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As video games have become one of the most lucrative fields in the entertainment industry, there is an increased demand for game design professionals in the various facets of the industry. This section provides an insight into our Game Design School by looking at the ongoing trends in game design along with how-to guides, and Q&A’s and interviews that clarify the many nuances of game design.
The Architecture of Fear: Level Design Lessons from Haunted Houses
January 4, 2019
Los Angeles celebrates Halloween better than any other city on Earth. Maybe it’s because so many Hollywood special effects artists live here, or because there ...
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How To Pitch to Game Developers
November 2, 2018Are you wondering how to pitch to game developers?
In 2009, twenty-nine year old Markus “Notch” Persson started work on RubyDung, a procedurally generated construction sim ...
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How to Design Your Game to Tell a Story
September 21, 2018You don’t need to be a gamer to recognize the incredible success of Fortnite: Battle Royale and Overwatch — two of the most popular games ...
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Movie Marketing: Video Game Tie-Ins Done Well
June 15, 2018Gaming tie-ins for movie franchises have existed for nearly as long as people have been playing video games. When done well, these media can blend ...
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The Right Concept Art Will Save You Money: 4 Steps to Develop
February 9, 2018By Felipe Lara – Instructor, New York Film Academy Game DesignA good piece of concept art can be used as a prototype to test one ...
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How to Be a Star in Game Industry Design Meetings
February 2, 2018For aspiring game designers, we have created three tips to help you excel in design meetings in the game industry. Check it out:Make It About ...
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Game Storytelling – 3 Rules of Thumb that Work
October 13, 2017By Felipe Lara – Instructor, New York Film Academy Game Design
Adding storytelling to your game can help you connect emotionally to your players, add meaning ...
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Best Free Game Engines and Development Software
July 14, 2017Is the only thing keeping you from transforming your great game idea from dream to reality your wallet? Well then, you will be happy to ...
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3 Questions That Will Help You Make a More Engaging Experience
May 5, 2017By Felipe Lara, NYFA Game DesignHow can you make your game more engaging and effective? In a nutshell, by making engagement stronger at the different levels ...
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A Roadmap to Make a Successful Game
April 21, 2017By Felipe Lara, NYFA Los Angeles Game DesignWe all want to make successful games: innovative, loved by players, and profitable. The question is: Is there ...
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Breaking Into the Industry Design Program Vs Job As Game Tester
July 7, 2016The video game industry has changed dramatically the last few decades, especially when it comes to getting your foot in the door. For the longest ...
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How To Make Sure Your Game is Competitive In Other Countries
July 7, 2016The Gaming industry is more competitive than ever, enough that finding success in just one market is a challenge. Of course, there’s nothing quite like ...
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5 (Even More) Game Design Mistakes To Avoid
May 5, 2016Like in life, learning the hard way is never a pleasant experience. Instead of identifying your game design mistake beforehand and avoiding it, you get ...
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5 Tips For Standing Out At Your Next Game Fair
May 3, 2016The Penny Arcade Expo, Game Developers Conference, and Gamescom are a few of the many huge trade fairs small developers dream of attending. Who wouldn’t ...
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How To Become A Game Artist
April 22, 2016Do you fancy yourself creating the virtual worlds where players explore and get lost in? The job of Game Artist is becoming more and more ...
» Read more- How To Sabotage Your Game’s International Chances
April 22, 2016The game industry is more competitive than ever, enough that finding success in any one country is hugely challenging. Imagine then trying to create a ...
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How To Design The Best Boss Battles: 4 Must-Read Tips
April 1, 2016Boss battles are arguably one of the most exciting things about video games. Ask the average gamer what their favorite boss battles are and they’ll ...
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How To Write A Compelling Game Story In Three Steps
April 1, 2016More people are realizing just how powerful video games are as a storytelling tool. Movies are fine and books are great too, but there’s just ...
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How To Write Dialogue For Games Worth Reading
April 1, 2016If there’s one skill everyone thinks they have, it’s creative writing. The programmers coding the game and artists bringing ideas to life have no trouble ...
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Tips For Keeping Gamers Challenged But Not Overwhelmed
March 14, 2016Difficulty has always been an interesting subject when talking about video games. Some people have no problem playing a single-player campaign on Easy or Normal ...
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Three Important Steps To Launching A Game On Steam
March 10, 2016When Valve released Steam more than a decade ago, few could have imagined the impact it would have on the game industry. The online digital ...
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How To Find Game Development Jobs
February 9, 2016From having a successful interview to making sure your application doesn’t end up being ignored, there are plenty of tips out there to help you ...
