Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Busking To Grammar

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 Busking - A Guide For Indie Game Developers Colin Anderson Denki co-founder explores whether game developers should identify themselves by their specific discipline, or by their broader purpose as entertainers. Colin Anderson argues developers have something in common with buskers -- and explains why that's important. Using Sentence Construction to Think About Level Design Jason Rice Games are a lot like grammar. Like sentences, games are largely constructed out of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and Jason Rice describes a method of thinking about game design that relies heavily on that metaphor. Using Game Session Data to Balance Timothy Ryan Stat and gear customization, even in competitive multiplayer games, is en vogue in video games right now -- and with that trend, the already-complex task of balance becomes an exponentially more intricate affair. Timothy Ryan says in these situations, there's no substitute for good analysis of actual session data. When to Throw in the Towel Dan Goodman At what point does it become more worthwhile to simply rewrite a given tool rather than attempt to patch ity Dan Goodman offers a few thoughts on the matter, as do several Gamasutra commenters. The £500 Game: What Games Could Learn From Shoes Tadhg Kelly Games may be able to draw some lessons from luxury goods like shoes, claims Tadhg Kelly. If people will pay exorbitant amounts for intricately-crafted goods in other segments, why not premium controllers and $2,000 PS3s?