FEATURES

Sound Shapes

Making a game built around making music (and having fun doing it) is incredibly challenging, but Queasy Games’s Sound Shapes made it look easy. Building Sound Shapes was far from easy, though—underneath its elegant design lies dozens of discarded prototypes and small-studio growing pains.

Year In Review

It was nice knowing you, 2012! Game Developer rings out the year by asking a selection of accomplished developers about the new stuff they love, the old stuff they’re glad to get rid of, and more.

The Art Of War

Military shooter creators routinely consult military experts, but designers of games featuring swordplay or other forms of melee weapon-based combat rarely go to the medieval weapons experts. Medieval martial arts specialist John Clements and animator Eben Bradstreet show you how understanding realistic sword combat can make your game better (and easier to animate).

Beyond Shadows Of Doubt

Shadows in 3D games don’t always play nicely with other ways artists make their games look good, especially when you look at how the shadow falls on the model that’s casting it. 3D experts Andrew Woo and Pierre Poulin explain four workarounds for common self-shadowing issues.

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