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How To Be The Best Marketer For Your Video Game
February 9, 2016If there’s one thing a lot of indie game developers are learning the hard way, it’s that making a game is only the first step ...
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Learning From The Best: RTS Games
February 9, 2016Strategy is one of those genres that has remained relevant throughout video game history, in one form or another. We say that because “strategy” is ...
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Three Types Of Tabletop Games That Can Make You A Better Video Game Designer
January 14, 2016Of all the perks that come with being a video game developer, playing lots of video games is near the top of the list. While ...
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Three Principles Every Video Game Designer Should Follow
January 14, 2016When asking experienced developers and game design professors what every aspiring designer should know, you’re bound to get a variety of tips. We’d expect no ...
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How To Manage The Professional Challenges Of Being A Game Designer
December 30, 2015Of all the roles you can obtain while working in the video game industry, few are as rewarding and sought-after as “Game Designer”. Game designers ...
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Learning From The Best: Action-Adventure Games
December 17, 2015If there’s one video game genre that can be difficult to explain in a nutshell, it’s action-adventure (AA). This genre is broad and often combines ...
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How To Increase In-App Purchases: 3 User Interface Tips
December 2, 2015Most game developers do all they can to make their in-app purchases as enticing as possible. Whether it’s faster resources, more chapters, or powerful items, ...
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Getting The Most Out Of Your Video Game Prototype
November 13, 2015One of the most important yet often ignored parts of game development is prototyping. A prototype is your way of testing out concepts without putting ...
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In For The Kill: A Look At Different Types Of Stealth Games
October 29, 2015If there’s one mechanic that has stood the test of time and transcended genres, it’s stealth. Stealth elements can be seen in today’s action-adventure titles ...
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4 Things That Top Game Developers Have In Common
October 21, 2015It’s never a bad idea to examine a particular game studio and see how their process helps them create successful games. Of course, what works ...
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Five More Common Game Design Mistakes To Avoid
October 14, 2015Like anything in life, learning mistakes the hard way as a game designer is anything but fun. Whether it be an unfair boss or boring ...
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Drawing Inspiration From Elsewhere To Create New Video Games
October 5, 2015During an interview for Japanese website, Nintendo Online Monthly, Shigeru Miyamoto offered a very interesting piece of advice to aspiring game developers:
“…Although you should of ...
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Three Devastating Problems To Look Out For While Game Testing
September 29, 2015It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for a game developer to playtest their game. We have even provided some advice on how ...
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Four Tips For Captivating Level Design
September 22, 2015When you think about video game design, you can think of it in terms of a jigsaw puzzle. Not only does each piece need to ...
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Three Optional Ways To Make Sure Skilled Players Have Fun Too
September 11, 2015One of the hardest things for a developer to balance out in their own game is difficulty. This is because developers are almost generally pretty ...
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Five Tips For Planning Stretch Goals
September 9, 2015While there are plenty of opinions floating around when it comes to crowdfunding, one thing’s for certain: plenty of great games have seen the light ...
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5 Things Experienced Game Designers Wish They Knew From The Start
August 31, 2015Any game designer who has been in the industry long enough can relate to the old saying: “if I knew then what I know now…”
Like ...
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Three Free And Reliable Online Resources For Game Designers
August 27, 2015When one thinks about the App Store or Wii gaming library, some pretty amazing games come to mind. From Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime ...
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Five Tips For Exhibiting Your Game At Events
August 14, 2015The thought of showing off your game in a crowded setting, and actually interacting with people looking to catch a glimpse of your project, can ...
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How To Be A Loved And Respected Game Company President (Like Satoru Iwata)
August 4, 2015For most developers, the thought of being the president of a video game company never really crosses our minds. Instead we’re thinking about how we’ll ...
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Five Things Your Free-To-Play Game Should Have (And You Should Track)
July 28, 2015When creating a free-to-play (F2P) game, most developers focus on tracking the obvious: number of downloads, installs, and in-app purchases. While there’s nothing wrong with ...
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Learning From The Best: RPGs
July 1, 2015One of the most beloved genres in gaming continues to be the role-playing game (RPG). It’s in these games that we often truly feel like ...
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Learning From The Best: Fighting Games
June 24, 2015Last on our “Learning From The Best” series is a genre that only recently began making a comeback after a few years of seeing little ...
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Learning From The Best: First-Person Shooters
June 24, 2015The first-person shooter (FPS) is without a doubt one of the most popular genres today. Between the annual Call of Duty, completely new titles like ...
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Learning From The Best: Puzzle Games
June 19, 2015Although they’re certainly not for everyone, puzzle games offer a unique joy that few other genres can provide. There’s just something about confronting a problem ...
