Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From designing on paper to mobile analytics

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including designing games on paper, choosing a mobile analytics package, free-to-play's "psychological currencies," and more. In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the latest official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs I drink your milkshake (Jon Brown) Jon Brown says that making games isn't all about crunch -- sometimes you get to steal someone's jam. Free to play and the four currencies (Lars Doucet) Lars Doucet explains the free-to-play phenomenon in terms of four "psychological" currencies: money, time, pain-in-the-butt, and integrity. How we selected our mobile analytics package for Chip Chain  (Aaron Isaksen) Many companies provide mobile analytics. Aaron Isaksen's team was looking for a low cost solution that featured revenue tracking, real time, post data collection analysis, and easily viewable data. Here he explains how the group selected its analytics package. On paper (Randy OConnor) Randy OConnor explores non-digital game design and drawing to get away from the computer. Overwatching: An analysis of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Josh Bycer) In this first of a two-part look at XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Josh Bycer takes a broad look at the game systems and mechanics that make up the strategy title.