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Reading List (April 2020 - Part 1)
🕑 Added 2020-04-11 19:41:46 +0000 UTCHello! So as you probably know, I make a reading list article each month, which is packed with 25 videos and articles I think you’ll enjoy.
Well, seeing as we’re still stuck in lockdown and probably getting a tiny bit bored, I thought I’d boost that to two lists a month for the foreseeable future. Here’s part one, see you later in April for part two.
Cheers!
Mark
Top Pick
[Watch | CC | 42 mins] YouTube's Copyright System Isn't Broken. The World's Is - Tom Scott goes deep on copyright, to explain how traditional rights management isn’t really compatible with a website where millions of videos are uploaded every month.
Designer Notes
[Read] Valve Explains Why Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Was Never Made - A fascination with new technology and pushing the envelope made Episode 3 an uninteresting prospect for Valve.
[Watch | CC | 11 mins] Half-Life: Alyx - Locomotion Deep Dive - Alyx has some of the best movement systems in a VR game: Valve explains how they did it.
[Read] Design of Doom Eternal - Game designer Adam Saltsman breaks down some bits of DOOM Eternal that didn’t quite work for him.
Critical Hit
[Watch | 31 mins] The Evolution of Anime Games - From Famicom visual novels to anime-style fighting games: how game devs have gotten better and better at turning Japanese animation into game assets.
[Watch | 10 mins] This Game is Helping Me Cope Right Now. It Might Help You - Chris Bratt talks about a penpal game that’s helping him get through lockdown with his sanity intact.
[Watch | 4 hours, 18 mins] The Witcher Critique - The Beginning of a Monster - You read that right. Joseph Anderson kicks off his massive Witcher series critique with a four hour breakdown of the first game. That should keep you busy!
Culture Club
[Watch | CC | 5 mins] How Japan's Government Got Mr Resetti Fired - Okay, the title’s a tad hyperbolic. But a nice look at how this grumpy mole’s involvement in Animal Crossing has changed over the years.
[Read] Someone's built the entire Earth in Minecraft - to scale - And you thought you were bored in lockdown…
[Read] Animal Crossing fans are contributing to a real museum, too - While the Museum of English Rural Life has shut its doors for now, Animal Crossing fans are still able to help out.
[Read] Our Fascination With Canon Is Killing the Way We Value Stories - Written about TV and movies, but applicable to games too. Do we only care about stories and character arcs if they contribute to a greater whole?
[Watch | CC | 7 mins] Hey what's up with all these eye hand bosses? - Worth it for the punchline
History Corner
[Watch | 1 hour, 40 mins] The Silent Hill 2 Analysis - Charlie tackles the epic survival horror sequel, in his huge analysis.
[Watch | CC | 6 mins] Remember when Donkey Kong had a REAL GUN? - You probably don’t. And that’s because Miyamoto got involved. Thomas explains all.
[Watch | CC | 8 mins] The 8-bit arcade font, deconstructed - Vox has got a very fancy video, looking at the construction of pixelated letters.
[Watch | 14 mins] Wolfenstein 3-D: Children of DOOM Episode 2 - Errant Signal continues his year-by-year breakdown of the FPS genre, by looking at id’s predecessor to DOOM.
Business Lunch
[Read] Episodic Games Were the Future, and the Future Was Dead on Arrival - I had such hope for episodic games. Now, it’s practically a dirty word.
[Read] Bungie: Google Stadia an "amazing solution" for playtesting during lockdown - How do you get loads of people to playtest your game remotely, without shipping them an expensive devkit or computer? Go to the cloud.
[Read] Should we be marketing games like it is 1992? - One indie dev boosted their Steam wishlists by putting out a free prologue - a good year before the main game comes out.
Art and Audio
[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Anticipation - The 12 Principles of Animation in Games - One Dan continues his look at the principles of animation.
[Watch | CC | 9 mins] Game Animation Fundamentals - Elegance - While another Dan finishes his series on game animation fundamentals. Two Dans for the price of one.
[Watch | 19 mins] Bioshock Infinite's Infamous Arrangement - Remember when Bioshock Infinite had barbershop quartet covers of famous songs? Here’s how they were made.
Beyond Bytes
[Watch | 10 mins] Explained Videos (Explained) - In/Frame/Out goes ham on those videos which tell you how movies end.
[Watch | CC | 9 mins] The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do - Slightly topical right now, I guess…
[Watch | CC | 6 mins] Why Dark Video Is A Terrible Blocky Mess - And we come full circle, with another Tom Scott video. This time, why that horror movie you streamed on Netflix looks like a mosaic.
Comments
Søren
"Why Dark Video Is A Terrible Blocky Mess" Ugh, yes. Netflix video quality is pretty terrible, typically about 2–4 Mbit/s, literally on the level of a DVD (and only a tenth of a Blu-ray disc). For comparison, YouTube 1080p is only slightly worse at about 1.5 Mbit/s. If you can, stream at 4K (even if your monitor is only 1080p). In terms of pure resolution, 4K is snakeoil (with most films only mastered in 2K to begin with), but 4K streaming usually means higher bandwidth and, thus, quality.
Game Maker's Toolkit
Hehe, part of getting more articles in one month means digging into my own reading list backlog to dig up some stuff I missed in the past ;)
Willhart
Nice to see more silent hill 2 analysis.
Ben Salvidrim
Wow "The Evolution of Anime Games" from 2018 haha :p
