Gamasutra member blogs: From Super Metroid to managing assets

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as the invisible hand of Super Metroid, managing assets at an indie studio, save scumming and incentivization, and more.] 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. This Week's Standout Member Blogs Save scumming and incentivization (Eric Schwarz) Tackling save scumming is a tricky problem. In this, Eric Schwarz takes a close look at how different methods of incentivization can give players reason to avoid the save-reload cycle. From indies to indies: James Niesewand from Illyriad (Dave Toulouse) Dave Toulouse interviews James Niesewand, CEO at new indie developer Illyriad Games, about leaving a more stable job to form an independent studio, managing a telecommuting team, and building the group's first release and self-titled game. The invisible hand of Super Metroid (Hugo Bille) In this in-depth analysis, Hugo Bille offers his perspective on the subtle player direction tricks that makes Super Metroid a tight and focused experience, while never quite letting the player out of the illusion that they are exploring Zebes on their own. New revenue numbers for our portfolio of Android games (Thierry Brochart) As his team releases eXtreme Slot Racing, Thierry Brochart shares revenue numbers from Gamayun Productions catalog of Android releases (eXtreme MotoCross, DreamRace4x4). Managing assets – Part 1: Setting asset quality (Maria Sifnioti) Maria Sifnioti shares tips in asset management straight from her indie studio. This is Part 1: Setting asset quality, discussing quality, forward planning, and balance. Here she gives some hands-on examples from her team's first iOS game, Maya's Dress Up.