Lugical is a full-services games user research and playtesting provider with an ambitious mission to contribute to both the gaming and the academic communities. We are here to help you get more out of your games — whether you build, play or learn from them.
We help studios create games that resonate with players and earns their fandom. We help players understand the role games play in their lifes. We help researchers identify what they should measure, and under what conditions. Throughout, our focus is on integrating the art and the science of games.
Because we believe every game has a lot more potential for you to unlock.
There is a science to engagement, but making players love and support your game is a craft — and the two are not necessarily in conflict. We have spent years developing a model of game engagement that is at once deep, practical and highly intuitive. A real toolkit that's easy to learn and hard to master. Whether it's understand what drives players to a particular game, why it resonates with them so strongly — or why it fails to — we've got you covered.
Lugical's approach to Games Research builds on 15 years of industry experience working on everything from casual mobile games to AAA console titles. We combine a deep understanding of cognitive science with innovative, industry-tested research methods to bring your game\'s experience to the next level.
Work with us to craft games that earn you passionate fans.
Check our servicesWonder. Mastery. Friendship. For many of us, games can deliver an experience that touches and fulfills us like no other medium can. But that magic can feel elusive: whether it's a game that was clearly designed around a compulsive loop, or it's us being obsessed with progression and perfection, falling down the wrong rabbit hole is all too easy. At Lugical, we believe in the potential of games, whether it is to cope with difficult circumstances, just having a good time, or getting that something extra out of a game. And we want to help more people get more out of the games they play.
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One of our upcoming essays will focus on how games impact our social skills — for the better and for the worse. While preparing for this essay, we'll interview a small number of people to learn directly from their experiences. Want to contribute? Sign up now with the form below, then check that "Research & Community events" has been selected.
The complexity and influence of video games have far outpaced our understanding of them. Studies take place and papers get published, yet we still lack anything resembling a general model of how games can impact players' well-being — for the better or for the worse. Clinicians need better tools to evaluate the role and imapct of gaming in their clients' lives. Researchers need to ask the right questions to make sure knowledge can build over time.
Part of Lugical's mission is to use our expertise in game design, games research, and cognitive science to help transform games from an entertainment powerhouse into a technology with predictable outcomes.
Get in touch now to request early access to future white papers or explore academic partnerships.
Explore partnershipsTo create change, it is sometimes necessary to start with new ideas and new ways of looking at the world. Our blog — dedicated to understanding what video games are and what they can become — is a space for us to explore these new ideas.
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Lugical was founded by Vincent Courtemanche, a veteran of the video games industry with a passion for understanding how people can live richer lives, and the unique role video games can play in this process. Vincent has a Cognitive Science degree from McGill University and 15 years of experience as a Games Resarcher working and leading teams at Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, WildLife Studios and NetEase Games. He started Lugical to help make a greater contribution by working at the intersection of industry, community and science.