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Learning From The Best: Platformers
June 12, 2015If there’s one type of game that is currently seeing an incredible revival, it’s the platformer. Whether you’re talking 2D or 3D, gamers have proven ...
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Three Ways To Get Ignored By Gaming Sites
June 4, 2015Making sure your game is fun should be your first priority, but getting people to actually notice it is important too. One of the best ...
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Five Tips For Getting Your Game Greenlit On Steam
May 27, 2015Although it has only been around since 2012, the Steam Greenlight process has changed a lot since its launch just a few years ago. In its ...
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Why Every Team Should Have A Game Design Document (GDD)
May 7, 2015There are indie game teams out there who think creating a design document would be a waste of their precious and limited time. This idea ...
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How To Keep Players From Abandoning Your Freemium Game
May 1, 2015Whether you’re developing a free-to-play game, or one that will launch with a price tag, the end-goal as professional game designers should always be to ...
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Three More Quotes That May Change The Way You Look At Game Design
April 16, 2015A few months back we showed you three quotes spoken by some of the most influential game designers of all time. From standing up for ...
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Six Invaluable Tips For Designing Fun Side Quests
April 15, 2015For game developers to attract players to their game and keep their attention, more than a fun and captivating main quest is needed. Gamers do ...
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8 Misconceptions About Independent Game Development
March 27, 2015Creating an indie game is something many game developers dream of doing at some point in their career. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing your own ...
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The Game Designer’s Many Roles
March 19, 2015Being a game designer is not only about coming up with cool ideas, far from it. The truth is, being a good game designer requires ...
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What To Expect During Your First GDC
March 6, 2015As the annual Game Developers Conference comes to an end, it’s never too early to start looking ahead and planning for the next one. Attending ...
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Game Design Tips Taken From Influential Games
February 26, 2015Most people look back at games from a decade or two ago and shake their head at the outdated visuals and simple gameplay. Of course, ...
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How To Get The Most Out Of Playtesting
February 20, 2015Testing your game may sound as easy as handing someone an early build and asking them to tell you if they hate something or encounter ...
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6 Elements That Make A Good Multiplayer Game
February 12, 2015It’s amazing how many games these days offer both a vast single player campaign and some form of multiplayer. As online capabilities for both console ...
» Read more- Movie Marketing: Video Game Tie-Ins Done Well
January 30, 2015Gaming tie-ins for movie franchises have existed for nearly as long as people have been playing video games. When done well, these media can blend ...
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Nailing Your Game Design Interview Questions (Part 3)
January 28, 2015This is the third part of our series covering common interview questions that you might encounter during an interview for a game design job. If ...
» Read more- Nailing Your Game Design Interview Questions (Part 1)
January 23, 2015If there’s one area of the job searching process that many people find nerve-wracking, it’s the part where you actually talk to a person. More ...
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Nailing Your Game Design Interview Questions (Part 2)
January 23, 2015In part 1 we revealed three of the most common questions you are likely to face when heading in to a game design job interview. Here ...
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Four Things To Consider Early In Game Development
January 16, 2015If you ask most developers how many unforeseen challenges they have come across during a single game project, they’ll most likely have a good number ...
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Five Common Game Design Mistakes to Avoid
January 5, 2015It isn’t difficult to find articles providing tips for creating a fun game. You will see advice like be creative, prototype new ideas, and have ...
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These Three Quotes May Change The Way You Look At Game Design
December 24, 2014Whether you’re new to game development or a veteran with plenty of years already under your belt, it never hurts to hear what other designers ...
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Video Game Marketing: Promoting Your New Game [Part 2]
December 12, 2014So your game is finally ready to launch and you want as many people as possible to know about it. By the time your game ...
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Video Game Marketing: Promoting Your New Game [Part 1]
December 12, 2014Having dreamt of creating your own games ever since you were a kid, you’re brimming with passion and excitement now that it’s finally becoming a ...
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5 Essential Websites To Consider When Searching For A Game Design Job
December 5, 2014So you’ve finally graduated from college with that coveted piece of paper you’ve worked so hard to obtain. Whether you went through a game design ...
» Read more- How To Form A Solid Indie Game Development Team
November 25, 2014It’s amazing just how far the gaming industry has come in terms of who can actually make a living creating games. For the longest time, ...
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The Game Development Team: How To Be An Awesome Member
November 21, 2014If you have recently completed the storyline or single-player campaign of a big-budget game, chances are you didn’t sit there trying to read every name ...
» Read more- How to Write Your First Game Design Document
November 14, 2014Although there are sure to be exceptions, most games end up having some form of game design document. Whether it is completed before the game ...
