Game Developer March Issue Showcases Uncharted 2, Dirty Coding Tricks

Author: by Staff

The March 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has shipped to print and digital subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and single-issue formats. The cover feature for the issue is an exclusive postmortem of Naughty Dog's cinematic action game Uncharted 2. The article, crafted by designer Richard Lemarchand, offers insight on the challenges and successes experienced by the Sony-owned studio. It is introduced as follows: "Uncharted 2 is Naughty Dog's latest foray into what they call the cinematic action genre. The game released to nearly-universal acclaim, and here they discuss everything from multiplayer mechanics, to over-ambitious scope, to the power of playtesting." Also featured in the issue is the second roundup of dirty coding tricks, straight from the programmers who have employed them: "In our second installment of Dirty Coding Tricks, programmers share their last-minute kludges and hacks all in the name of getting a game out the door. Lessons abound for coders and the non-technical alike." In addition, experienced producer Matthew Burns talks to numerous studios to get the lowdown on the various production methods employed throughout the industry: "Production methodologies differ from company to company. Here, Matthew Burns explores the disparate tactics of Harmonix, Treyarch, and Valve, to determine some best practices." Other notable features include Brent Friedman's proposal of a simple scripting language to power conversation systems, and an interview with Blade and Soul art director Hyung-Tae Kim. And as usual, our regular columnists contribute detailed and important pieces on numerous areas of game development -- this issue, we include Bungie's Steve Theodore on the art job market, Jake Cannell on virtual textures, Maxis' Soren Johnson on theme versus meaning, LucasArts' Jesse Harlin on SoundSeed, Matthew Wasteland with his monthly humor column, the Good Job! column on industry career moves, and more. Worldwide paper-based subscriptions to Game Developer magazine are currently available at the official magazine website, and the Game Developer Digital version of the issue is also now available, with the site offering six months' and a year's subscriptions, alongside access to back issues and PDF downloads of all issues, all for a reduced price. There is now also an opportunity to buy the digital version of March 2010's magazine as a single issue.