Gamasutra Member Blogs: Crowd Funding And The End Of The World

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, including crowd funding tips, the acoustic ecology of Half-Life 2, and the end of the world.] 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 - Acoustic Ecologies: Half-Life 2’s City 17 (Michel McBride-Charpentier) A short soundwalk through City 17 reveals a complex acoustic ecology. Using established soundscape terminology and an open ear, McBride-Charpentier tries to establish some techniques for thematically integrating a soundscape with the level design. - Seriously Gears of War (Craig Wilson) A visualization of the notorious Gears of War 'Seriously' achievement which requires culling 100,000 locusts. "It's a long graph with at least half a good point," says Craig Wilson. - Mortal Kombat, Censorship And The Dangers Of Online Distribution (Anjin Anhut) Says Anjin Anhut: "As uncomfortable, unprofitable and unprogressive [as] hard copy retail is, there is a case to be made for its ability to preserve content, culture and expression in its original state. If online distribution is the future, it may not be as bright as hoped." - If I was in charge of "The Art of Video Games" (Robert Bevill) Robert Bevill puts himself in the shoes of those determining which titles will be on display at the Smithsonian's "Art of Video Games" exhibit, choosing which games he'd like to show off. - Hypership Out of Control WP7 Postmortem (Kris Steele) Kris Steele details what went right -- and wrong -- porting his Xbox Live Indie Game to WP7. He also adds a "What Went ???" category, something we should perhaps consider for the postmortems we commission. - A Case Study in Narrative Design (Douglas Lynn) According to Douglas Lynn, "Half rant, half case study, this long entry discusses the implications of implicit versus explicit narrative in video games. It also does a fair amount of complaining." - The End Of The World (Tora Teig) How do you come to terms with the loss of an entire game world you've come to fall in love with once the game is over? Tora doesn't have the answer, but she does have the start of a fascinating discussion. - 10 Tips For Raising Funds With Kickstarter For Indie Game Developers (Stephen Dick) Crowd funding isn't magic, it takes a well thought-out plan and the ability to deliver on your promises. Check out Stephen Dick's tips for getting your next indie game funded.