Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From AI Missteps To The Importance of Narrative

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about basic AI flaws, how limited player action can be a good thing, and the relationship between game mechanics and narrative. 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 official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - Euphoria Over Bad AI In Backbreaker (Dave Mark) The Euphoria-based Backbreaker demonstrates physics technology well, but Dave Mark examines the game’s flaws in its AI design. - 3D Me (Jon Brown) While some appreciate 3D displays for their visual splendor, Jon Brown praises the technology for its ability make games easier to interpret for those who were not raised in front of 2D displays. - Reaching The Casual Market By Limiting Actions (Alistair Doulin) Alistair Doulin explains how reducing the amount of actions available to a player does not necessarily soil the depth of a game. Rather, such simplicity can make the game more accessible to a wide audience. - Starting A Game Company The Way For Developers to Survive? (Sean Dugan) With big-budget development costs spiraling out of control, and fewer and fewer large scale games in production, Sean Dugan argues that the best strategy for some game developers may be to stay away from large studios and begin producing games on a smaller scale. - Mechanics Vs. Motif (Christopher Totten) Narrative in games is often lauded as one of the most crucial features of a quality game. A game narrative, however, is nothing without a quality mechanic to hold it together. Christopher Totten explains the relationship between story and mechanic based on his teaching experience.