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Reading List (June 2020, Part 1)
🕑 Added 2020-06-18 12:00:04 +0000 UTCHello! Hope you're all doing okay. As ever, here's your first half of this month's Reading List That should keep you busy for a bit! Enjoy…
Black Lives Matter
[Read] 7 games by Black developers you can support right now - Play games, support underrepresented voices. Win win.
[Watch | CC | 15 mins] The often forgotten video gaming icon Jerry Lawson - An interesting video about a hugely important person in the history of games.
[Read] Video Games Have To Reckon With How They Depict The Police - In light of the recent protests, Kotaku looks at the role video games have to play in media depictions of the police.
Designer Notes
[Read] Boldly… Gone – How FTL & Pulsar tackle space rogue-likes in parallel - Developer Emily Rose looks at two space-fairing roguelikes and discusses the differences in their design.
[Read | Long Read] The Last of Us Part II: how Naughty Dog made a classic amidst catastrophe - I haven't read this huge, two-year interview opus with Neil Druckmann as I'm on a Last of Us blackout - but I'm looking forward to checking it out.
[Watch | CC | 23 mins] Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins - Noclip chats to Tarn Adams about the bonkers ASCII simulation Dwarf Fortress, including chat about "the game's origins, how it works, and their plans for Steam".
[Watch | CC | 12 mins] Why Do We Love Skateboarding Games So Much? - Skate 4! Tony Hawks remake! Why do we want to keep revisiting games about wooden planks on tiny wheels?
Critical Hit
[Watch | CC | 18 mins] How To Pace a Game - HeavyEyed explores the length and replaybility of God of War and Resident Evil 3.
[Watch | 36 mins] Defining Roguelike - If you're not yet sick of videos about "what is a roguelike?", check out this one from Chariot Rider.
Culture Club
[Read] The Katamari games helped me roll with my clinical anxiety - And ode to the restorative power of a good video game. Spelunky serves a similar purposes for me, when I'm feeling overwhelmed.
[Read] Inside Nintendo’s weird attempts at making movies and TV shows - From The Super Mario Bros. Super Show to Detective Pikachu, Polygon looks at Nintendo's multimedia efforts.
[Read] Hackers say classic Pokémon games spawn fewer monsters on tragic anniversaries - Apparently Pokemon spawn rates are different on special occasions. More 'mons on St. Patrick's Day, fewer on 9/11. Huh.
[Read] The Last of Us Part II isn’t just Naughty Dog’s most ambitious game — it’s the most accessible, too - The Verge looks into the many accessibility options of The Last of Us 2. Looking forward to exploring this for my end-of-year wrap-up.
Code Monkeys
[Watch | CC | 18 mins] How Splinter Cell: Blacklist Builds Balance for Stealth - If you dug my stealth game series, you'll probably like this video on the technical aspects of stealth AI.
History Corner
[Read] The mysterious origins of an uncrackable video game - The BBC looks at a project to uncover the coding secrets of old Atari games: including a maze-making algorithm that has stumped academics.
[Watch | CC | 1 hour, 44 mins] FIGHT ON: The Killer Instinct Story - A monster documentary about a cult classic fighting game. Check out the channel for more fighting game community stuff, if that floats your boat.
Art and Audio
[Watch | 10 mins] The Sound Design Secrets Of Rocket League - Waveform chats to the devs behind Rocket League to see how they make satisfying sound effects for their rocket-powered football cars.
[Watch | CC | 6 mins] The Secret to Streets of Rage 4's Awesomeness - I'm glad Dan Root took a look at this luxuriously animated beat 'em up. The video focuses on one clever trick that makes the characters feel like part of the world.
Beyond Bytes
[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Ben Schwartz talks about Space Force and milk situations - Not your usual celeb junket interview. A brilliant sequel to Polygon's Sonic interview with Ben.
[Watch | CC | 38 mins] Protest Music of the Bush Era - Lindsay Ellis explores the resistance music of the Iraq war… or, what little of it there is.
Comments
Game Maker's Toolkit
No donation is meagre and everything is appreciated. Thanks for the kind words, Reuben!
Reuben Cornell
I really appreciate you putting these lists together every month. They are WELL WORTH my meagre donation. I also do a similar thing for my music blog, so I know how much effort it takes. Just wanted to say a big "thank you". Reuben x
Game Maker's Toolkit
Ah sorry, I wrote this article in advance because I'm off work this week. I'll remove it from the reading list, sorry y'all!
Game Maker's Toolkit
Fixed, thanks!
John Fehlner
Your last of us part ii article is by Verge, not Polygon!! Otherwise thanks for the list!!
Platitudinous
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the sale period for the itch.io bundle is over now.