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How to Make the Most out of Attending the Game Developers Conference (And Is It Worth It?)
November 7, 2014If you’re an aspiring game developer or professional looking to work in the industry, you have probably heard of the annual Game Developer’s Conference that ...
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4 Insanely Useful Game Design Books Every Designer Should Read
October 30, 2014When asking a game designer what you should be doing to make good games, they will more often than not tell you to “play a ...
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How to Make a Game Without Coding: 5 Game Engines That Don’t Require Programming Knowledge
October 20, 2014It’s no secret that making a computer game usually requires a solid understanding of computer programming—they are “computer games,” after all. Unfortunately not all of us ...
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Five Steps To Take Toward A Career In Game Writing
October 13, 2014Although the role of ‘game designer’ is one of the most sought after careers in the industry, it’s safe to say that “game writer” is ...
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How To Create A Game Design Portfolio That Stands Out
October 3, 2014It wasn’t long ago that having an online game design portfolio was unheard of. In fact, when most people think about an online portfolio that ...
» Read more- Five Reasons Why Every Game Designer Should Have A Portfolio
October 2, 2014Considering how many applications developers and studios receive these days whenever they post a ‘Game Designer’ position, it’s easy for a hiring team to completely ...
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Four Tips To Remember If You Want Your Game Design Job Application To Be A Success
September 22, 2014So you finally think you’ve got what it takes to land that fabled ‘Game Designer’ job you’ve dreamed of.
Perhaps you’re fresh out of college with ...
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5 Brief Tips To Successfully Leverage Kickstarter To Fund Your Video Game
September 16, 2014It’s impossible to ignore just how successful Kickstarter has become in only 5 short years. From Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune’s new Mighty No 9 to ...
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Gaming Communities: The Game Developer’s Marketing Dream
August 14, 2014While most game developers have a passion for gaming, at the end of the day it is still a business. That means that attracting players ...
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The 5 Types Of Video Games Every Designer Should Know
June 9, 2014Back at the genesis of the video game industry, games used to be made by lone (and usually hobbyist) programmers at home in their spare ...
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10 Board Games to Play Using Video Conferencing
March 20, 2020Current events continue to keep most of the population indoors for extended periods of time, affecting everything from studying to working to, yes, even gaming. ...
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Google Stadia: Is This the Future of Gaming?
November 8, 2019At this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), internet behemoth Google announced their bid into the streaming gaming market: the Google Stadia. The Stadia (plural for ...
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6 Awesome Game Designers You Should Know
October 18, 2019Most gamers have heard of Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario and the Legend of Zelda series, or they might know of Hideo Kojima, ...
» Read more- The Top 10 Legend of Zelda Games
March 29, 2019It’s hard to imagine video games without The Legend of Zelda. Time and time again, Nintendo uses this iconic series to try and set the ...
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Bandersnatch: Are You Ready for Interactive Storytelling? Press ‘Left’ for YES
March 22, 2019This December, Netflix anthology series Black Mirror released their first “interactive narrative” episode, entitled Bandersnatch. The critical response was explosive, with some reviewers calling it ...
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9 Great Games From the Last 12 Months
March 15, 2019January and February tend to be a quiet time for game releases, especially following the pre-Holiday season in the Fall. While there’s plenty of new ...
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Insomniac’s Spider-Man and Why AAA Games Still Matter
January 11, 2019Last September, Sony released Spider-Man, the 35th video game based on the popular Marvel comic book superhero. The game, developed by Insomniac Games (Ratchet and ...
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5 Trends in Game Design to Watch Out for in 2019
January 4, 2019The video game industry can be a tricky beast to predict. Who could have expected a little sandbox game called Minecraft to dominate pop culture, ...
» Read more- What Nintendo Can Teach Us About Game Design
August 10, 2018By Scott Rogers – Instructor, New York Film Academy Game Design
Nintendo recently celebrated its 46th year of creating video games, and with the exception of ...
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5 Things Old School Games Mastered
July 13, 2018Today’s video games offer some of the most captivating worlds and stories one can experience. From incredibly realistic environments to impressive artificial intelligence, games have ...
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Video Games that Successfully Made the Jump from Movie to Game
May 18, 2018Whether it’s due to rushed development times or not enough creative freedom, games based on movies rarely become the talk of the industry. Once in ...
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4 Prototypes That Will Help You Survive The Road Towards a Successful Game
February 16, 2018By Felipe Lara – Instructor, New York Film Academy Game DesignIf you have led a team in the development of a new game, you probably ...
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What Beginners Should Know About Ethics in Game Design
November 2, 2017One of the most debated topics in the video game industry is one that may surprise you: not graphics or gameplay, but ethics. People, whether ...
