Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Engines To Improving AI

In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the official posting guidelines. This Week's Standout Expert Blogs The Zero-Budget Indie Marketing Guide (Rodain Joubert) There are more ways than ever for indie developers to distribute that games, but that also means there are more games than ever to compete with. Rodain Joubert passes on some helpful, effective -- and, most importantly, affordable -- tips on marketing lower-budget titles. 7 Ways to Make Your AI Smarter (Robert Hale) Programmer and designer Robert Hale has several general principles on improving artificial intelligence, or at least the appearance of it. It's a useful set of pointers for an area of game design that is frequently criticized. E3: The Tools And Technology That Make It Interesting (Wanda Meloni) As part of her multi-part E3 coverage, Wanda Meloni of M2 Research took a look at over two dozen anticipated games shown at E3 to get a sense of what tools and engines are most used -- and despite the numerous Unreal Engine 3 licenses, internally-created engines still dominate. The Fast Thinker (Gabriel Lievano) Quick time events are undoubtedly a big game design trend, partially due to their use in the incredibly successful God of War and Resident Evil 4. In this piece, programmer Gabriel Lievano examined the mechanic with a critical eye -- and, just as notably, kicked off a hefty comment thread. In another worthwhile piece this week, Lievano gave a firsthand account of South American piracy, touching on its causes and some potential remedies. Class Acts: IGDA, Why Spend the $50? (Stephen Jacobs) As RIT associate professor Stephen Jacobs points out, recent snafus involving the IGDA may have some members wondering what exactly their membership fees are getting them. Jacobs delves into the role of professional organizations, and the IGDA in particular, to suss out what the group can provide and how members can get more out of their $50.