Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Logophilia To Level Design

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 Game Design Logophilia Trent Polack How important is a standardized language of game design terms? Designer Trent Polack has his opinions on the matter (he's in favor of it), and a healthy comment thread fills in the rest of the spectrum. Who's Afraid of Interactivity? Jamey Stevenson Games are constantly compared to film, but what about theatre? Jamey Stevenson argues Andrew Stern and Michael Mateas' fascinating interactive story Facade may be one of the best translations (albeit a potentially unintentional one) of a non-game work into the interactive medium -- in this case, the work being Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Three Qualities of Level Design Martin Nururkar Martin Nururkar has commented on the nature of level design before in his Gamasutra blog, and now he gets more specific, highlighting three particular qualities -- stability, usability, and beauty -- that make for great level design. Video Games - Beneath the Numbers Edward Hunter Adoption of digital distribution isn't an overnight affair, but it might be happening a lot more quickly than some have predicted. ComScore analyst Edward Hunter shares data which shows why this year's disappointing retail sales figures don't tell the whole story. Games That Pushed The Envelope... I Salute You Luis Levy With today's high-powered hardware, it's a bit out of fashion to praise envelope pushing that's purely technical, but Luis Levy takes some time to recognize a number of games that have achieved technical feats beyond what one would expect from their hardware at the time.