Build Your Studio's Research Power.
Good game design shouldn't be a lottery. Too many projects suffer from decisions based on guesswork, internal politics, and chaotic feedback, leading to wasted time and money. My core philosophy is that understanding your players is the most effective way to de-risk your investment and build games that succeed commercially and creatively.
My goal isn't just to give you a single report. It's to partner with your studio to install a permanent, professional process for making smart, evidence-based decisions. We work together to build your team's capability, giving you the confidence and clarity to create a hit.
Building a Resilient Studio
My role is to serve as the architect of your studio's player-research process. I provide the expert blueprint and senior oversight to ensure you're building a successful game on a solid foundation, saving you from costly rebuilds down the line.
1. The Blueprint (Strategic Design)
Before you lay a single brick, we design the strategic blueprint. We define what success looks like and map out a clear, phase-by-phase plan to get there, ensuring every development effort serves the larger vision for the game.
2. Building Capability (Team Mentorship)
I work alongside your team, mentoring them on how to use the tools and techniques of player-centric design effectively. I don't just hand over a plan; I teach your crew how to build, making them a more capable and self-sufficient team.
3. Quality Inspection (Expert Review)
Before you commit resources to a major build, I provide the crucial quality inspection. Acting as a second pair of expert eyes, I review your plans and prototypes to catch foundational flaws before they become expensive problems.
4. The Masterclass (Team Workshops)
For teams seeking a concentrated dose of expertise, I offer tailored workshops and seminars. We'll develop a curriculum based on my published work to address your specific challenges in game design, reward systems, or games user research, rapidly leveling-up your team's skills.
Key Publications
Atmospheric World-Building
A playbook for game creators, artists, and writers who believe that a world's history should be an archaeological dig site, not a textbook. This guide offers a practical framework for building worlds that haunt the player's imagination long after the screen goes dark.
Reclaim the Tabletop
A guide to 3D printed and player-owned wargames, offering a blueprint for a decentralized, community-governed hobby.
The Perfect Game
A designer's guide to building emergent worlds that build themselves by trusting players as creative partners.
The Sentient Engine
An exploration of procedural content generation, AI-driven narratives, and the future of generative game design.
Dark Patterns in Game Design
What if the game is designed to play you? Uncover the hidden architecture of exploitation in modern video games.
Manipulative Game Design
An empirical examination of psychological manipulation techniques in game design, structured as a methodological guide for recognizing and analyzing persuasive design patterns.
Player-Centered Game Design
A practical methodology for integrating player research into indie game development processes, including frameworks for early-stage player involvement and feedback integration.
Definitive Guide to Video Game Reward Design
Research-based approaches to reward system design, examining psychological principles and their application in creating engaging, ethical progression mechanisms.
The Puppet Master
An exploration of determinism and agency in game design, examining neuroscientific research and its implications for creating meaningful player choice and engagement.
Games User Research Methods
Comprehensive methodological guide covering established user research techniques adapted specifically for game development contexts and constraints.
Games User Research: Data Analysis and Visualization
Technical guide to statistical analysis and data visualization for game research, utilizing open-source tools and established analytical frameworks for player behavior analysis.
Games User Research: Process Mining
Advanced analytical techniques for examining player behavior patterns through process mining methodologies, enabling systematic analysis of gameplay sequences and decision patterns.
Games User Research: Network Analysis
Application of network science principles to gameplay analysis, including methodologies for constructing and interpreting gameplay graphs from telemetry data using established analytical tools.
Ultimate Guide to Video Game Monetization
Evidence-based approaches to ethical monetization design, examining psychological principles and their application in creating sustainable, player-centered revenue models.
Games Are For Players, Not Stock Holders
A critical examination of player-centric versus profit-centric design philosophies, presenting frameworks for ethical game development that prioritizes player experience and well-being.
About the Founder
Janne Tyni, Ph.D.
Games User Research
IndieUXR was founded to address the gap between academic user research methodologies and the practical constraints of independent game development.
Our approach combines established research principles with pragmatic implementation strategies designed specifically for indie development contexts.