As video games continue to rise in popularity, game designers are being asked to create even more challenging and satisfying user experiences. Game design students are looking for information on the latest tips, tricks and techniques to help you take your games to the next level. Fortunately, there are several high-quality game design blogs to help guide your studies, skill development and provide you with the latest trends in the field.
Of the many game design blogs in cyberspace, we selected 20 that we think you’ll find useful now and long after you earn a game design degree.
1. Designer Notes – Author of this blog, Soren Johnson, works at EA2D on browser-based games. This blog examines important game design topics, like theme vs. meaning, prototyping and difficulty, to name a few, and includes job openings and game designer interviews.
2. Tiny Subversions – Darius Kazemi is writer of this blog and lead analyst at Blue Fang Games. This blog features information on the Akihabara Framework, game jams and conferences, plus video reviews of games. Kazemi also offers tips for game design students on blogging, portfolios and more.
3. Game Design Advance – Frank Latz, professional game designer, and Charles J. Pratt, freelance game designer, discuss gaming trends, theory, current events and history on this blog. Listen to live interviews with gaming experts in the blog’s Another Castle podcast series.
4. Teaching Game Design – Programmer and game designer Ian Schreiber created this blog. With a focus on education, Schreiber discusses social media in relation to gaming and offers career advice and information on game design courses and workshops.
5. Sirlin.net – Sirlin, game designer, tournament competitor and author of this blog, provides an insider’s perspective on the games he’s working on. Highlights of this blog include several series of posts with actionable tips on topics like multi-player game design and writing.
6. Gamasutra – One of the net’s most popular gaming sites, Gamasutra is a network of blogs written by game professionals. A one-stop shop for the latest information on gaming and design, this blog covers a huge array of topics, from game announcements and marketing to social gaming.
7. Jeff on Games – Jeff Ward is a programmer at Fire Hose Games and author of this blog. Ward explores all aspects of game design here, including game jams, XBLIG games, media theory and agency.
8. Raph Koster’s Website – Raphael Koster is a game designer living in San Diego, California and creator of this blog. A former writer, Koster provides commentary on gaming news, social media games, cloud gaming and the shift and popularity in digital game downloads.
9. Elder Game – Eric Heimburg writes this blog and is a casual games developer at Narwhal Games. With a focus on massively multi-player (MMP) and indie games, Heimburg provides in-depth analysis of game design aspects, including customer interaction and deathtrap design.
10. Game Producer Blog – This blog’s author, Juuso, runs his own game development studio part-time and writes about game production in this blog. Juuso covers a wide variety of game design subjects, such as pixel drawing, user statistics and mobile phone platforms.
11. Avante Game – Jane McGonigal, a game designer and researcher furthers her goal to make sure that a game developer wins a Nobel Prize by the year 2032 on this blog. Her posts focus on GAMEFUL, a secret site for those designing games that are changing the world; and Evoke, “a ten-week crash course in changing the world.”
12. Confessions of an Aca-Fan – Henry Jenkins writes this blog and is the provost's professor of communication, journalism and cinematic arts at the University of Southern California. Jenkins delves deeply into ethics in game design, media convergence, gender in gaming and much more on this blog.
13. GamePolitics.com – Pete Gallagher, blog editor, blends games and politics on this popular blog. Gallagher keeps game designers in-the-know with current and relevant information on anti-game/gamer legislation, political issues that affect gamers, digital distribution and net neutrality.
14. GameDevBlogs – This blog is a directory-style listing of new blogs authored by video game developers, with a few interesting articles posted in between. Check here often to stay current on new blogs in the game design world.
15. Jool's Watsham's Blog – Jools Watsham, co-founder and game director of Renegade Kid and independent video game developer, takes a unique approach on this blog with video posts on hot gaming topics. Watsham shares which games he’s playing, his top 10 lists and reviews of popular games.
16. Game Theory Blog – This blog’s founder, Scott Steinberg, is the CEO of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global and founder of GameExec magazine and Game Industry TV. A team of writers provides in-depth analysis and insights on the gaming industry on this blog, including helpful posts on breaking into the video game industry.
