we improve and ensure your player experience and user experience is optimal for your customers

Game Usability, Playtesting, Usability Evaluation

User Behavioristics Research specializes in usability evaluation and user research for software, websites and playability / usability evaluation for virtual worlds and video games.

Playtest and Usability Consultant

Based in Los Angeles, California, User Behavioristics Research works with clients both locally, across the United States and internationally. Our corporate clients include Union Bank, AT&T, Citibank, Intuit, Microsoft, Symantec, iPhone app games, Transamerica, and Yahoo for whom we provide usability consulting, usability evaluation and user testing. Our game clients include Electronic Arts, THQ Publishers, LucasArts, Disney Interactive, Sega, Relic, Kaos, Electronic Arts, BWin, Incinerator, Nickelodeon, Pandemic, Relic, and many more, where we provide usability / playability consulting, evaluation and concept design.

Player Experience Evaluation and User Experience Evaluation

In addition, we specialize in assisting clients in accessibility for games and virutal worlds; entry and tutorial level accessibility concept design and evaluation. Our clients are privvy to our copyrighted accessibility best practices, which are published in professional conferences and publications.

Learn more about how we work »

• Many, many thanks for your expert running and facilitation of a set of highly informative and hugely valuable user sessions over the last 2 weeks. It was so great to see how your process works so efficiently and effectively to gather such rich information and data for analysis, how the kids feedback was incorporated into our test script almost on a session by session basis and the amazing reaction and incredibly articulate critique the kids gave our designs.

  Lynda McCracken
  Business Analyst
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• Time and time again, our team at Lucasarts would rely on Behavioristics for usability guidance in building our games. Heather would always be ready with thorough research plans, with all the nuanced details ironed out. Her deep experience and knowledge across a variety of games allows a well-rounded perspective on the "why" consumers react the way they do, along with an illuminating take on potential solutions. Some of her finest work can be seen in LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, Thrillville, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

  Glenn Chin
  Senior Director
  Verus Group

• Heather brings an open mind and a wonderful sense of humility, making her a true pleasure to work with and an integral partner to the team. Despite her wealth of experience and well-established bestpractices, she's always iterating and improving her methods. Different teams learn and absorb information differently, and Heather does well to tailor her approach to suit the personalities of various teams.

  Glenn Chin
  Senior Director
  Verus Group

• The Skate 3 team utilized Heather to help test and refine the 'Skate School' feature of the game - an important feature that was critical for teaching the game basics to a new user. Her up-front planning, detail-oriented testplan, effective real-time testing and thorough summary report helped us to shape and focus the feature into one that was improved many times over from its original vision. Her knowledge in the field of usability is invaluable - she would be a valuable asset to game team looking to improve their player experience

  Jason DeLong
  Producer, Skate 3 Franchise
  Electronic Arts, Blackbox Studios

• Really grateful to have had your help with this – I think this puts us in a great place for improving the accessibility/usability for our game. We’re already in the process of implementing some of the changes!

  Jason DeLong
  Producer
  Electronic Arts, Skate 3

• Heather is a true expert and professional in the field of usability and playability. I hired Heather to conduct a test for us with tween girls and their parents to determine the optimal registration process for a virtual world for girls. Heather asked the right questions of me, the client, kept her energy up through a very long day of testing, and delivered a fantastic and insightful report on time. I hope to work with Heather in the future as she added excellent value to our project.

  Jeanene Steinberg
  Producer
  Electronic Arts, Littlest Pet Shop Online

• Genuine innovation is a double edged sword. On the one hand, we developed a completely new interface for playing strategy games on console. On the other hand, no-one in the world knew how to use it. Consequently, we asked Behavioristics to help us teach our “potential fans”, how to play StormRise. Heather educated us in the principles of usability and accessibility, worked with us to redesign the early levels of our game, and then tested the effectiveness of our efforts. Heather’s knowledge and professionalism helped us through the mine field of gameplay innovation.

  George Fidler
  General Manager
  The Creative Assembly Australia

• Heather set up our playability testing for a huge SEGA property, and the process and results were stellar, opening the eyes of both executives and developers on how to better make games. Her academic background combined with excellent people skills and a real passion for the work are an asset for anyone who would make next-generation games.

  Martin Caplan
  Producer
  Sega of America

• Heather is undoubtedly the best usability analyst that I have had the opportunity to work with. She has an instinctual ability to patiently work with clients in complex business situations to build consensus around the need for testing, catalyze the development of a testable prototype and a smart test plan, and deliver a concise report with actionable recommendations. In a laboratory setting, her sense of humor and warm demeanor put users and clients alike at ease, enabling the most productive participation possible from both groups. While she is a veteran in the field, she is refreshingly un-wonky for someone with her experience, and continues to innovate with her work around playablity. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with her again.

