Andrew McCluskey recently released the fourth issue of his GameMaker magazine RekameMag.
Download 7.8MB pdf: Dropbox Host-A
The Flaws of Ratings explores the lunacy behind numerical based rating systems commonly used to review and compare games. In the end everything is subjective and the article concludes that numbers should be taken with a big pinch of salt by developers who should instead focusing on reviews and comments rather than a mathematical average.
Budgetless Besides Billions asks how indie titles created in the evenings after work can exist alongside titles built by professional game studios who have considerably more money and time to invest. The article covers the growing popularity of indie games and how some of these games break into the “mainstream” and are played by console gamers even if they may not realise they are actively seeking them out.
The articles in this issue are all rather short but are worth a read in this well-designed release. Money for Something very briefly covers some of the points that should be considered before you attempt to sell a game, and there’s also an interview with Andrew’s flatmate and fellow YoYo Games employee Darrell Flood.
Reviewed (with numerical ratings!) are GameMaker games Air Hockey Unlimited, In a Dungeon, Highway Racer, and terrible boxed Brazilian title The Little Car in the Big Race. In a magazine competition you can win the game, but you don’t want to. The issue closes with some image mock-ups of GameMaker games invading film poster art.
Previous Issues: Rekame Mag 1 June 2010, Rekame Mag 2 June 2010, Rekame Mag 3 October 2010.
I enjoyed three things:
– The cover
– The picture of Moneybags on page five
– The hypocrisy of rating reviewed games with numbers (perhaps Andrew was being ironic)