The June/July 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has shipped to print and digital subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and single-issue formats.
This issue's exclusive postmortem delves into Vigil Games' comics-inspired action game Darksiders, the first game from the THQ-owned studio. Written by production director Timothy Bell, the feature is introduced as follows:
"Four developers with a cracked laptop monitor and a dream -- that's the legend of Darksiders' creation. How the team went from there to over 120 people and a completed game under THQ is the reality, and the team shares some very honest moments here, from concept art trouble to lessons from playtesting."
Also featured in this issue is a piece by Eidos Montreal tools developer Luis Sempe on creating a state-driven gameplay system for Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
"For Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the team needed an intuitive method for designers to implement gameplay. It fell to Luis Sempe of Eidos Montreal to create the tools, and here he shares his advice for the creation of a state-driven gameplay system."
In addition, we've rounded up the staff picks for the top 30 developers of 2009:
"2009 was an interesting year, with social shakeups and mid-lifecycle consoles. Though the money was down a bit, the professionalism, quality, and innovation had never been higher. In this non-empirical list, we share our choices for the best game developers of the year."
Also included in this edition is an in-depth article by designer/artists Rob Kay (Guitar Hero, Rock Band) and Andy Tudor (EyeToy, Need for Speed: Shift) about applying art techniques to game design.
In addition, our regular columnists and special guests including Steve Theodore, Soren Johnson, Bill Bilodeau, Jesse Harlin, and Matthew Wasteland contribute detailed and important pieces on various areas of game development.
