichols.bsky.social I see this frequently when working live service & mobile teams who are lucky enough to have an active Discord - they represent *some*of your players, & have a big sway on vocal opinions, but don’t represent the vast majority of your player’s behaviour.

gotta remind myself that other devs know the score and understand when I say that - I've been in the industry for 5 years, and tomorrow is the first time a game with a significant amount of my work is gonna be played by the public... I'm so nervous!! and proud!! please play the Denshattack demo!!

My lukewarm take Spamming LinkedIn requests is not networking. Stop advising people trying to break into the games industry to do this Networking isn't a game you can min/max, it's about actual personal connections. Shitposting on Bluesky is a better networking tool than blind LinkedIn connections

A excellent piece on why 'Design by Reddit' is a terrible replacement for actual user research. Keeping a finger on the pulse of social media sentiment can be an important *complement* to understanding your users (and even add context to your research responses), but can't replace #GamesUR

Xbox Research is looking for feedback on accessibility options in video games!

The IGDA GURSIG is happy to announce the #gamesUR Summit 2026 in Helsinki, Finland this May 2026. We look forward to connecting our community again! Keep an eye on our website for details. www.gamesur.com/coming-soon-... #GamesUR #UserResearch #GameDev

This is the core issue with tools promising to automate playtest/UR data analysis. We run studies to find new answers. Hallucinations create plausible sounding answers. There’s no way to identify what the hallucinations are without doing the same analysis yourself.

Last year I ran a lot of playtests on “difficult” games - it was a big year for soulslikes. One challenge came up again and again: How do you handle difficulty in a genre that’s famous for being hard?

“How did we make Wizards good? We asked players which bits were bad, then fixed them” Love the focus on playtesting for running a sustainable game studio.

This month our interview series spoke to Sharkmob’s Brynley Gibson about user research for live service games and balancing data with creativity. gamesuserresearch.com/how-sharkmob...

It’ll be sad when Jools does his last Hootenanny. Lucky it won’t be in our lifetimes.

51 books this year, similar pace to last year. Some favourites I read for the first time in 2026: - Klara and the Sun ☀️ - Lincoln in the Bardo 🪦 - Strange Pictures 🖼️ - Time for lights out ⛄️ - Politics on the edge 🏛️

New from my blog: The only winning move is not to play https://gregg.io/the-only-winning-move "Let’s not debase ourselves as user researchers further"

It's been a while! But we're pleased to say that all our micro talks from our event are live on Youtube 🥳 www.youtube.com/@GameAccessi... Huge thanks to our wonderful speakers!

forgive me for the quick promo, but my first FREE game is almost at 50 reviews on steam, only 10 more to go! as a reward, i'm planning on setting up a 50% off discount code for my patreon when the game hits 50 reviews. more info below, but EVERY REVIEW helps! #gamedev #indiedev #solodev #indiegame

“But for me it was Tuesday, Charlie Brown”

Listening to Mr Blue Sky in five second bursts, spread over a year, whenever my phone forgets i’m listening to a podcast and defaults to Apple Music

On to the last episode of Dispatch. Enjoyed this very much - looking forward to another playthrough with different choices. The comics have been fun too!

I’ve accidentally lit the beacon, and now Rohan’s army will be here in five days. Does anyone know if there is a call-out fee?

So unbelievably hooked on Hades 2. Started this weekend and can’t stop with new runs.

Had a session as a research participant today, which was enlightening. I could see a number of factors where the platform could have lead to me not knowing when or how to join the session - potentially creating no-shows. Worth checking the participant experience for the platform you use!

Your idea ain't shit if it don't playtest well.

Excellent this is now Steam Deck optimised - jumped to the top of my weekend to-play list!

AI in “can’t deliver when anyone cares about the quality of the output” shocker.

Our team are running user research concerning games accessibility. This is a paid research session open to UK residents. Please register your interest below if you are interested in taking part. @researchi.bsky.social www.researchi.co.uk/projects/RI9...

Huge fan of previous Size Five games - in particular Behold The Kickmen, and Lair Of The Clockwork God. Looking forward to what’s next!

Tom Arnold on this list also confirms True Lies 2… still waiting!

With the invention of the .webp format, humanity has finally achieved it’s goal of creating an image format no-one can open.

Played ‘and Roger’ this weekend. Can’t say too much about it, but it will stick with me for a long time.

A lot of my work has been from the perspective of user researchers - so I’m really excited about this new series of playtesting interviews showing a different viewpoint - starting with experienced producer Tom O’Connor: gamesuserresearch.com/how-to-build...

The Age of Man is … approx a couple of weeks?

Puzzle gaming today - played through Time Flies, and Ooo, with Blue Prince next. I always think puzzle games are interesting from a playtesting perspective - specifically how to balance the intended difficulty bs frustration.

Worryingly, life membership of the Tate is only 25 years. What do they know that I don't?

It’s been such a bonkers couple of weeks, but this is HUGE news and affirmation for my new #gameDev book. If endorsements from folks like Will Wright and Jesse Schell and @stevebromley.bsky.social weren’t enough, we’re being featured by Kirkus Reviews as a recommendation in their print mag Oct 15. 💜

My experience in many games

I recently enjoyed the book LAN Party, with its many pictures bringing back memories of late, nerdy, nights.

I really liked the mechanic in I Am Alive of bullets being very scarce in the post-apocalyptic world, making each shot a concious and costly decision. It also ended on a cliffhanger - would be fun to see it come back!

Concerned seeing teams rely on automated analysis of think-aloud data to find usability issues with games. In complex systems like games, players often don’t know they are experiencing issues or haven’t understood correctly. You need to watch them, and ask questions, to uncover this!

Game development is a challenging environment for user researchers, because we can’t rely on user needs as the baseline for our studies. Good playtesting will push teams first to define “what are we trying to make”, & then iterate that vision based on seeing players interactions.

Really excited to see this announced - It’s been fantastic supporting Fireshine and the @denshattack.bsky.social team with research for this - a very stylish and fun game!