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The Rise of High Quality Video Game Trailers
June 30, 2017The evolution of video game trailers is comparable to games themselves. While 20 years ago we were content running across 8-bit worlds, now we expect ...
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The Table-Top Gaming Revolution: Just 40 Years in the Making
June 23, 2017by NYFA Instructor Andy Ashcraft
So, as some of you may have noticed, table-top games — board-games and card games — are really popular right now. ...
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On Game Literacy
April 28, 2017By Andrew Ashcraft, NYFA Game Design
One of the biggest benefits of playing games, whether we’re playing for fun or to learn how to design, is ...
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25 Video Games Every Game Design Student Should Play Before They Graduate
April 14, 2017By Scott Rogers, NYFA Game Design
Developers of new games constantly reference existing games when collaborating with their teammates. There is nothing worse than seeing the ...
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Analysis: the Advancement of CGI in Video Games
March 24, 2017CGI and video games: computer generated images (or, at least, computer interpreted images) are, by definition, the visual recipe for every video game we play ...
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Women to Know in the Gaming Industry
January 28, 2017Wondering where all of the diversity is in the video game industry? Don’t worry — it’s not all guys. Of course, it’s not surprising that ...
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The Past in the Present: Why Games Set Long, Long Ago Matter
November 12, 2016The beauty of video games is that they can take you to any point in space and time you can possibly dream up. Want to ...
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Why You Don’t Want To Miss NYCC 2016
October 1, 2016As the biggest pop culture event on the East Coast, New York Comic Con (NYCC 2016) is always on the radar of every comic fan ...
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How Virtual Reality Might Impact the Future of Game Design
September 3, 2016Two decades ago, the video game market got its first taste of virtual reality thanks to the Virtual Boy. The device promised “true 3D graphics” ...
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No Man’s Sky Review: An Emotional Roller Coaster
August 26, 2016No Man’s Sky: a game with 18 quintillion planets, all of which are unique and fully explorable.
It’s quite the tagline, and thanks to some extremely impressive ...
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The Perfect Storm of Game Design: How Did Pokémon GO Become so Popular, So Quickly?
July 22, 2016If you went back in time, even just by twenty years, and told the first person you met that one day millions of people would ...
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The Top Ten Highest Grossing Mobile Games (And How They Got There)
July 22, 2016At this point, you may have heard of a little mobile game called Pokémon GO. It’s doing rather well and is gaining a bit of ...
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Kojima’s Standing Ovation
July 8, 2016For those watching The Game Awards 2015, it was very disappointing when Geoff Keighley gave the news that Hideo Kojima would not be stepping up to ...
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How Developers Won Gamers Over With Story DLC
July 7, 2016There’s been plenty of discussion over downloadable content ever since it became the norm during the last console generation. Older gamers didn’t like the idea ...
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E3 2016: Predictions for Nintendo
May 5, 2016It’s been a rough generation for Nintendo. Plenty of amazing titles have graced the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, but the latter has definitely left ...
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E3 2016: The Titles That Can Help Third Party Devs Steal The Show (Again)
May 3, 2016Whenever E3 comes around, most gamers have their attention on the corner of the game world they identify with. Die-hard PlayStation fans will have their ...
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E3 2016: Predictions for Microsoft
April 22, 2016Another year, another opportunity for the biggest names in the industry to show us what they’ve got cooking for us. E3 is more than just ...
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5 Classic Video Games That Changed Everything: From Mario to WoW
April 22, 2016Compared to the history of film and television, video games are still pretty much in their infancy. One can also argue that games are advancing ...
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How Today’s Best Game Design Students Graduate Prepared
April 1, 2016Almost anywhere you look, statistics will show that the number of people who identify themselves as gamers is growing. From small mobile and indie titles ...
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Why E3 Is Still Very Relevant For Gamers And Companies
April 1, 2016Like Christmas and birthdays, gamers begin counting down the days until the next E3 the day after the show closes its doors. While there are ...
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Horror Games And Genre Revival: Why People Want Scary Games
April 1, 2016We have more games to enjoy than ever before thanks to the indie renaissance that our industry is currently experiencing. This is especially true in ...
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From Telltale Games To The Walking Dead: Why Episodic Games Are On The Rise
March 10, 2016While many of us learned about episodic games by playing Telltale Games from the mid-late 2000s, this format has been around in various forms since ...
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Game Developers: What Not To Miss At GDC 2016
March 10, 2016It’s amazing to think that the Game Developers Conference started out in a small living room back in the 1980s. The annual event now takes ...
