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PixelJunk 4am

How do you invent a new musical instrument? PixelJunk 4am turned PS3s everywhere into music-making machines and let players stream their performances worldwide. In this postmortem, lead designer Rowan Parker walks us through the ups (Move controls, online streaming), the downs (lack of early direction, game/instrument duality), and why you need to have guts when you’re reinventing interactive music.

Fight the Lag!

Nine out of ten game developers agree: Lag kills online multiplayer, especially when you’re trying to make products that rely on timing-based skill, such as fighting games. Fighting game community organizer Tony Cannon explains how he built his GGPO netcode to “hide” network latency and make online multiplayer appetizing for even the most picky players.

Scale Your Online Game

Mobile and social games typically rely on a robust server-side backend—and when your game goes viral, a properly-architected backend is the difference between scaling gracefully and being DDOSed by your own players. Here’s how to avoid being a victim of your own success without blowing up your server bill.

Level Up Your Studio

Fix your studio’s weakest facet, and it will contribute more to your studio’s overall success than its strongest facet. Production consultant Keith Fuller explains why it’s so important to find and address your studio’s weaknesses in the results of his latest game production survey.

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