Game Developer Debuts Free Digital Issue

Author: by Staff

The editors of Game Developer magazine, the sister market-leading U.S. print publication to Gamasutra, have updated the free sample issue of the magazine to feature February 2008, with the Ratchet & Clank Future postmortem-featuring issue available for free browsing and PDF download. The February 2008 issue has been picked as a good example of the leading content regularly available in the magazine, which is received by over 35,000 of the top worldwide game developers monthly - and read by over 85,000 in total. The cover feature for the sample issue is 'Postmortem: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction' by John Fiorito, and it's explained of the exclusive postmortem: "Ratchet & Clank Future was Insomniac's second PlayStation 3 game, and indeed one of the first second-generation PS3 titles period. From scope woes to preproduction pitfalls, this postmortem illuminates some of the process behind this "second party" development cycle." Another major feature for the February 2008 issue is 'Difficulty Is Difficult' by game designer Daniel Boutros, of which it's explained: "If done well, difficulty can make a game quite addictive. If done poorly, the game can become an abject failure for consumers. This design article dissects various elements of difficulty tuning, and proposes potential solutions." In addition, the February issue also looks at 'Big Waves' by Adi Bar-Lev, described as follows: "Game Developer has featured articles on water before, but never massive, interactive waves. Building off a primer for general in-game water creation, this technical piece shows practical techniques for the creation, smoothing, and perfection of big waves in-game, as seen in Ubisoft's Surf's Up." Another major piece for the issue is 'Community Roundtable' by a host of MMO and online game community managers, including April Burba, Christian Schuett, Jonathan Hanna, Richard Weil, Sean Dahlberg, and Victor Wachter. The freely available issue is rounded out by an interview on Halo 3's 'Legendary' difficulty level, as well as the customary in-depth news, code, art, audio, and design columns from Game Developer's veteran correspondents, plus product reviews and editorial columns. If you're interested in receiving more digital or print copies of Game Developer, the official magazine website includes six months' and a year's digital subscriptions - including access to back issues to 2004 and PDF downloads of all issues - alongside yearly print subscriptions for the magazine.