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Features » Design
POMMS: A Way to Get Your Players to Test Your Game!  
by Robert Hoischen [01.17.13]
Player-facing testing has rapidly changed from bug-finding to simply an early release model. In this article, indie developer Robert Hoischen explains how his studio set up a gamified bug-testing system using your player base.
Design, Production
The Metrics of Space: Molecule Design 23
by Luke McMillan, Nassib Azar [01.15.13]
When designing maps, you have to think about the player's perspective -- and this article, which examines design in Borderlands and Fallout 3, as well as an experimental map created in UDK, offers techniques for making maps interesting.
Design
The Storytelling Secrets of Virtue's Last Reward 7
by Christian Nutt [01.11.13]
What makes Virtue's Last Reward one of the best storytelling games of all time? Gamasutra speaks to director Kotaro Uchikoshi and analyzes the gameplay to uncover the secrets that make this suspenseful graphic adventure tick.
Design, Interview
Understanding Challenge 12
by Chad Kilgore [01.08.13]
What is challenge? Day 1 Studios (F.E.A.R. 3) technical designer and Iowa State University instructor Chad Kilgore examines the types of challenge that games present to players, putting them into a usable framework.
Design
The Surprising Design of Crusader Kings II 8
by Rowan Kaiser [01.06.13]
Though Paradox has been delivering niche strategy game sfor years, its latest has been a surprise hit, thanks to its design -- allowing for emerging scenarios based on the opinions of the characters in the game. Gamasutra speaks to project lead Henrik Fåhraeus to find out more.
Design, Interview
The 50 Games That Defined 2012 4
by Gamasutra staff [12.26.12]
This isn't a list of awesome games from 2012, but instead, it's a list -- containing not-so-great games, games that didn't release, or even will never appear -- of games that are representative of a trend or interesting story that captured the zeitgeist of 2012, and they all say something about what happened this year.
Design
Gamasutra's Best of 2012 4
by Gamasutra staff [12.24.12]
2012 has been a landmark year for shifts in the game industry, and that's why Gamasutra, in the form of this round-up feature of our annual year-end pieces, has taken an expansive look back at the year -- to closely examine what has happened in the past 12 months.
Business/Marketing, Design, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet
The Designer's Notebook: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! XIII 22
by Ernest Adams [12.21.12]
Hostess might be bankrupt, but the denial of Twinkies continues! In the 13th annual installment of The Designer's Notebook's popular column, Ernest Adams tackles more reader-submitted design decisions that mystify and dissatisfy players.
Design
The Case for Casual Biometrics 7
by Stefano Gualeni [12.20.12]
Plenty of triple-A productions use biometric testing of players -- but can it work for casual games, too? Developer Stefano Gualeni writes here about how he and his team tested iOS puzzle game Gua-Le-Ni using a simple lab setup.
Design, Indie, Smartphone/Tablet
What Magic: The Gathering Can Teach Us 32
by Will Luton [12.17.12]
In the midst of the collectible card game craze taking over the social space in the success of Cygames' Rage of Bahamut, Will Luton examines the original collectible card game, Magic the Gathering, and the important lessons it has for today's video game designers.
Design