A survey of three different methods game design offers to build emotional connections with players, taken from How Games Move Us: Emotion By Design by Katherine Isbister. ...

Chris Pruett's encyclopedic knowledge of horror games fueled the creation of Dead Secret. But, surprisingly, he said that bad horror games taught him a lot more than the masterpieces. ...

"It makes me personally sad that some of the people whose opinions I respect the most are the people who are the most actively critical of our work, but it is what it is. My takeaway is that art is subjective." ...

The company that opened up user generated 3D space with Second Life, and has a plan to do it once again -- but this time, in virtual reality. ...

SteamSpy now has a year of data to pull from, and it seems the increasing numbers of games on Steam means that games that are not major successes are selling worse. ...

"A big part of CCGs is letting the player personalize their experience. The most straightforward approach is having a deck or deck-like system that the player picks and chooses from." It doesn't end there, though. ...

"The player's need to examine the text for gameplay clues wrecks the emotional effects the author works to build." That's just one problem for writing for games -- but here are some solutions. ...

Submissions are now open for Sense of Wonder Night, that annual showcase of interesting and innovative games that takes place as part of the Tokyo Game Show's indie game exhibition. ...

"Do you want to make a Unity game with retro graphics? This article is for you! It is separated into two parts: 2D and 3D games. I'll mention the techniques used in 64 Pixels of Cute and Forest At Night." ...

"It's the only time I've ever felt scared looking at a puzzle," says Bennett Foddy of QWOP and Super Pole Riders. "And it's nothing more than an artful arrangement of sausages." ...