I'll be speaking at the Game Design Conference in San Francisco on Monday next week, giving a Lightning session on the Gamesbrief Free to Play Spreadsheet. I'll be livetweeting the whole day from @rupazero.

The most successful free-to-play games don’t punish their players. Everyone makes progress, just by turning up. But a dedicated player, who keeps trying to learn and improve, is rewarded with increased complexity. Make sure you build complexity in...

Both inside and outside the walls of Facebook, the story of social games has become one of dead geese and golden eggs, flatlined growth, formulaic games and shady practises. Many warned that the sector was slowing down,...

"This not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." It's time for Facebook games to level up.

"Free-to-play" games have caused intense reactions in the gaming community, with strong views on whether it is an ethically sound way to design games or whether it is slot machines in disguise. When we designed Forever Drive,...

Howdy howdy howdy. Andrew J Smith here (again!), MD of Spilt Milk Studios – hopefully you recognise me by now. I’ll cut to the chase, this week we’re looking at the beginnings of the PR effort for...

How the devil are you? I’m Andrew J. Smith and welcome to part 3 of the development diary for what will – until its release – be known as ‘Project #2’ (or Angry Lines, or Line Em...