Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Excessive Crunch To Marketing Missteps

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including a piece on avoiding development crunch, some key tenants of JRPG design, and some examples of questionable game marketing.] 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 - 60 Straight Days Of Crunch? Really? Please Explain (Keith Fuller) After hearing about some grueling crunch periods in some of the industry's most prominent studios, Keith Fuller expresses his concerns for the well being of the afflicted developers, and urges studios to look at alternatives that could replace such extreme conditions. - God As Game Designer (Neil Sorens) Neil Sorens takes a humorous look at the principles of game design, and examines how the Judeo-Christian God would hold up as a game designer. - The Zeboyd Games Approach To JRPG Design (Robert Boyd) Cthulhu Saves the World developer Robert Boyd uses his experience with developing role-playing games and his family's personal tastes to discuss some of the key tenants of successful JRPG design. - 8 Lessons I Learnt Making Tealy & Orangey (Anthony Gowland) Aiming to share some universally helpful tips on game design, Anthony Gowland outlines the lessons he learned while developing his own Flash-based puzzle platformer. - Industry-Damaging Video Games Marketing (Victor Gont) Victor Gont analyzes the marketing campaigns of both Dante's Inferno and Dead Space 2, suggesting that creating hype by promoting violence and suggestive themes can cast a negative light on the industry at large.