Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Design Programs To Aesthetics Of Social Games

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including game design education, the difficulties of developing for gesture-based interfaces, and the aesthetics of social games. 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 - Designing Better Designers (Jon Brown) While starting a career as a tester was once a good way to eventually become a designer, Sidhe's Jon Brown argues that game design programs have become a valid means of entering the industry, and professionals should do what they can to improve these courses for future graduates. - Lessons Learned Developing For Depth Camera Interfaces (Tal Raviv) Motion control has established itself as a viable interface for games, though it makes development much more complicated by adding several new factors for game designers to account for. Side-kick's Tal Raviv outlines these obstacles and offers several tips to avoid problems with gesture-based development. - Games Can Create Empathy, So Why Don’t They? (Shay Pierce) Deep Plaid Games' Shay Pierce examines how games have potential to evoke empathy by focusing on what they excel at over film or literature—they allow players to experience new events and inhabit other worlds via direct user control. - Aren’t We Smarter Than This? (Andy Satterthwaite) When similar titles launch within weeks of each other, interested consumers often cannot afford both titles, and thus both games lose sales. According to Sidhe's Andy Satterthwaite, if publishers communicated with each other more often, they could avoid such self sabotage. - Aesthetics Of Social Games (Aki Jarvinen) Digital Chocolate's Aki Jarvinen takes a look at the structure of social, browser-based games and explains the key elements of social game aesthetics that attract players for hours on end.