17. Doppler Interactive Blog – This blog is written by Doppler Interactive, a boutique media design company “running the spectrum between video and video game.” Topics covered here include the benefits and pitfalls of Agile Development, audience involvement in game development and game reviews.
18. Ayogo Social Gaming Blog – Ayogo, a Vancouver based studio that creates social games for social networks and mobile platforms, covers all aspects of social gaming on this blog. Posts offer relevant game design tips, including in-depth information on time, patterns and marketing.
19. Game Design Aspect of the Month – This blog’s founder, Sande Chen has been a writer and game designer for 10 years. Each month, this blog features a post from game designers and other industry professionals on a game design issue, such as using collectibles in a game design, risk versus reward and prototyping.
20. Applied Game Design – Brenda Brathwaite, creative director at LOLapps, writes this blog, along with several other game designers. This blog delves into tutorials on social games, gaming interfaces and end-user satisfaction, while also offering career advice and event notices.
About the Author: Hap Aziz is Director of the School of Technology and Design at Rasmussen College where he oversees degree programs like Digital Design and Animation and Information Systems Management. Hap has a Master's degree in Instruction Technology and Distance Education from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Rollins College. Currently he is working on his Ed.D. in Educational Technology at the University of Florida.
Comments (19)
Video Game Tester - Anthony
I am a video game testerand found this list of game design blogs while searching on google.
I think it is a very good resource for anyone in the video game industry as a whole. Thanks for posting this information
Thanks - Abe Arceo
Hi, I'm the Editor in Chief of the video game news website: Level Up news (http://www.levelupnews.com). I too came across this list while searching on Google and just wanted to take a quick minute to say thanks for posting this :)
-Abe
Editor-in-Chief
Level Up News
http://www.levelupnews.com
Another blog - Gamer
Her I can add a relatively new blog with quality PC game review. Recently it is becoming quite popular... http://gametoplist.blogspot.com/
Thanks! - max williams
Thank for sharing this. A friend of mine had already told me about Sirlin.net but the others are mostly new! Thanks again. http://demogamesonline.com
- resale rights
You really know how to write to get the attention
of your audience, I have subscribed, thank you
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Openings for Game Designers @ Sony studios - Amit Shah
We have multiple Game Designers position with our client Sony Studios in Santa Monica, CA. These are long term contract to start with (12+ months). This is perfect for someone who wants to get into designing combat games.
Below are the details of both the positions:
1. FIRST POSITION:
Principle Duties / Responsibilities: (Summary list of typical duties and responsibilities of the job / essential functions)
Actively participate in and occasionally lead required production related meetings and functions as needed. Attend and/or lead design-specific discussions concerning design and design issues. Collaborate with Design Director, Leads and Design Manager during the product development cycle.
Work within the set standard for all level asset creation within the production path as it relates to design, art and otherwise. Must comprehend a working knowledge of the game production pipeline in order to communicate effectively with other team members. Basic knowledge of design systems in order to build levels, place enemies, fully understand the relationship between gameplay elements within the level and the overall game and all the ways the player can respond to each gameplay element.
Contribute, as needed, in all educational meetings for in-house staff on new technical issues and tools dealing with all design aspects – level building, entities, cameras...
Communicate thoroughly to insure good working relationships with the other Designers, Design Director, Game Director, Design Manager, Art Director, Lead Artist, Lead Programmer, Lead Animator, etc...
Required Knowledge / Skills: (Lists the job skills that must be met to perform the position (i.e. Managing subordinates; Knowledge specifications)
Possess comprehensive knowledge of Maya, engine tools and processes. Fundamental knowledge of game design and ability to implement 3D environment building, entities, rough cameras, creating gameplay scenarios, using design system tools as needed.
