See Tetsuya Mizuguchi discuss making Tetris Effect at GDC 2019! Alongside fellow producer Mark MacDonald and Tetris Effect director Takashi Ishihara, Mizuguchi will walk you through the game's production journey and share lessons learned along the way!

---

  Road to the IGF: Julián Cordero's levedad levedad is an autobiographical game of long-exposure photography, but one that asks the player to bring their own personal meaning to the places and things they choose to capture in their lens.

---

2 Blog: Why the Epic Games Store could be huge for influencers Ten years ago in 2009, the word 'influencer' didn't bear much weight. Now, it's part of the core approach for the new Epic Games Store -- but why?

---

  Streamer raises $340,000 for trans charity by playing Donkey Kong 64 Streamer Harry Brewis (a.k.a. H.Bomberguy) has raised over $340,000 for UK trans charity Mermaids by hosting a star-studded Donkey Kong 64 marathon.

---

  Blog: The conflicting design of the 'Zelda-rogue' The idea of combining the handcrafted design of a Zelda title with the procedural generation of a rogue-like may sound like a dream come true, but it's often a challenge too big for most.

---

2 Square Enix has trademarked the name of Octopath Traveler's art style The company has used the term to describe the Switch RPG's unique art style, which combines 16-bit character sprites and textures with polygonal 3D environments and high-definition effects.

---

  Learn how Weta built Dr. Grordbort's Invaders for Magic Leap at GDC 2019! Come to GDC in March and hear how the Weta Gameshop team (born of a collaboration between Magic Leap and Weta Workshop) designed the eye-catching mixed-reality blast-'em-up Dr. Grordbort's Invaders!

---

1 How machine learning is helping fans remaster retro classics How can fans make their favorite retro classics look better without petitioning for a HD remaster or full-blown remake? Easy. By getting neural networks to do their dark bidding.

---

1 Blog: Fascination with the Obra Dinn Having played Return of the Obra Dinn recently, I was inspired to write about historical settings, exploring themes, co-linear storytelling, and ships - all within the context of the Obra Dinn.

---

  CI Games establishes United Label, a new publishing label dedicated to indies Sniper Ghost Warrior and The Lords of the Fallen developer-publisher CI Games has announced the creation of United Label, an all new publishing label dedicated to indie developers.

---

  NCSoft makes layoffs at mobile developer Iron Tiger Studios NCSoft established Iron Tiger back in 2015, and tasked the Califonia-based studio with developing original mobile games inspired by its existing franchises. 

---

  Blog: Why nobody cares about your indie game The top five reasons indie game marketing falls on deaf ears, and how to steer things back on track for your game.

---

  Advanced UX Prototyping: Next Gen Prototyping for Games & Apps Om Tandon lays out the various stages of prototyping for games and mobile apps.

---

  Video Game Deep Cuts: NASA Slime-d Me With A BadCupid This week's highlights include a look at NASA's new commissions in the video game space, the crunch-free development of Slime Rancher, and a very offkilter procedurally generated dating game, among other things.

---

  Video: The highs and lows of Hitman's episodic release Io Interactive's Hannes Seifert shares the highs and lows of transforming Hitman into an episodic release title.

---

1 Cloud Imperium Games spent $4M a month in 2017 developing Star Citizen Cloud Imperium Games, the studio behind Star Citizen and Squadron 42, released an eight-page accounting document a few weeks ago which shows how the company has spent its income since 2012.

---

  Weekly Jobs Roundup: Wargaming, Digital Extremes, and more are hiring now! Here are just some of the many, many positions being advertised right now on the Gamasutra Job Board.

---

  Microsoft says its game streaming service has an advantage thanks to Xbox Microsoft says the experience it's gained through its Xbox dealings gives it a potential leg up on the competition. 

---

7 Don't Miss: A postmortem of DrinkBox Studios' Guacamelee! Learn about the development of the popular and acclaimed Metroidvania -- including how the game's distinctive look evolved and competition for studio resources created friction.

---

  Starbreeze delays console release of Overkill's The Walking Dead The decision to hold off on releasing the console version comes months after low sales of the PC release prompted Starbreeze to cut costs across the board.

---

  Make time to learn from industry leaders at GDC 2019's Dev Days! Hey devs, make sure to leave some room in your GDC schedule for some of the insightful Developer Day sessions sponsored by industry leaders like Unity, Autodesk, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and more!

---

  Road to the IGF: Greg Lobanov's Wandersong Singing is the only way to interact with the people and puzzles of Wandersong, tasking players with using their voice to improve the lives of those they meet.

---

  GDC 2019 offers a full day of cutting-edge machine learning talks! At GDC 2019 in March and you'll have the chance to spend a full day learning from some of the best and brightest in the game industry at the brand new, cutting-edge GDC 2019 Machine Learning Tutorial!

---

1 Netflix claims Fortnite is now a bigger competitor than HBO Streaming mogul Netflix claims Fortnite is now a bigger competitor than other media companies like Game of Thrones and True Detective producer HBO.

---

  Blog: The elegance of first-time user experience in The Lab A deep-dive into the first few minutes of Valve's virtual reality playground The Lab, examining how it onboards players into room-scale VR invisibly, painlessly, and even joyfully.

---

[Read More]