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Postmortem: Access Games'
Deadly Premonition

Access Games' Deadly Premonition had a long and difficult development period that was beset by technical problems. The game was dragged from the precipice of cancellation several times and ultimately persevered to become an underground hit. In this candid postmortem, the staff of Access Games describes how a passionate commitment to their game saw them through the production's highs and many lows.

Make It Fast!

Developing a social game in less than two months presents a challenge, but only after it is launched does the real work start. In an inside look at Zynga's development process, Amitt Mahajan describes how the studio uses a client-server model in order to quickly tune play mechanics, add content to games, and stay on top of the evolving Facebook platform.

Finding Personality In Games

Designing characters that players will take to heart is a tricky business. It may seem easy; simply dress them in primary colors and slap on some attitude, but for every Sonic or Mega Man there are countless Busby's thrown into the dust bin of video game history. Twisted Pixel's Josh Bear looks beyond visual design and finds the keys to creating appealing characters in the complex intersection of animation, audio, gameplay, and environment.

Interview: Éric Chahi

After years in self-imposed exile from the game industry, Another World creator Éric Chahi has returned. Far from idle, Chahi spent much of the past decade on such diverse pursuits as volcano exploration and writing complex music synthesis software. These non-game experiences have had a deep influence on his design thinking and in this interview he describes how witnessing the volcanic processes of the Earth first-hand led to his upcoming Project DUST.

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