Naomi Alderman on video games

I happened to catch that on the radio in my car yesterday (yeah, I do listen to Radio 4)

BBC iPlayer - Front Row: Naomi Alderman on video games

Rare to hear about that topic on the radio (at least in a good way).

Gamasutra - News - Tips from a combat designer: Fibonacci game design

Interesting article on how to know when to say "stop, no more", and how to use the golden ratio in game design.

Gamasutra - News - Tips from a combat designer: Fibonacci game design

Animation Chronicles - Episode 3: starting over to "Evolve"

A grim sounding title, but there's actually good news in that article.

In a normal pipeline, you would model your character, then rig it and skin it. As I was using the UDN's skeleton, which is in a relaxed pose, I assumed I had to put that skeleton in a T-pose before being able to model something around it. This is why I started to rig the skeleton first. But today, I've made a discovery that would save me the trouble of modelling a character.

Gamasutra - A rational approach to Racing Game Track Design

Very good article on the subject. Most of it is common sense, but it's always better when put into words.

Although the article is focussed on arcade racers, the metrics described are valid for any kind of racing game.

Link

The Unsung Secret of Great Games - and How Some Games Get It So Wrong

Interesting paper on how the rhythm of the game's mechanics makes it feel good or not.

The Unsung Secret of Great Games - And How Some Games Get It So Wrong

Gamasutra - Features - The Cake Is Not a Lie: How to Design Effective Achievements

Gamasutra - Features - The Cake Is Not a Lie: How to Design Effective Achievements

Gamasutra - Features - First-Person Control Design for Dual Analog Stick Controllers

An old article I've found on some forum. Good read.

Gamasutra - Features - First-Person Control Design for Dual Analog Stick Controllers

Gamasutra - Features - A Guide To iOS Twin Stick Shooter Usability

Gamasutra - Features - A Guide To iOS Twin Stick Shooter Usability

Very interesting article on how to design the best controls for virtual joystick in touch screen games.

GDC 2011 sessions are live

Some presentations from GDC 2011 are available for free on GDC vault, with lots of post mortems from old games.

GDC Vault

1995 'GTA' design doc unearthed | Game Development | News by Develop

1995 'GTA' design doc unearthed | Game Development | News by Develop

Combat Design in Resistance 3 (GDC 2011)

GDC 2011 presentation of Insomniac Games on how they designed the combat encounters on Resistance 3.

Key points are:

• Give the combat area an easy to read layout.
• Keep the action in the player's field of view.
• Use subtle visual clues (e.g. enemy/ally movement) to hint the player at what to do/ where to go next.

Insomniac Games - Articles

Intelligent Brawling

Gamasutra - Features - Intelligent Brawling

A very interesting article that breaks down melee combat in action games into fundamental components.