How did the controversial full motion video game get made in the first place? Years before the Sega CD system it became synonymous with was released, a group of developers tried to change video games into something new.
In this first article in a new series, college professor and user research Ben Lewis-Evans takes a look at different methods of game user research, offering up a handy guide to different ways you can collect useful information about your game.
In this extract from Morgan Ramsay's Gamers at Work, which explores the challenges of starting and building developers and publishers of video games with 18 of the industry's most successful entrepreneurs, Gamasutra presents a conversation with Tony Goodman about the history of Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series for Microsoft. The book also includes discussions with Warren Spector, Jason Rubin, and more.
Betable's Tyler York writers about the lean startup method, in which the least possible work is put into a product before giving it to users -- and how a minimum viable game product can still work, if you pitch it at the right audience and test it correctly.
Indie developer Lars Doucet explains how his team's game Defender's Quest survived the change from a free Flash game to a full-fledged download title, and share insight into how audiences find and decide to buy the game.
Papaya Mobile VP of Marketing Richard O'Connell goes through what the company considers the keys to success on the Google Play store, offering up suggestions on how to successfully launch an Android game.
The general manager of Deus Ex: Human Revolution developer Eidos Montreal talks about the first five years of his studio in a wide-ranging interview which takes in the Montreal development scene and how that shaped his goals, and how he hopes to tackle the next console generation.
Just what is focus testing, what's user research, and how do the goals and methods of the two differ? Psychologist Maurice Tan explains how to tell them apart, and why the difference is crucial.
University Sorbonne Nouvelle senior lecturer and author Alexis Blanchet breaks down the statistics of video game film adaptations, analyzing what films get turned into games and why -- over the course of the entire game industry from 1979 to 2010.