The August 2006 issue of
Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra.com, and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has now shipped to subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and a new single-issue formats.
The cover feature for the August 2006 issue is 'Reestablishing An Icon: The Peaks And Pitfalls Of
Tomb Raider: Legend' by Riley Cooper, for which it's exaplined: "How do you put a wayward series back on track? Crystal Dynamics fought consumer apathy, a series’ fading legacy, and short schedules to get Lara Croft back on top of her game. Riley Cooper shares the ins and outs of this delicate process."
Another major feature comes from Backbone Entertainment game designer David Sirlin, author of
a controversial Gamasutra article on
World Of Warcraft, who delivers 'The Power Of Pacing', for which it's explained: "You may be tempted to save your game’s best moments for the end, to really leave an impression on the player. Then again, you may want the coolest elements at the beginning to draw players in. David Sirlin offers advice for achieving this important balance, with nods to games that have nailed it and some that have failed it."
The lead technical feature for the issue is 'To Slerp, Or Not To Slerp?' by Xin Li, described as follows: "Whether to use Slerp, Lerp, Polyslerp, nLerp, and the like has been debated among game programmers for several years. In this technical article, DigiPen professor Xin Li defends one way to utilize Slerp to your advange."
The issue is rounded out by regular news, code, art, audio, and design columns from Game Developer's veteran correspondents, as well as product reviews and game art features.
Worldwide paper-based subscriptions to Game Developer magazine are
currently available at the
official magazine website, and the new Game Developer Digital version of the issue is
also now available, with the site
offering six months and a year's subscriptions, alongside access to back issues, all for a reduced price. There is now also an opportunity to buy
the digital version of September 2006's magazine as a single issue. Newsstand copies of the magazine will also shortly be available at North American outlets including Barnes & Noble and other specialty bookstores.
