8 Don't Miss: When AAA developers went indie to make Endless Space Amplitude, creators of the space-based 4X indie game Endless Space, reflect on the game's journey from conception in a 4th-floor Paris apartment (no elevator) in 2011 to its final 2012 release.

---

1 Unreal Engine 4 arrives on Ouya Unreal developers, take note -- you can now build Unreal Engine 4 games for the Ouya microconsole thanks to a new branch of the UE4 source code.

---

  Making mobile games in the era of the the 30-second hook "We discovered is that the first 30 seconds are the most crucial. That became our most pressing concern -- how could we banish these preconceptions that our game was more than just a small experience on repeat?"

---

  Considering renderer back-end architecture Rendering is "a very simple process at the very core," writes Timo Heinapurola. "The more complicated part is implementing the different effects and visibility algorithms that drive the back-end rendering process."

---

  Brenda Romero and David Braben win prime GDCA 2015 awards 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards organizers have revealed two of its special award winners: the Ambassador Award goes to Brenda Romero, and David Braben has been recognized with the Pioneer Award.

---

  Growing a studio in a sustainable way - Q&A with CD Projekt Red Studio co-founder Marcin Iwiński and business development SVP Michal Nowakowski talk about what they've learned in growing CD Projekt Red from a one-game studio to an international powerhouse.

---

  Different testing approaches for mobile games An overview of what you need to know about testing your mobile game -- "a look at different mobile game testing approaches, as well as infrastructural and architectural aspects of mobile game testing."

---

  Learn to write better sex, liars and mobile games at GDC 2015 How to write better sex, liars and mobile games: GDC officials highlight a handful of great narrative-focused GDC 2015 talks.

---

  Video blog: The characteristics of game boards "While we usually think of boards in conjunction with boardgames, many video games also use the equivalent of boards, 'fields of maneuver.'" This video-led post dives right into this rich seam of game design.

---

  Road to the IGF: Alex Beachum's Outer Wilds Creative Director Alex Beachum and Producer Sarah Scialli explain the process of taking a USC Masters Thesis project and turning it into one of the most unique games of the year.

---

4 The Game Outcomes Project: What great teams do The Game Outcomes Project concludes its inaugural series of posts with a summary -- one that lists 40 factors that make for great teams, ordered from most to least relevant.

---

  Frontier Developments lays off staff as it launches new franchise Elite: Dangerous developer Frontier Developments has laid off at least fifteen people as it refocuses development operations from its satellite studio in Halifax to its headquarters in Cambridge.

---

  We want your Global Game Jam blogs! This past weekend, the Global Game Jam took place across over 500 sites around the world. Were you a participant? Blog about your experience and your game!

---

4 Does your mobile game or website comply with this new California law? "The new law requires these services to provide a mechanism by which minors can remove any information or content that they have posted on that service themselves (with a few exceptions)."

---

  Get a job: Be a UX Designer for Treyarch/Activision Activision-owned Treyarch is looking to bring on a user experience designer who can help build compelling, accessible interfaces for its games alongside the team in its Santa Monica, CA studio.

---

  Video: How Amplitude Studios tackles community-driven development At GDC Next 2014, Amplitude Studios' Jeff Spock spoke about how the studio practices open development by involving its fans, as well as the positive and negative lessons learned.

---

2 Freelancers, contractors, and consultants don't work for free! A quick guide to working with outside collaborators: "Doing those 3 things above shows that you are a professional with a low budget, not a disillusioned idea person looking for free or cheap labor."

---

4 Don't Miss: David Cage's Indigo Prophecy postmortem In this classic 2006 Game Developer Magazine article, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit creator David Cage writes candidly about what went right -- and wrong -- during the game's development.

---

1 Patton's final battle: Publicity rights of deceased celebrities in games An in-depth blog post from attorney Dan Rogers covering how General George S. Patton's estate has sued a San Francisco-based game developer, and the grounds the legal challenge rests on.

---

1 Learn how to make your game just completely hilarious at GDC 2015 "Watch William Pugh desperately attempt to deconstruct The Stanley Parable to find an excuse for its success. Be amazed as he lists pre-prepared top tips for making your game funny" at GDC 2015.

---

5 Postmortem: Space combat and trading sim Starpoint Gemini 2 Mario Mihokovic, CEO at Croatia's Little Green Men Games, writes about what went right, wrong, and key takeaways from the development of space sim Starpoint Gemini 2.

---

  GDC 2015 partners with iam8bit to showcase the 'Wheel of Whimsy' For the fifth year running, iam8bit will delight GDC attendees with an interactive exhibit on the show floor. This time it's the Wheel of Whimsy, which is tied to four fun live-action minigames.

---

  This Week in Video Game Criticism: From Formalism to Femmes Fatale This week, our partnership with game criticism site Critical Distance brings us picks from Zach Alexander on topics ranging from the continued role of formalism in game studies to a Bayonetta style guide.

---

4 Blog: A design dilemma in prop behavior "This turned in to more of a design rant more than a 'lesson learned' post, but one of my motivations for writing this was to hear from other designers how you approach a design challenge like this."

---

18 Unity error fix: Timestamps and assets maps out of sync One developer encounters a devastating Unity error: "My work of about three weeks was gone. I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t do anything at all." Here's how to work around it.

---

[Read More]