Design any element in game including:
puzzles
navigation challenges
building 3D environments using Maya
Modeling and texturing using Maya
creating fun/challenging AI layouts using waypoints
scripting entities
placing rough cameras, including animated and entity-triggered cameras
sound implementation
level warping and gameflow
mime, half-life and cutscene placement and triggering
2. SECOND POSITION
Position Overview: (Describes the general purpose of the job / why the job exists)
Assist, collaborate with and take direction from Senior Combat Designers as needed on any the following: character and boss designs from concept to implementation completion, including character animation implementation and tuning, environmental character impact, special effects, sound effects, AI gameplay scenario layout and gameplay tuning, controller configuration, gameplay features, magic distribution, character balance and ramping.
Principle Duties / Responsibilities: (Summary list of typical duties and responsibilities of the job / essential functions)
Work within the set standard for all character asset design, creation and in-game implementation within the production path as it relates to design, art and otherwise.
Participate in required production related meetings and functions as needed. Attend and participate in combat-specific discussions concerning combat design and combat design issues.
Must comprehend a working knowledge of the game production pipeline in order to communicate effectively with other team members.
Must understand the relationship between gameplay elements within the level and the overall game and all of the ways the player can respond to each gameplay element.
Required Knowledge / Skills: (Lists the job skills that must be met to perform the position (i.e. Managing subordinates; Knowledge specifications)
Experience using a text-based scripting language to setup character logic.
Basic knowledge of scripting languages and code (e.g., XML, C++, PERL) is preferred but not required.
Must be able to grasp and work with code-based proprietary tools to implement and troubleshoot assigned characters.
Must have knowledge of competitive products and various gameplay genres, as well as a personal understanding of video game fun.
Must possess quality written communication skills and the ability to convey abstract concepts. Ability to think logically with a strong level of attention to detail.
Must be able to professionally communicate and work with other members of the game production team (both internally and externally).
Must have excellent communication while still keeping the overall vision of the game in mind.
Qualifications: (Lists the experience, qualifications, and education required and preferred)
Required Experience / Education:
2 plus years in game development, with at least 1 year in Combat or Character Design (creative and technical) specific role.
Preferred Experience / Education:
2 plus years in game development, with at least 2 years in Combat or Character Design (creative and technical) specific role.
Major Source of Game Design Information - game backup software
Thanks for this information. This is definitely a huge source of information that is very useful to any game designers. One question, are any of the people referenced within the list associated with any of the popular game products on the market today?
Thanks.
Very Interesting! - Lauren
I run a site that I am trying to build content on and this was very informative. I am trying to get some more information for my Video Game section. I am going to link this to my blod (hope you don't mind).
Thanks!
Gabosity
Blogs - Gaming desktops
I love following blogs of games that are in the making as well. Such as big project like Fable from Peter Molyneux, they tend to be very open and frank about things they want to achieve and what they can't achieve.
20 Blogs Game Design Students Will Love - Anthony
Hap Aziz, very nice article. I love the above 20 Blogs Game Design. My favorite is Gamasutra.I am Anthony from <a href="http://www.remotecontrolinflatablefloatingshark.com">Air Swimmers Remote Control Inflatable Floating Shark</a> and very glad to read on your superb write up. Thanks for the effort.
That was an excellent article. - Gail Shores
That was an excellent article. You made some great points and I am thankful for your information! Thanks Again.
Great Blog Find - Jerry
Hap Aziz, Thanks, these are great resources to ad to my site http://www.GamesOnlineQ.com
I am always looking for good information on the latest video games.
Applied Game Design - david
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Blogs for Game Design Students - Daryl
Terrific article for Game Design Students. Never thought there was information out there till I found this information online. Excellent blog ideas, tips and tricks to certainly challenge oneself to design the perfect video game in future. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing - Corporate Blog
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Inflatable Movie Screen Setup - Pierre Davis
Excellent list of game designs,students will be happy having this as a reference for web game designing
Great Thinking about doing game blog - john
This is extremely useful i have been thinking about doing a games blog at my website http://newsnetworkcenter.com we only do news online at the moment but are thinking of doing blogs on video games
Thanks
