Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Design Restraint To Your Brain On Social Games

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including a look at Limbo's game design, NCsoft's Korean baseball team, and the effects of social games on brain chemistry.] In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - State Of Restraint, Confinement, Or Exclusion (Bryan Ma) Bryan Ma discusses Limbo's sparse artistic and mechanical design, and argues the game's strengths lie in its ability to evoke human drama and its restraint when it comes to creating a threatening atmosphere. - What Will NCsoft’s Pro Baseball Team Bring? (Simon Lim) In response to NCsoft founding a new baseball team in Korea, Simon Lim explores what such a move could mean for the game industry, suggesting the popularity of the sport could help broaden the acceptance of video games as an entertainment medium. - Adding Weight To Your Game Design Part 5: Follow Through & Overlap (Michael Jungbluth) As part of his series on creating weight in game design, Michael Jungbluth focuses on the importance of follow through and overlap as it applies to both animation and games. - Social Games Equal Falling In Love (Michael Fergusson) Michael Fergusson looks at the factors that influence the biological chemistry of our brains, and wonders whether social services and games can effectively influence the way our brains work at a hormonal level.