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The Pros And Cons Of Developing For Today’s Top Game Markets
February 11, 2016One of the most important decisions every development team has to make is what platform their game will be made for. Unlike a decade or ...
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Looking At The Relationship Between Video Games And Movies
February 9, 2016Recently, the upcoming Assassin’s Creed film, based on Ubisoft’s annual game series, finished filming. While those who remember 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ...
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The Most Anticipated Indie Games Of 2016
February 9, 2016Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront, Halo 5: Guardian, Call of Duty: Black Ops III—these are only a few of the many well-received titles gamers all ...
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The Lessons We Learned From Popular 2015 Video Games
January 14, 2016Gamers are a blessed bunch. Each year, countless titles on numerous platforms release to help us have fun and escape from reality for a while. ...
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Common Misconceptions About Game Design And Development
January 14, 2016If there’s one thing that the internet and social media have shown us, it’s that people really like expressing their feelings and opinions. Take a ...
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What The PlayStation Experience Says About Games In 2015
December 30, 20152015 marked the second time that Sony put on their own showcase live event—the PlayStation Experience. From upcoming independent games and big-budget titles to tech ...
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Why We’re Excited About The Game Awards 2015
December 2, 2015Almost one year ago we talked about how Geoff Keighley’s first Game Awards show was a long-awaited taste of how an annual awards ceremony should ...
» Read more- 3 Game Development Software Tools To Help You Make Your Own Video Games
December 2, 2015Not long ago the idea of making games without a large team and serious publisher support was seen as a joke to many. Of course, ...
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What Different Game Development Positions Make And Why
November 17, 2015One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding video games, especially among people unfamiliar with the industry, is that everyone involved in making them eventually gets rich. ...
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The Two Greatest Challenges Facing VR Gaming
November 13, 2015Virtual reality has been a hot topic in the video game industry for a while now. This contrasts greatly to the 90s when VR headsets, ...
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Candy Crushing It: What Acquiring King For $6 Billion Means For Activision-Blizzard
November 10, 2015There have been a couple of huge acquisitions in the gaming industry within the last few years. Last September Microsoft bought Mojang, allowing them to ...
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Mario Maker And The Rise Of Building Games
October 29, 2015In the last decade or so we have seen a renaissance of sorts when it comes to games that give players the ability to create ...
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Game Design Jobs: Average Salary & Career Path Glossary
October 29, 2015Over the past few decades, the video game industry has really come into its own—not only is it the fastest growing entertainment medium in terms ...
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The Potentially Game-Changing Feature Introduced By Black Ops 3
October 21, 2015It only takes one look at the most popular games in recent years to see that story has become very important to us. Sure, some ...
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Game Design in 2015: Oversights To Avoid
October 15, 2015Anyone who says developing games is easy has obviously never done so. After all, there are more than a few common mistakes that even the ...
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How Gamers Actually Feel About Season Passes
October 5, 2015Ever since L.A. Noire offered access to new missions, outfits, and modes via the “Rockstar Pass” in 2011 other developers have been tempting players to ...
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Six Games We Love That Were Released Before The 2015 Holidays
September 29, 2015While most gamers can’t wait for the month of June to come around so they can see what’s coming at the next E3, there’s no ...
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Sony’s Turn To Excite Their Fans
September 22, 2015It was a little more than a month ago that Microsoft impressed us with some unexpected announcements at Gamescom 2015. While the best reveals were ...
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A Look At The Only 12 Steam Games That Sold More Than 500k
September 9, 2015As a game developer, it never hurts to look at what titles are selling like hotcakes, especially on a platform you’re considering releasing your own ...
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The Decline Of Couch Co-Op
August 27, 2015From bigger worlds and realistic graphics, to downloadable content and 1 Gigabyte games that can fit on your phone, there are plenty of obvious differences ...
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Five Games Of 2015 We Thought Would Be Good, But Are Actually Great
August 26, 2015When you look back at any of the “Most Anticipated Games of 2015” lists written up last year, you’ll usually find the same games repeating (such as Batman: ...
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Why Xbox’s Gamescom 2015 Conference Felt Like E3 Part 2
August 14, 2015If there’s one annual trade show that has every gamer counting down the days until it starts, it’s the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Here is ...
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The CEO With The Heart Of A Gamer: Remembering Satoru Iwata
August 4, 2015Perhaps by the time you’re reading this it has finally started to sink in that Satoru Iwata, one of the most beloved figures in the ...
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E3 2015 Recap: Why It Was One Of The Best
July 28, 2015E3, for a lot of us, is comparable to Christmas; an entire week when our favorite websites and social media pages serve as a floodgate ...
