GamaSutra - The Art & Science of Making Games
By John Evans
GamaSutra is a news and resource site for game developers or anyone
interested in the computer game industry.
From the moment the page loads, the reader is inundated with information.
Yet GamaSutra's elegant web design keeps it all coherent. Information
is
organized in several categories, which can each be browsed in different
ways.
Readers can skim over the top stories or features in each category,
or view
each in depth. Game developers are the intended audience for much
of the
content, but again, anyone interested in computer games will find
the site a
treasure trove of information.
First and foremost, GamaSutra offers news about the game industry.
News about
game companies and development tools are found here. Top stories when
I
visited included: "Sony Projecting 2002 Profits Up By 20%, According
to
Reuters", "CGSD Releases RealTexture Bump Texture Tools"
and "Alias Wavefront to Release Maya Shockwave Exporter".
GamaSutra also has a "Features" section consisting of articles
about game development. In addition to "Postmortems", which
analyze recently released games, there are also interviews and editorials.
Top features when I visited: "Postmortem: Mind's Eye's 'Sheep'",
"Game Developers Conference 2001 Video: Programs, Emotions &
Common Sense" (streaming video of a lecture given by Marvin Minsky)
and "Brian Moriarty on Text RPGs and Skotos Tech" (an interview
with Brian Moriarty). Both of these sections also have extensive archives
of previous content, organized by topic.
GamaSutra also has several additional sections that require registration.
This registration is simple, free and, in my view, well worth it.
A number of
message-board type Discussions are available for registered users,
all of them
quite active. Some highlights: "What Do Female Gamers Really
Want?", "Games
as Media, Art, and Communication" and "Reinventing the RPG".
On these boards
you can discuss gaming with published designers, programmers, theorists
and
ordinary gamers.
As GamaSutra is focused on game development, registration also allows
readers
access to an employment database. Unfortunately, there are only a
couple dozen
jobs currently listed. However, registered users may also post their
resume
online for prospective employers to browse at their leisure. (Employers
may
also gain access to resumes by subscription. As of April 4, 1,100
resumes were
listed.)
The most innovative feature of GamaSutra, in my view, is the GamaSutra
Exchange. The Exchange is a Napsteresque program that allows you to
browse
game resources--3d models, textures, artwork and similar files, to
be used with
popular software tools. If you find something you like, you use the
program's
secure connection technology to pay the artist directly. The program
also lets
you upload your own work to the Exchange, priced however you see fit.
There is
also a certain amount of content available free of charge on the Exchange.
I
downloaded the client to take a look, and found that the most popular
media at
the moment was a 3d model of the battleship "Bismarck" in
a format usable by
many popular 3d design programs. The model consisted of 140,000 polygons,
had an average user rating of 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, and was priced
at $7.00. (From the preview, it was pretty impressive.)
Finally, there are two "miscellaneous" sections of the
site. The Buyer's Guide,
available to registered users, has descriptions and reviews of hundreds
of
hardware and software products, from programming libraries to 3d animation
software to CD-R recorders to sound cards to motion capture hardware.
And the GamaSutra Store carries not just GamaSutra T-shirts, but also
videos and notes from the annual Game Developer Conferences, as well
as subscriptions to Game Developer magazine.
GamaSutra, as a whole, provides an astounding amount of information
about the
computer game development industry. I would heartily recommend it
to anyone
who wants to keep their finger on the pulse of the future of entertainment.