Kris Graft is editor-in-chief, Gamasutra (@krisgraft)

Hey readers! I’m back with another quarterly roundup of Gamasutra articles over the past quarter (July-September), as I continue my heroic efforts to excavate the best recently-published work.

The 15 pieces below include 10 blogs and articles written by game developers, and five articles from Gamasutra writers and contributors. The list is a mix of our highest-trafficked articles, and some lower-trafficked-but-still-excellent articles. Bookmark this blog post or add it to your lists for later reading, or just go freaking nuts and read all of these articles right now. I'll highlight some more later down the line. (Make sure to check out my Q1 roundup and Q2 roundup.)

Last but not least, a HUGE thanks to our game developer bloggers and contributors who take the time to share their knowledge with their peers via our site -- Gamasutra simply would not be as good without you all. (If you'd like to start blogging on Gamasutra, here are the guidelines.)

Developer blogs and articles

Pokemon Go and the good things that can come from a bad UI – Chris Furniss (@chrisfurniss), senior UX/UI designer, PopCap Seattle.

PopCap Seattle UI/UX expert Chris Furniss argues how Pokemon Go’s confusing UI is applying meaningful friction and is feeding into the dense social experience of the game.

Postmortem: Renowned Explorers – Adriaan Jansen (@abbeyadriaan), co-founder and designer at Abbey Games.

The development of Renowned Explorers: International Society was a crazy ride. You can read about every twist and turn right here.

AR is an MMO – Raph Koster (@raphkoster), veteran game designer (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxy, Crowfall, more) specializing in MMOs.

In the wake of Pokemon Go, it's a wise idea to look at the history of MMOs and virtual worlds for lessons learned.

Why successful games in China rarely thrive in the West – Mantin Lu (@MantinLu), director of product development at Seasun Inc.

Mantin Lu looks at some of the differences in taste, culture, monetization mindset, and development mentality between East and West.

Design tips: In-game proportion and scale – Yuriy Sivers (@yuriysivers), senior visual designer at Kongregate.

Many developers often face issues designing proportions of individual characters, and the relationship between these characters and the surrounding environment. Here's an approach you can take

Designing a combat HUD: Key user experience insights – Oliver Janoschek (@theonlyrapante), senior UI artist for Dreadnought at Yager.

Oliver Janoschek, senior UI artist at Yager explains how to use UX patterns like Fitts' Law to successfully improve upon your in-game UI.

Designing lag-compensating weapons in Mechwarrior Online – Neema Teymory, senior network engineer at Piranha Games.

Making multiplayer games is hard and there are many problems developers need to solve. In this article, I will discuss what MechWarrior Online's weapons system does to deal with lag.

Patch the process – Rami Ismail (@tha_rami), one-half of Nuclear Throne developer Vlambeer.

Vlambeer's Rami Ismail wants to talk about day one patches -- but no, this isn't (really) about No Man's Sky.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap: Reverse-engineering a 1989 original – Omar Cornut (@ocornut), technical director and programmer at Lizardcube.

Remaking the 1989 action-adventure game Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap wasn't just about nostalgia, but an exercise in developing a game that's faithful and respectful to the original's gameplay.

Original editorial

Programming principles from the early days of id Software – by Kris Graft (@krisgraft).

When it comes to game developers, id co-founder John Romero is among the most influential. At GDC Europe in Cologne, Germany, Romero ran down some of the key programming principles that the Doom studio adhered to in the 1990s.

Dispelling some myths about the autistic wunderkind programmer – by Simon Parkin (@SimonParkin).

Beyond the rigors of the [job] application process, for even high functioning autistic people, the strictures of the working environment can present an insurmountable challenge.

Staying happy, creative, and productive in the tumultuous world of game dev – by Bryant Francis (@RBryant2012).

Your e-mail keeps dinging off with JIRA notifications, your cell phone buzzes with word about social plans that you’re going to have to cancel now. And all the while, the game you’re working on isn’t filling you with the same passion and purpose it did when you kicked off development.

My God, it's full of stars: Event[0]'s AI is a near masterpiece – by Katherine Cross (@Quinnae_Moon).

Paris-based Ocelot Society has …[given] us a remarkable story about loneliness and empathy, setting Jupiter’s abyss of magnetic fields to jazz.

Writing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided to 'hold a mirror up to the world’ – by Alex Wawro (@awawro).

In a recent conversation, executive narrative director Mary DeMarle told Gamasutra that [Deus Ex:] Mankind Divided was written to "hold a mirror up to the world" and expose it. That's a notable challenge for any developer.