Links

Genre Innovators vs Genre Kings

This article, from the blog Lost Garden, explores genre dynamics of games, and the way short-term decision to focus on only limited numbers of genres (e.g. first person shooters) can actually shrink the game market as a whole over the long term.

Bleszinski: Industry Doesn't Properly Value Visionaries

Legendary lead game designer Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War) of Epic Games has voiced an opinion on the game industry's failure to value its core creators. "CliffyB" says, in this Gamasutra piece, "I don't think the industry values visionaries as much as it could. I really don't."

EA Signs 300's Snyder For Three-Game Deal

Zack Snyder, the director of 300, signs with EA and gives up all IP in the process. An example of how leading creators from outside the game industry are willing to sell IP for an excellent deal, and how such a deal lets them profit directly.

We believe this is a harbinger of things to come, putting Core Talent Games at the front edge of new way of doing business in the game industry.

Pulling the Plug: In Defense of Non-Digital Teaching and Learning

Excellent article, by multi-decade veteran game designer Lewis Pulsipher, on the power of paper-based game prototyping.

GameDev.net Design Reference

Here is a compilation of links regarding game design at this major game development portal. Includes links to sample game design documents.

The Designer's Notebook: Why Design Documents Matter

Earnest Adam's article on the value of design documents.

Tom Sloper: Sample Outline For A Game Design

Industry veteran Tom Sloper gives an overview of writing a game design doc.

Tom Sloper: The Importance Of Design Docs In Game Development

Another article by Tom Sloper, illustrating his opinion on why design documents matter.

Meretzky Lets Loose On Stagnant Creativity

Designer and industry veteran Steve Meretzky (Planetfall, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) has used a recent speech to make an impassioned plea for innovation and creativity in the game biz, suggesting: "Let's get that fun back, let's get that passion back, it's our industry, let's take it back."

Wideload's Seropian: 'Model Broken' For Full Internal Game Staffing

Talking to Gamasutra as part of an in-depth new feature on outsourcing, Wideload's Alex Seropian has suggested the "model is broken" for fully staffing game teams, commenting "...when you've completed production on the game -- you've got 100 people on the payroll and you only have work for five or 10."

Opinion: Defining Good Middleware

Kyle Wilson of Day 1 Studios, which recently developed Fracture, examines their use of middleware. The maturation of powerful middleware is part of the value proposition of the Core Talent Games.

An Examination of Outsourcing: The Developer Angle

A foundational element of Core Talent Game's model is the outsourcing, and this article examines it. Outsourcing—not to be confused with offshoring (a subcategory of it)—is starting to explode in the game industry, though many game professionals still view it with some suspicion and trepidation. In film, architecture and other industries, however, it's been used routinely for years.

An Examination of Outsourcing Part 2: The Contractor Angle

A continuation of the discussion begun in the article above.