The creation of a game about the struggles of being creative 7
by Gamasutra Community [04.15.13]
Kids naturally love to play, create and imagine. But when kids grow up, that natural tendency often shrivels away. Here's a story about a game that explores the struggle to keep imagination alive.
Indie, Design

---

The hard road to the Baldur's Gate remake 6
by Trent Oster [04.15.13]
It's a beloved classic, but making a new version for tablets and contemporary PCs turned out to be a much bigger challenge than the team at Overhaul had anticipated.
Console/PC, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Art, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

From architect to developer 9
by Gamasutra Community [04.15.13]
From designing buildings to making games -- what important lessons did this accomplished architecture student bring with him when he became an indie developer?
Indie, Design

---

Blog: How video games' revolutionaries became 'The Man' 52
by Gamasutra Community [04.15.13]
Daniel Cook writes about how the game industry's original experimenters have now become the establishment -- and hopes that true creativity can sprout in today's game industry landscape.
Console/PC, Indie, Design, Business/Marketing

---

12 ways to improve turn-based RPG combat systems 12
by Gamasutra Community [04.15.13]
The turn-based RPG has been with us for a long time -- but there's still room for the venerable genre to grow and change, and this post offers 12 suggestions on how to make better games.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

Yodo1 to launch robust social service for your smartphone games  
by Christian Nutt [04.12.13]
The Beijing-based startup has built a new end-to-end rewards and social layer called Kryptanium, and it's planning to launch it in the U.S. in June -- first details from the CEO inside.
Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design, Business/Marketing

---

On video games and cultural relevancy... 35
by Kris Graft [04.12.13]
"We are in the midst of the most important and influential movement in video games in a decade, if not ever." - Adam Saltsman, developer behind Canabalt and Hundreds.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

Can all games be judged the same way? 4
by Gamasutra Community [04.12.13]
Radiator developer Robert Yang responds to Koster's blog post, explaining why constructive criticism of games can easily misconstrued -- and is rightfully viewed as suspect by those who receive it.
Indie, Design

---

Exploring the debate around what is, or isn't, a game 46
by Gamasutra Community [04.12.13]
"It's hard to say with absolute certainty what constitutes a game, and we shouldn't be too anxious to go to war over it," writes academic and developer Devin Wilson.
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

Playable: A look at how accomplished developers make games 1
by Mike Rose [04.12.13]
As part of a new indie game development initiative, a group of accomplished developers will create a series of experimental games aimed at showing exactly what goes into the development process.
Indie, Programming, Design, Production

---

Flush with capital, Stardock to set up multi-million dollar investment fund 9
by Kris Graft [04.11.13]
Thanks to a presumably massive haul from Stardock's sale of its Impulse digital distribution platform, the company said today it intends to start an investment fund for software and game developers.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Business/Marketing

---

Putting the reward in 'risk vs. reward' 26
by Gamasutra Community [04.11.13]
A design debate: Should players be rewarded for playing on higher difficulties, or is the increased challenge itself the real reason to play?
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

Player irrationality vs. game design 3
by Gamasutra Community [04.11.13]
We've observed that humans very often make irrational decisions. So how do you design a game, knowing that? Let's look at the research and find some answers.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

What about love? Inside a game jam revolution 5
by Leigh Alexander [04.10.13]
A recent community-led dating sim jam over social media yielded not only an explosion of touching, innovative and expressive experiences about love -- but possible lessons for the traditional community.
Indie, Design, Exclusive

---

How random loot drops really feel to players 16
by Gamasutra Community [04.10.13]
Building from his post about the emotional effect of random loot drops, Chris Grey looks at games like World of Warcraft and Ni no Kuni to see how their patterns affect players.
Console/PC, Indie, Programming, Design

---

HTML5 game development, from prototype to release 2
by Gamasutra Community [04.10.13]
A top-to-bottom look at the development of HTML5 puzzle game Animory, which takes in everything from prototyping to what platforms it was ultimately released for, and how.
Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

The 8 keys to indie success 35
by Gamasutra Community [04.10.13]
The ex-studio developer behind million-selling Xbox Indie Games success CastleMiner Z explains how the discipline of a professional should complement the freedom of an indie.
Indie, Production, Business/Marketing

---

GDC China 2013 announced for Sept 15-17th: call for talks now open  
by GDC Staff [04.10.13]
The call for submissions in Mandarin and English to present talks is now open for the 2013 Game Developers Conference China, which has moved up to September this year.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

The yin and yang of game design 6
by Gamasutra Community [04.10.13]
This blog post talks about the creative dualities of game design -- and explains how to marry your creative and analytical sides to come up with and execute on a concept you love.
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

What I learned from Ludum Dare 4
by Gamasutra Community [04.10.13]
You can learn a lot very quickly by participating in a game jam, and in this blog post, Lena LeRay explains how far she came in one weekend.
Indie, Programming, Production

---