Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Virgins To Climaxes

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. In this latest round-up, industry notables write about virgins, climaxes, royalties, and The Prisoner. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - Advance Against Royalties vs. Development Fee: Round 1 (Tyrone Rodriguez) How do advances against royalty contracts work, anyway? Nobody knows. Well, actually some people do, including Nicalis founder Tyrone Rodriguez, and he'll tell you all about it in this extremely helpful post! It's got numbers in it! - Infinite Climax Action! (Taekwan Kim) Sounds sexy, doesn't it? It's not, unless you find analysis of skill axis-based progression erotic. AND WHO DOESN'T? Am I right? Pictures (of graphs) included. - Virgin Play Testers (Alistair Doulin) Sounds sexy, doesn't it? It's not, unless you find reminders of the merits of fresh-eyed feedback in game development erotic. AND WHO DOESN'T? Am I right? Picture (of a nerd) included. - The Prisoner Dilemma (Steve Mallory) Could this be about S&M, you ask? No, of course not. You probably weren't even thinking that. Steve Mallory considers what heavy-handed video games could be learning from cult classic TV series The Prisoner, with its clearly-defined themes but subtle implications. - 2010 Game Business Trends (David Helgason) Okay, this one is pretty much what it sounds like. The CEO of Unity Technologies gives a rundown of what to expect out of industry tech trends in the coming year. Pretend that was a double entendre.