Kris Graft is editor of Gamasutra
Gamasutra is becoming a game developer.
The time has come to respectfully name Gamasutra, a title that has been around for almost 25 years and has become known as a leading resource and benchmark for game development and industry knowledge.
I joined Gamasutra as a part-time journalist in 2009, coming from rival industry news site Next-Gen.biz. He knew the site as the gold standard for industry and craft information. It didn’t matter that it was some kind of weird, beige-brown color, with a low-resolution gradient green accent, tiny fonts, and a name that was clearly a play on words in the ancient Indian text of love and sexual realization. We took care of this publication, which on the outside looked strange, old, broken and with a poor quality name, but it was the substance and quality of the publisher that brought people.
That said, even with Gamasutra’s reputation and editorial vision, the name was always strange and alienated people outside or adjacent to the gaming industry. The name was (and is) usually found with a “what would you say?” or an impressive side eye. I don’t blame people who have reacted this way, because so much pride I have in working at Gamasutra, I have felt the same. Me and the people who work at the site have had it for a long time.
And the stories of pessimism I have experienced or heard have made me laugh, but they have also made me shudder: a developer has to cite Gamasutra in front of government representatives to get funding; one teacher uncomfortably told new design students to consult this article Gamasutra; a game industry reporter explaining Gamasutra to an inquisitive American high school student with pencil and notepad in hand. (This last example was from me.) On a more serious note, reporting on the sexism of the rampant industry when our brand clings to a “LOL SEX” connotation of the late ’90s is beyond the obvious.
Maybe all of this doesn’t sound so bad here, but trust me, after years of storm and discomfort, you realize how late we have to change the name, and judging by the Twitter responses from the game’s developers, you’re all set for change too.
So on Thursday this week, except for unforeseen obstacles, we are updating our name to Game Developer and will be located at gamedeveloper.com. It makes sense: we’ve always been a sister site to the revered paper-based Game Developer magazine. It is a publication that, although out of print, gives us inspiration and insight into what we can be and how we can serve game developers.
Aside from a new name, this means you will be visiting a completely new website. You can expect a complete design review and a more functional and modern website where publishers have much more flexibility to organize and organize content and where readers can find the publisher they are looking for more easily. Our team’s goal is to migrate 100% of Gamasutra’s editorial content to Game Developer, implementing permanent redirects so that old links still work. This will be a continuous effort until it is complete.
At launch we will introduce the new home page and new article pages, but keep in mind that this is only the first step in a continuous evolution of the site. In the next relaunch period, you can expect a much better search engine to arrive, a new CMS for our bloggers along with more engaging author pages and more updates. Initially, there may still be remnants of Gamasutra chasing these rooms (such as our job board) that will eventually be upgraded to the new brand, so your patience is appreciated.
This update is not only aesthetic or functional. We continue to develop new ways to empower and inform our audience. Editorially, in addition to our industry news coverage, we can renew our commitment to specialized pieces focused on game developers, and from day one, you can expect world-class articles written by talented game developers and staff of game developers. Speaking of which, here’s an update on the delicate and mediocre (really pretty handsome) staff of the game developer:
Alissa McAloon, Editor-in-Chief: Alissa started with us as a freelancer in 2016 and not only has incredible attention to detail, but also writes a spreadsheet. In addition, she will be the only person who has been editor-in-chief of Gamasutra and Game Developer.
Bryant Francis, Editor-in-Chief: Bryant had been sharing his time with Game Developers Conference and Gamasutra. We now have it completely game developer.
Chris Kerr, News Editor: Chris was with us part time and now we can incorporate him full time. He is awarded. He is British. We take their “u’s” out of their “color”.
Kris Graft, Editor: After many years as editor in chief of Gamasutra, I am pleased to hand over the tasks of EIC to Alissa. I will continue to work on new initiatives for game developers that I hope they can talk about in the near future.
Somebody else?: Learn more about this soon.
There is so much more to come and we will definitely talk about it when the time comes. While the Gamasutra brand will sincerely hold a special place in our hearts, we are beyond excited about this new chapter in the life of this publication that we love so much and look forward to sharing with you, learning from you, and with Luckily, help you make better games.