Game Developer November Issue Showcases Top Deck, Certain Affinity's Age of Booty

Author: by Staff

The November 2008 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 shipped to print/digital subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and single-issue formats. The cover feature for the issue is an exclusive postmortem of Certain Affinity's multiplatform downloadable real-time strategy game Age of Booty, by creative director Max Hoberman, offering insight into the pirate-themed game's development. The piece is described as follows: "Beginning with a paper prototype and then creating an original engine, Certain Affinity brought Age of Booty to completion in just over a year, all while juggling multiple projects and shuffling developers on and off the project. Even an unexpected last minute dispute over the name couldn't scuttle the game and Certain Affinity took home the real treasure: full control over its own IP." Debuting in this issue is Game Developer's Top Deck feature, which highlights notable game industry players from around the world: "Not all game industry figures are cards, but many of them are unique in their way -- in Game Developer's first Top Deck feature, we name the top creatives, money makers, and innovators, highlighting both individual and company achievements. 52 developers, organized by suit, with two jokers to round out the bunch." Development veteran Oliver Franzke offers up an in-depth feature compiling best practices for error reporting and value editing systems for in-house tools: "In-house tools and editors can present clever solutions for asset handling. However, as projects grow over long development cycles, what was once a handy fix can become a costly burden to maintain. A little planning at the onset of a project can make for tools that are easily extendable over the long term and offer flexible error reporting with more useful real-time feedback, keeping your game on track and your asset creators happy." Finally, our regular columnists contribute pieces on numerous areas of game development: Bungie's Steve Theodore on artistic hooks, Power or Two's Noel Llopis on multiplatform data baking, Maxis' Soren Johnson on free-to-play design, and LucasArts' Jesse Harlin on the Game Audio Network Guild. As usual, Matthew Wasteland contributes his monthly humor column. Worldwide paper-based subscriptions to Game Developer magazine are currently available at the official magazine website, and the 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 and PDF downloads of all issues, all for a reduced price. There is now also an opportunity to buy the digital version of November 2008's magazine as a single issue.