Game Developer (magazine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Game Developer magazine is a monthly trade periodical for the video game industry. The magazine is available free to qualified game professionals, and paid paper subscriptions and a paid digital edition are also available. Individual issues can be bought at some newsstands and at Gamasutra. Game Developer was launched in March 1994 and is now distributed to 35,000 readers, mainly in North America.
The magazine contains articles on professional game development topics relating to programming, art, audio, quality control, design, and production. Monthly columns from industry veterans offer in depth discussion on a variety of topics. It has articles by notable game industry figures and reviews on game development related books, tools, and software packages. The back page "Soapbox" was also a popular feature, however, this feature has moved to Gamasutra. The final page of Game Developer magazine is now occupied by "Thousand Words," which highlights game art as a progression from concept art to final in-game renders.
Game Developer's most popular feature is probably its monthly "Postmortem" column which discusses the recent development of a computer or video game with the top five each of "What Went Right" and "What Went Wrong". It provides a frank, first-hand account of the lessons learned in the development process. The first Postmortem was featured in October 1997 and written by Andre Vrignaud on Dark Sun Online.
Game Developer has been recognizing exceptional game development tools with their "Front Line Awards" annually since 1998. Past winners include software (such as Photoshop and VTune), game engines (Unreal engine), hardware (GeForce 3), and books (Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice).
Gamasutra, the sister publication web site of Game Developer, acts as an online resource for game developers, as well as a job posting board for employment in the game development field.
