Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Broken Emotions To The Game Of Game-Making

Author: by Staff

In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our weblog writers examine how the game medium often destroys emotional ties with characters, why chasing perfection can be a bad thing, and how making games is a game in itself. Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. Our favorite blog post of the week will earn its author a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra's sister publication, Game Developer magazine. (All magazine recipients outside of the United States or Canada will receive lifetime electronic subscriptions.) We hope that our blog sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information, check out the official posting guidelines. Here are the top member blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Member Blogs - ?syntax error: emotion (Marc Bell) Video games continue to strive to be more emotional and evocative, but in many cases, according to Gamasutra member blogger Marc Bell, emotional ties are undone by the video game medium itself. For his effort, he will receive a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine. - User Interface and its Effect on the Senses (Brad Morris) Following an extended discussion in game design class, Brad Morris examines the differences and similarities between the interfaces of the first-person shooter and role-playing genres. He also explores what shading and texturing can do from an emotional perspective. - The Game Designers Play: Part 1 (Dave Beaudoin) Dave Beaudoin explores how making video games is a game in itself, one that pits the game designer against the gamer. "Our win-state isn't to beat the player into submission, but to assist them in reaching the intended conclusion of the game," he reckons. - A perfect project is the one that never ships. (Randell Trulson) Randell Trulson is back for another week, describing how his time at the "boot camp" known as the semi-conductor / hardware industry taught him that perfection essential. But when he came to the games industry, that pursuit of perfection would lead to a lot of unfinished games. - An addition to game interface heuristics (Andre Gagne) Andre Gagne does a usability test on Mass Effect 2's planet resource scanning minigame. Conclusion? Hand cramps.