Finding the good in free-to-play 14
by Gamasutra Community [05.13.13]
Lee Perry used to work on the Gears of War series. Now he's gone independent, and is contemplating how the free-to-play business model can be done right.
Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design, Business/Marketing

---

PR tips for indies: Reaching out to the press 8
by Gamasutra Community [05.13.13]
Making your game isn't enough -- you have to get people interested in it. PR professional Shannon Drake covers the basics of how to start a PR campaign.
Indie, Business/Marketing

---

Team-led design in a mid-core social strategy game 7
by Staff [05.13.13]
Plarium, developer of mid-core strategy game Total Domination, shares its process of getting the best results from its player-focused iteration process.
Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

Blog: My four takeaways from the year in strategy games 10
by Gamasutra Community [05.13.13]
The strategy genre is exploding with great new games, and there are plenty of lessons to learn from how XCOM, FTL and others are evolving the art of strategy game design.
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

Games for Change announces 2013 festival keynote speakers  
by Kris Ligman [05.10.13]
Games for Change has announced the line-up of keynote speakers for its tenth annual Games for Change Festival, this June 17th to 19th in New York City.
Indie, Serious, Design

---

Blog: Why we took our game design back to the drawing board 3
by Gamasutra Community [05.10.13]
It seemed like a great idea for a game, but playtesters just weren't into Henchmen! That's when the developers decided to start fresh.
Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

Time to move on from the gameplay vs. story debate 43
by Christian Nutt [05.10.13]
UC Santa Cruz's Michael Mateas (Facade) argued in an impassioned presentation this morning that the time for debate on whether games should have stories has passed -- it's the work that matters.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Design

---

Video: The Unfinished Swan - From student prototype to PS3 exclusive 1
by GDC Vault Staff [05.10.13]
Giant Sparrow creative director Ian Dallas shares how The Unfinished Swan began as a week-long prototype in school and became a Sony-published PlayStation Network game.
Console/PC, Indie, Programming, Design, Production, Video

---

Blog: The baggage that comes with 'personal' video games 23
by Gamasutra Community [05.10.13]
Elizabeth Ryerson (Dys4ia) responds to Darius Kazemi's "Fuck Videogames," and argues that we are in danger of letting games, and our reactions to them, be defined not by the work but by what surrounds it.
Indie, Design

---

Blog: Making players feel important 6
by Gamasutra Community [05.10.13]
Making players feel like they can have an impact on the world is crucial, but doing so is far from easy. How do you do it? Here are some observations and suggestions.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

An exercise for creating accountable teams 2
by Gamasutra Community [05.10.13]
It can be hard to change your way of thinking -- even if you've just been introduced to the rules. This blog post on a team exercise reveals how useful it is to search for better solutions.
Console/PC, Indie, Production

---

Leaving AAA: Why Naughty Dog's star designer became a teacher 14
by Kris Ligman [05.10.13]
"Game developers should not walk but run towards their nearest academic institution," says Richard Lemarchand, design lead on Uncharted 3 who in 2012 left AAA to teach game design.
Console/PC, Indie, Design, Exclusive, Student/Education

---

If games are art, what's next? 39
by Staff [05.10.13]
Jonathan Blow, academic Grant Tavinor and indie Erlend Grefsrud argue for the creative future of video games and explore what they can be capable of.
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

TestFlight heads into open beta on Android  
by Kris Ligman [05.09.13]
TestFlight, the free app for developers to beta test their software with users, is moving into open beta on Android today after 45 days spent in closed beta.
Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Production

---

Blog: Why I am making games 3
by Gamasutra Community [05.09.13]
When asked why you make games, what would you answer? One developer shares the reasons he makes games, after giving it some serious thought.
Console/PC, Indie, Design

---

All GDC 2013 content live and mobile-ready on the Vault 2
by GDC Vault Staff [05.09.13]
GDC Vault, the most comprehensive collection of talks and slides from game industry thought leaders, has gone live with all GDC 2013 content on the newly-redesigned website.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Programming, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

One indie's long road: Making You Have to Win the Game 4
by Gamasutra Community [05.09.13]
Kyle Pittman reflects on the four-year journey from conception to release, taking in the successes and failures, the inspirations and mistakes he made along the way.
Console/PC, Indie, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

The challenge of modifying a design for asynchronous play 5
by Gamasutra Community [05.09.13]
David Sirlin hadn't designed his card game Codex to allow for asynchronous play -- but he wanted to see if it was possible. This deep design post details what he had to do to get it there.
Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Design

---

Reminder: GDC China 2013 talk submissions due Friday  
by GDC Staff [05.09.13]
Friday, May 10 is the deadline for English and Mandarin submissions to present talks at the 2013 Game Developers Conference China, organizers are reminding.
Console/PC, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, Indie, Serious, Programming, Art, Audio, Design, Production, Business/Marketing

---

As Vita languishes, why is Sony still gunning for indies? 26
by Mike Rose [05.09.13]
OPINION With Sony predicting sales of 5 million for the Vita this year, you have to wonder whether the publisher's indie push is working. But Sony has a longer-term plan for indies.
Console/PC, Indie, Business/Marketing, Exclusive

---