As game designers, we need to ask ourselves how far we should go. The Wii is a whole new playing field for experimenting with forms of game play. And right now, the news is abuzz with the upcoming release of Mad World for its violence in physically enacting attacks with the Wiimote. I’d like to remind everyone that this is nothing new–other games such as Manhunt 2 and Red Steel experimented with this play awhile ago. Of them all, Man Hunt 2 is the most overtly violent.
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Maurine Starkey is a founding member of Westwood Studios. She has worked as an art instructor, lead artist, art director, creative director, producer and game designer for over 24 years, plus continues to paint, sculpt, storyboard, and illustrate books, paper games, and comic books. (more…)

It’s not just about hardcore versus casual (and not to be confused about people getting hardcore about casual games). Researchers at Ghent University* responded to the latest generation of game technology (mmm, Nintendo Wii) by coming up with new labels for gamers based on player motivation. In the end, all of this research is to help game developers design games for different kinds of players.

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What do you get when you put together a writer, artist, designer, academic, and activist all in one? Mary Flanagan and her work at Tiltfactor, the first academic center to focus on social activist games. We had the chance to nab up an interview with Mary all about her work and role in feminist game design. Because, yes, games can be feminist!

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One of the biggest checks in reality I had did not come to me in college, it did not come to me when I had to start creating wonderful artwork with strict deadlines and it did not come to me when I had my first few interviews, no, it came to me when I did my first art test. In this Art Tests in Depth series on Notes on Game Dev, I’ll start with an introduction to the basics and then get more in depth with my test experiences.

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Or “A new season, a new mechanic for Jojo’s Fashion Show.”

Success is scary. When we finished making Jojo’s Fashion Show last November and prepared it for release on iWin.com and Gamelab.com I felt we had made a great casual game, one that we really loved playing. But I also knew we had a slightly unusual game. The game eschewed color and pattern matching in favor of a more obtuse system based on clothing attributes and keywords. The system allowed the player to be clever and creative in the clothing items they picked out. But it was also rather hazy. You could make some truly odd outfits and still score reams of points. I was worried players would be confused by the mildly objective nature of the judging.
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I consider myself both an artist and a writer. Sometimes I’ll say I’m a writer first and an artist second; sometimes it’s the other way around. My career is art and my full-time hobby is writing.

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Why did Rome fall?
What do women want?
What really happened to Amelia Earhart?
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Are games art?

These are questions that will be asked and answered til the end of time. Every answer will have some merit. I have been asked to provide my own thoughts on the last question. Here goes…

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In an attempt to remedy the fact that only 9% of game artists are women and they make on average over $10,000 less per year than their male counterparts (Source: Game Career Guide, 2007), Notes on Game Dev launched the Aspiring Women Game Artists Contest with a fully paid scholarship to the Sessions Online School of Game Art as the grand prize.

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The depth behind the main character Kratos from the God of War series is immense. One story of many tells of how Kratos’ skin is gray because he is covered in the ashes of his family. Although this has not explicitly appeared in game content thus far, the layers of stories add to a rich background that fans gather together. And who is responsible for this level of detail? Game writer Marianne Krawczyk, who took the time to talk about her experience working on the God of War games, which are undoubtedly continuing with the currently in-development God of War 3.

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