Things have been pretty quiet here at GDA for a few weeks, so I just thought I would pass on some of the things I’ve been reading that might be overlooked.<\/p>\n
The first is a piece by Chris Bateman over on iHobo where he does a great job of summarizing some of the research<\/a> that has been done on how the human brain reacts to games.<\/p>\n Over on Applied Game Design, Brenda Brathwaite has an interesting post on the difference and tension<\/a> between a game’s system (what she calles the ‘database’) and its story. Be sure to read the comments!<\/p>\n Taking a closer look at narrative in games is Emily Short on her blog. The question here is what is the most effective way to use dialogue to create characterization<\/a> in interactive fiction. However, what I found most interesting were the parts discussing the reaction of ‘casual’ gamers to dialogue trees.<\/p>\n On the other side of the system\/story coin we have David Sirlin’s thoughts on Street Fighter IV<\/em><\/a>. Sirlin gives the sort of expert opinion that’s always necessary with games as complicated as Street Fighter<\/em>.<\/p>\n