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Bethesda Tests A New Market With Their Highly Successful Fallout Shelter
July 28, 2015Over the past few years we’ve seen many big name developers and publishers enter the mobile game market. From Sega and Blizzard Entertainment, to Epic Games ...
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The Comeback Of Toys In The Gaming Industry
July 1, 2015When one looks at the relationships between video games and other forms of entertainment, few are as fascinating as that of games and toys. Today ...
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Valve’s Imperfect But Necessary Refund System
June 24, 2015It was only about a month ago that Valve Corporation, one of the most recognizable video game companies in the world, was making headlines with ...
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Square Enix Finally Gives Us What We Want
June 19, 2015During their 2005 E3 press conference, Sony showed off the power of the PlayStation 3 in a way that Square Enix regretted for many years ...
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Countdown to E3 2015: 4 Predictions for Nintendo
June 12, 2015When thinking about Nintendo this coming E3, many will only have one thing on their mind: the Wii U sure is struggling to sell, isn’t ...
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Countdown To E3 2015: 5 Predictions For Sony
June 4, 2015Of the three big video game companies battling it out this generation, only Sony will step into E3 2015 with bragging rights. While the Wii U ...
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Countdown to E3 2015: Four Predictions For Microsoft
May 27, 2015It’s been quite a rough road so far for Microsoft. Although the Xbox 360 managed to fare better than the Playstation 3 throughout most of ...
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Yooka-Laylee: The Long Awaited Rare-vival
May 13, 2015Any gamer who held a controller in their hands during the last half of the 90s knows how big 3D platformers were. From Super Mario ...
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Do Gamers Care Less About Exclusives?
May 7, 2015If you grew up playing video games in the 90s, chances are you wanted a specific game console for one reason: it had one or ...
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Valve’s Short-Lived Paid Mods Experiment
May 1, 2015Just like excellent reviews and high sales numbers, a good modding community is something every game creator dreams of having. In fact, many developers openly ...
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Why We Like Hard Games Again
April 22, 2015Easily one of the best things about the gaming industry is that it’s constantly changing. Who knew music video games like Rock Band and Guitar ...
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Game Trends: Zombies Out, But Survival Horror More Popular than FPS
April 16, 2015Zombies.
Zombies, zombies, zombies.
For the past decade, the undead blighters have been rising from their graves and spreading their viral appeal through pretty much every medium ...
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Delayed Video Game Releases: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
April 9, 2015“A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”
– Shigeru Miyamoto
Chances are you’ve already read or heard this now-famous quote by ...
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April Fools’ Joke, or is Kojima Set to Leave Konami?
March 30, 2015Normally when a game company is trending on Twitter, the hope is that it’s because an anticipated game has just released to critical acclaim, or ...
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Nintendo Joins The Smartphone Gaming Market; What Everyone Is Asking
March 27, 2015If there’s one thing that has been polarizing fans for a few years now, it’s the possibility of Nintendo entering the smartphone scene. Should the “Big ...
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What We Want To See In The Gaming Industry In 2015
March 19, 20152015 is another year where we’ll play a host of amazing games we didn’t know could provide us with so much joy and entertainment. At ...
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5 Reasons Why Hearthstone Is Now The Most Popular CCG
March 9, 2015Few could have anticipated the level of success Hearthstone would achieve, even if trading card games like Magic The Gathering are as popular as ever. ...
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10 Indie Developers To Keep An Eye On In 2015
February 26, 2015Even though it’s been growing for a few years now, it’s still amazing to think just how big the indie gaming scene has grown. Gone ...
» Read more- 6 Important Rivalries In The Video Game Industry
February 26, 2015Whether you grew up in the “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” era, or your very first video game console was released in the last 10 years, ...
» Read more - Five Things That Make Us Nostalgic For The Early Days Of Video Games
February 17, 2015It’s hard not to appreciate all the advancements we’ve seen the gaming industry go through over the past twenty or so years. From voice chat ...
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Top Twitter Accounts for Game Designers to Follow
February 2, 2015Want to make video games and break into the game design industry? One of the best ways to do that is to stand on the ...
» Read more- 6 Games That Make 2015 The Year Of Big-Budget Video Game Sequels
January 30, 2015It’s always fun to see a new big-budget IP release that blows us away with new characters, unique ideas, and irresistible gameplay. In 2014 alone ...
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What Lessons Can We Learn From The Top Selling Video Games Of 2014?
January 28, 2015Even if you know your favorite titles aren’t anywhere near being the bestselling games of the year, it’s still fun to see which are. With ...
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Three Ways 2014 Showed That The Game Industry Is Growing
January 16, 20152014 was yet another great year for gamers that showed. It showed us just how unlikely it is for the video game industry to slow ...
