Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Strategic Depth To The Necessity Of Death

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, including how predictability can enhance strategic depth, the idea of affordance in game design, and why games should present consequences for player failure.] Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. We hope that our blog sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information, check out the official posting guidelines. Here are the top member blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Member Blogs - What is Yomi? (Tucker Abbott) Tucker Abbott examines how games allow players to predict and counter each other's actions using the concept of "Yomi," illustrating the importance of predictability in competitive game scenarios. - Smoothing Out The Wrinkles Of Game Design (Josh Bycer) While some might games were better "back in the day," Josh Bycer argues older games suffer by today's standards, as modern design philosophies help make games easier to understand and play. - Affordance Design in Half-Life 2 (Michel McBride-Charpentier) Using Half-Life 2 as an example, Michel McBride-Charpentier discusses how games communicate the ways in which players interact with them, and how these cues teach players the restrictions imposed upon them by a game's systems. - Variety Is The Spice Of Life (Especially For A Freelance Video Game Composer) (Craig Dodge) Freelance game composer Craig Dodge explains how working on a wide range of projects helps not only inspire artists, but provides them with new perspectives to enhance the quality of their work. - If One Cannot Lose, There Is No Reason To Win (Joel Christiansen) Frustrated by titles with lenient punishments for failure, Joel Christiansen argues why consequences for failure play an important role when trying to hold a player's attention.