News

The unexpected creative genesis of Her Story
The unexpected creative genesis of Her Story
"If all your ideas are coming from movies, that can be a problem. An artist has already gone out into the world and compressed a lot of information to create that film."
April 29, 2016
Australian Parliament report calls for renewed game industry funding
Australian Parliament report calls for renewed game industry funding
Australian parlimentary report recommends reinstating funding developers with grants and loans to boost the local game biz, and adding tax breaks for bigger studios.
April 29, 2016
Vivendi snaps up even more Ubisoft shares
Vivendi snaps up even more Ubisoft shares
French multinational media conglomerate, Vivendi, has made another move on Assassin's Creed creator, Ubisoft.
April 29, 2016
Fable developer Lionhead closes its doors for good
Fable developer Lionhead closes its doors for good
"We can confirm that after much consideration over the six week consultation period with Lionhead employees, we have reached the decision to close Lionhead Studios."
April 29, 2016
Survey: Less than half of U.S. households own dedicated game consoles
Survey: Less than half of U.S. households own dedicated game consoles
The results from the ESA (and Ipsos MediaCT's) annual survey of Americans suggests that for the first time in years, a dedicated game console is in less than half (48 percent) of U.S. households.
April 29, 2016
China is driving big growth for Unity mobile game installs
China is driving big growth for Unity mobile game installs
Unity reports that in the first 3 months of 2016 nearly 220k Unity mobile games were installed 4.2 billion times on 1.7 billion devices. 31 percent were in China, vs. just 11 percent in the U.S.
April 29, 2016
After 13 years, 'casual' game hub JayIsGames will shut down
After 13 years, 'casual' game hub JayIsGames will shut down
The folks over at long-running online game hub JayIsGames have confirmed that the website will cease operations this week, though it will remain online for the foreseeable future.
April 29, 2016
Dishonored, and tactile interface metaphors
Dishonored, and tactile interface metaphors
An applied semiotic analysis of an aspect of the UX and game design of Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012).
April 29, 2016
5 tips for exhibiting at the Minibooth at PAX East
5 tips for exhibiting at the Minibooth at PAX East
This year I showcased my game Circles at the Indie Minibooth at PAX East. It was my first time showcasing at such a major convention, so here I share some things that I learned and some I wish I knew beforehand.
April 29, 2016
Preparing your project for version control using SourceTree and Bitbucket
Preparing your project for version control using SourceTree and Bitbucket
At some point of game development, we all need to secure our project away from harm…
April 29, 2016
Consequences in Games
Consequences in Games
Party games, and to a lesser extent family games, have always been reward-based (you're rewarded for participation) rather than consequence-based (winning and losing is important, plus more), but hobby games were usually the latter. Not any more.
April 29, 2016
Optimizing AI for The Magic Circle
Optimizing AI for The Magic Circle
The Magic Circle places no artificial limits on the number of creatures you can drag around with you in the world. This is a simplified description of some of the major optimizations that went into making that possible.
April 29, 2016