Dev Links: Cardinal Rules

“I was invited to write a guest piece for Corona Labs on iamagamer.ca, my latest initiative around game jams for social causes.

Today’s Developer Linksfeature the NES Power Pad, Amensia: The Dark Descent’s designer on The Last of Us and more.

Why one woman is joining a female-protagonist game jam(IndieGames.com)
“I was invited to write a guest piece for Corona Labs on iamagamer.ca, my latest initiative around game jams for social causes. I believe that game jams give us a voice, a chance to do more than simply put your name on a list. A chance to come together as a community around a shared cause and dedicate a weekend to building something we truly believe in. Our first game jam will feature strong, female lead characters as the theme.”

Connecting the NES Power Pad to the PC for its 25th Anniversary(IndieGames.com)
“Twenty-five years ago, on a bright and glorious day, the NES Power Pad was released to the US. Since the birth of home video game consoles, there have always been odd one-off peripherals to accompany gaming systems: the Amiga Joyboard for the Atari 2600, the Guitar Hero controller, the recent Xbox Kinect to name a few. They have been a welcome alternative to the classic controller or joystick.”

Wallpapers!(The Witness)
“Since a lot of you have been asking for them, I put together a few wallpapers based on those poster ideas from a while ago (most of which were created by Luis, who has a great eye for composition. Hopefully I didn’t butcher them too badly.)”

Thoughts on The Last of Us(Frictional Games)
“I have now finished playing The Last of Us and feel it has quite a few things worth discussing. Overall it is a great game and there is a lot that can be learnt from it. Especially noteworthy are the nerve wrecking encounters. When at its best they top even the ones Resident Evil 4 (2005), which I think features some of the best action gameplay ever. It also manages to use just about every trick in the book to tell its story. It is a very solid package and masterfully crafted. At the same time, while wrapped in an emotional plot, it is really just a game about combat and part of, what I think, is a worrying trend in video game storytelling.”

The Video Game Kickstarter Report – Week of July 5, 2013(Zeboyd Games)

Layers of Player Understanding(Gamasutra)
“This model explains, from a ludic perspective, the layers of understanding a player can obtain experiencing a heavily designer-authored game. Each layer of this model is based on interaction and how interaction is presented to the player and utilized by the player as they engage with the experience.”

More amazing art from Carrie!(Owlchemy Labs)
“Not that long ago we featured some crazy-awesome art from Carrie, our lead artist here at Owlchemy Labs. Well, we’ve got even more delicious imagery to spruce up your day! As one of the most avid gamers, she has an ample amount of ammunition to illustrate amusing animated art. Okay, enough alliteration, onwards to amazing artistry!”

Introducing the main characters of Seasons Of The Wolf(Winter Wolves)
“Althea & Shea, the snow elven twins are the two playable characters of the game. During the game, you can play as one of the two twins. Like my previous RPGs, the main story doesn’t change based on who you pick, but the romance dialogues do.”