iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Steve Bromley

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 11/09/2026

Continuing to quietly beat the drum of "Designing without testing is like painting with your eyes shut."

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Reviewing Sound on a 100 point scale - Metacritic couldn’t handle the review scores of the 90s.

A screenshot of a review of Starfox from the Mario All Stars video

They rate Graphics 98%
Sound 96%
Game Play 97%
Value 96%

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Lis @thewritegame.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A rundown on narrative playtesting by @stevebromley.bsky.social. I’m a big believer in conducting proper user research if you have the access and means to do it. Golden data.

gamesuserresearch.com

How to playtest your game’s story | Games User Research

How to safely approach testing both comprehension and appeal for the story of your game.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Seeing so many user research-adjacent platforms promising "instant insights" - two words that shouldn't go together. You can't get insight from one clip, one player, one moment. That's a data point. Insight is only gained when you find the context - often a long, multi-faceted, multi-channel thing.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

If you’re at Develop this week, look out for my article in MCV/Develop about playtesting for story appeal & comprehension - The magazine is free for attendees.

MCV Develop magazine - open to the arricle “testing story in games”

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Wow, amazing review scores for Denshattack! Was great to be small part of the journey!

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Like much of the UK games industry, I'll be at Develop this week. Tuesday & Wednesday is pretty packed, but let me know if you're around on the Thursday and up for a chat about playtesting, games user research, or seagulls.

A seagull stealing chips. The caption is 'I'll be at Develop - come say hello and we'll chat about playtesting'

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

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

Google's AI overview says"
Relevent, often mispelled as relevent...

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Hazel Weakly @hazelweakly.me · 31/03/2026

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I’ll probably go for the paperback version…

Amazon book options
Paperback £7.98
Hardcover £1309

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

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.

A version of the coyote Meme.
My neighbour told me the paintress keeps eating his expeditions, so i asked how many expeditioners he has and he said he just goes to Lumiere and gets a new expedition afterwards so i said it sounds like he's just feeing expeditions to the paintress and then his daughter started crying.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

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...

eurogamer.net

New report claims Crimson Desert's development was plagued by "a hodgepodge of features crammed together" and leaders who "don't acknowledge anyone who doesn't share their exact mindset"

Two Pearl Abyss developers have claimed Crimson Desert was developed in a troubled environment, characterised by an inv…

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

This LinkedIn -> English converter hurts.

A translation screen. I've written "i'm a games user researcher". It answers "I watch people play video games and write reports about why they're frustrated, which the developers will inevitably ignore."

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

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.

A picture of Password’s menu screen. It says
Parseword, a tricky wordplay game. With buttons for Today’s puzzle and settings

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Cheryl Platz @funnygodmother.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

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.

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chloe 🟄°⋆ 🔜 game UX summit @chloehodgson.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

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!!

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Elizabeth Zelle @kohizeri.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

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

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Elizabeth Zelle @kohizeri.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

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

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Lissanna @lissanna.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

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

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Lissanna @lissanna.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

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

gamesur.com

Coming Soon (Conference) | Games User Research Community

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

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.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

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?

Image from Lies of P — illustrative only, not one of our projects last year.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

“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.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

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...

gamesuserresearch.com

How Sharkmob's bank vault tests refine a live game like Exoborne | Games User Research

From a handful of players to hundreds of thousands - and back again. User testing is in Sharkmob's DNA.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

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 🏛️

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Gregg Bernstein (he/him) @gregg.io · 01/12/2025

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

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Game A11y Gathering @ga11ygathering.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

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!

youtube.com

Game Accessibility Gathering

The Game Accessibility Gathering is an independent gaming accessibility micro conference in the UK. We focus on sharing knowledge around accessibility in games, supporting and celebrating newer speake...

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

./yemáko/badgames.zip @badgameszip.itch.io · 20/11/2025

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

store.steampowered.com

an unplayable game?! on Steam

a game about accessibility settings that's just a *bit* too hard for you to play effectively. 10-15 minutes in length with 30+ minutes of developer commentary!

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

“But for me it was Tuesday, Charlie Brown”

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

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!

A screenshot from Dispatch. It shows the protagonist in a lift, surrounded by superheroes.

He does not look super.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

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!

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

Damion Schubert @zenofdesign.com · 21/10/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

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

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Reposted by Steve Bromley

John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

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...

researchi.co.uk

RI971: UK-Wide Digital Accessibility Research - £100

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

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

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

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

The cover art for and Roger. It depicts a hand drawn art style of a woman/girl waking through an internal door.

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

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...

gamesuserresearch.com

How to build user testing into your development process, from concept to release | Games User Research

How to build user testing into your development process, from concept to release - from experience production at Tencent & PlayStation

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

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

Elrond from Lord Of The Rings. “the Time of elves is over”

Lots of the rings “the age of man is over”

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Steve Bromley @stevebromley.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

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.

A screenshot from Time Flies. It shows a hand drawn picture of a fly landing on a guitar

A screenshot from Ooo. It shows a caterpillar in a puzzle room with a frog

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