Game Developer November Issue Infiltrates Half-Life 2 Cabal

The latest issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra.com, and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has now shipped to subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and a new single-issue formats. The cover feature for the November 2005 issue is "Scaling the Cabal: Valve's Design Process for Creating Half-Life 2", in which the sometimes-mysterious G-Men at Valve Software outline the process, workflow, and design techniques that brought us Half-Life 2, one of the seminal PC games of the past few years. In the process, Valve employees Brian Jacobson and David Speyer update us on the evolution of the unique Cabal work management system developed for the original Half-Life, and touch on everything from story development to voice acting challenges. Other major features for the issue include "Hovering on a Handheld: The Physics Behind WipEout Pure", by senior SCEE programmer Martin Linklater, who shares the experience of creating a speedy physics engine for handhelds without compromising the gameplay, or shattering his programmer's pride, alongside "What Games Have to Teach Us", an interview with James Paul Gee of the University of Wisconsin, one of the most vocal proponents of games for learning, who discusses his thoughts on digital interactive entertainment, the importance of games to states' economies, and perhaps most importantly, what game developers can do to improve the industry. Elsewhere, programming columnist Mick West examines poker AI in his article, "Texas Hold'em AI", regarding Activision's latest console poker title, art columnist Steve Theodore gives us "Anatomy for Animators: A Leg to Stand On", D3's Careen Yapp examines working with Hollywood in the Business Level column, designer Noah Falstein talks about games for learning, and audio columnist Alexander Brandon ruminates on the advantages and disadvantages of in-house versus out of house audio. Worldwide paper-based subscriptions to Game Developer magazine are currently available at the official magazine website, and the new Game Developer Digital version of the issue is also now available, with the site offering six months and a year's subscriptions, alongside access to back issues, all for a reduced price. There is now also an opportunity to buy the digital version of November 2005's magazine as a single issue. Newsstand copies of the magazine will also shortly be available at North American outlets including Fry's Electronics and Barnes & Noble.