  Jeff Teicher
  User Experience Consultant
  (formerly Producer at CMGI)

• I found the playability testing from Behaviorisitcs a very valuable tool in helping us identify critical gameplay issues for the Tak franchise. The information gathered allowed us to successfully re-design levels and mechanics to match our targeted demographic. Heather's professionalism and methods gave us a wonderful insight into the minds of our target audience. Part of Tak's success is due to the excellent work provided by Behaviorisitcs.

  Stephen Jarrett

  Creative Director

  THQ Inc.

• Heather ran focus groups/usability testing for a PSP game that I produced at Buena Vista Games. Her methodology helped us get to the nitty gritty of what wasn't working in the game.

  Cliff Kamida
  Former Producer, Buena Vista Games, and Walt Disney Internet Group
  now Director, NearU Search

• Heather is a true expert in her field and her experience and insights in the world of gaming helped give our research project a much needed head start.

  Ali Vassigh
  Project Director
  Microsoft

• Our work with Heather and Behavioristics really helped us to identify points of friction being experienced by potential players of our game. Having that knowledge allowed us to truly focus our last few months of development and reach a level of usability, playability and polish that we would never have achieved otherwise.

  Dallas Dickson
  Sr. Producer
  Sony Online Entertainment

• Behavioristics playability testing and analysis proved tremendously helpful for our development process. The insight gained will be invaluable for both ongoing and future projects.

  Erik Tollstedt
  Creative Lead - Online Gaming
  bWin

• Heather set up our playability testing for a huge SEGA property, and the process and results were stellar, opening the eyes of both executives and developers on how to better make games. Her academic background combined with excellent people skills and a real passion for the work are an asset for anyone who would make next-generation games

  Marty Caplan
  Producer
  Sega

• The insights gained by the detailed interviews and analysis coordinated and conducted by Heather at Behavioristics truly helped us hone in on the most important aspects of bringing a new approach to our user interface design. First impressions by are notoriously difficult to capture and Heather’s work was invaluable in contextualizing those impressions.

  Louis Castle
  Executive Producer - LOTR: BFMEII (Xbox 360) / Co-inventor of the RTS Genre
  Vice President of Creative Development, Electronic Arts Los Angeles

• Our work with Heather and Behavioristics really helped us to identify points of friction being experienced by potential players of our game. Having that knowledge allowed us to truly focus our last few months of development and reach a level of usability, playability and polish that we would never have achieved otherwise.

  Dallas Dickinson
  Sr. Producer
  Sony Online Entertainment

• The usability and playability feedback we received from Behavioristics was invaluable in contributing to Full Spectrum Warrior's development. Heather's analysis played an integral function in helping us identify and address critical gameplay issues that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

  Greg Donovan
  Project Director for Full Spectrum Warrior
  THQ Publishers

• I found the usability/playability testing from Behaviorisitcs a very valuable tool in helping us identify critical gameplay issues for the Tak franchise. The information gathered allowed us to successfully re-design levels and mechanics to match our targeted demographic.

  Stephen Jarrett
  Creative Director
  THQ Inc.

• Heather's professionalism and methods gave us a wonderful insight into the minds of our target audience. Part of Tak's success is due to the excellent work provided by Behavioristics.

  Stephen Jarrett
  Creative Director
  THQ Inc.

• Working with Behavioristics on Tak and the Power of Juju was instrumental in refining the game-play, navigation and help system of the game. As developers and publishers, we tend to get myopic in our view of what is working and what is not.

  Rachel DiPaola Tak 1, Tak 2 and Tak 3
  Senior Project Manager
  THQ Inc.

• It is also very challenging to gauge difficulty levels when you have been creating and playing a game for over a year. I can honestly say that Tak would have been a different game without the influence of the usability testing that Behavioristics facilitated.

  Rachel DiPaola Tak 1, Tak 2 and Tak 3
  Senior Project Manager
  THQ Inc.

• From the first proposal, through the final presentation to upper management and the department, Behavioristics was professional, detailed, timely and easy to work with. Each step of the process was tailored to the needs of the team, and the results were comprehensive and immediately applicable.

  Rachel DiPaola Tak 1, Tak 2 and Tak 3
  Senior Project Manager
  THQ Inc.

• In creating Full Spectrum Warrior, we were breaking new ground and introducing gamers to a completely new kind of user interface and camera system. Working with Behavioristics allowed us to focus-test our initial design, recognize problems and improve the overall quality and playability of our game. They were a great ally and wonderful to work with.

  Will Stahl
  Creative Director of Full Spectrum Warrior
  Pandemic Studios

• I know my team enjoyed working with you and felt that you brought a lot of value to the process. The feedback on the new site has been fantastic. Thanks for your hard work.

  Susan Lotwin
  Project Director
  Transamerica.com