» Read more- Why Microtransactions And DLC Are Here To Stay
January 5, 2015Chances are you’ve come across someone that absolutely despises the idea of microtransactions in a game. To them it’s merely a greedy and absurd way ...
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Three Game Developers That Impressed in 2014
December 24, 2014It’s impossible to be a gamer and not get excited about 2015, a year that’s setting itself up to be one of the biggest software-wise ...
» Read more- The Game Awards 2014: A Step In The Right Direction
December 19, 2014When the topic of video game award shows comes up, most gamers can’t help but give a dissatisfied sigh. Unfortunately the gaming industry has never ...
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7 Things We Learned in 2014: The Year In Gaming
December 19, 2014Another year, another awesome twelve months of gaming! From surprise hits like Broforce to Kickstarter titles like Broken Age, this past year saw yet another ...
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Sonic The Hedgehog: The Fast Rise And Fall Of Sega’s Mascot
December 5, 2014Few gaming mascots have seen the drastic transition that Sonic the Hedgehog has suffered in the past two decades. At one time he was the ...
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Why Ubisoft Doesn’t Want To Be The New EA
November 25, 2014You’d think that being compared to one of the more successful game companies would be a good thing.
Not only has EA remained afloat in one ...
» Read more- Genre Revival: 2D Platformers
November 21, 2014If there’s one genre that has stood the test of time despite a long-lasting hiatus from the spotlight, it’s the 2D platformer.
From early 1980s games ...
» Read more - Why Other Game Development Companies Should Copy “Nintendo Direct”
November 7, 2014An ‘end of an era’ feeling swept across the gaming industry the day Nintendo announced that they would not be holding a live press conference ...
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Bringing Adventure Back To Life: The Revival Of Adventure Games
November 5, 2014It wasn’t too long ago when the point-and-click adventure genre stole hours upon hours of time from computer gamers everywhere. The mouse and keyboard were ...
» Read more- 7 TED Talks About Video Games You Have To Watch
October 30, 2014With the explosion of video gaming into the mainstream in recent years, it naturally follows that a greater number of people are looking to learn ...
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The Rebirth of Fear: Revival of the Survival Horror Genre
October 29, 2014In late 2014 we’ll be getting a remake of a remake of the survival horror title that, for many of us, was the first time ...
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HD Video Game Remakes: How Updated Games Have Polarized The Gaming Community
October 24, 2014It used to be that when a developer annouced an updated version of a game complete with better visuals and maybe even a few bonuses, ...
» Read more- 6 Reasons Nintendo Remains A Gaming Juggernaut Despite All The Rumors Of Doom
October 3, 2014When one tries thinking of a company that has been considered “doomed” by the masses every other year only to end up afloat, it’s hard ...
» Read more - Three Creative Ways Developers Are Increasing The Lifespan Of Games
September 26, 2014Any gamer can look at the gaming experiences throughout their lifetime and realize one thing: the gaming industry changes faster than perhaps any other creative ...
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The Five Ingredients That Came Together To Make Minecraft Worth $2.5 Billion
September 22, 2014To the lament of many in the Minecraft community, the sale of Minecraft is a done deal. For a cool $2.5 billion, the game now ...
» Read more- Three Hot Game Types That You Can Model To Find Industry Success
September 16, 2014Despite still being a relatively new entertainment medium, video games are evolving rapidly and in the past 20 years alone we’ve already seen many stages ...
» Read more - Why You Should Search Your Collection for the Air Raid Game
July 31, 2014Every now and then, stories can be found of rare video games cartridges — usually from now defunct companies, or parts of a tiny production ...
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What You Ought To Know About Free-To-Play Games; Interview With David Fratto
January 23, 2015David Fratto is a game executive who has worked as a developer and publisher for companies like Knowledge Adventure, Vivendi Games, Scholastic Media, and the ...
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The Independent Game Development Boom: Interview with Stephanie Barish, CEO of IndieCade
October 22, 2014Stephanie Barish is founder and CEO of IndieCade, what the Los Angeles Times has dubbed “The Sundance of Video Games.” IndieCade is dedicated to the ...
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NYFA Instructor Bryan Ma Describes the Intricacies of the Video Game Industry
September 29, 2014As a game designer, Bryan Ma (@whoisbma) has worked for large production companies and independent studios. He has been a student of game design, and is now ...
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The Marriage Of Los Angeles And Video Games: Interview With Robert Nashak
September 3, 2014Robert Nashak teaches in the game design program at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus. He is currently chief operating officer of a virtual reality gaming startup ...
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