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Reading List (July 2019)
🕑 Added 2019-07-29 11:00:00 +0000 UTCHello hello! It must have been a pretty chunky month for good gaming reads, because I’m actually writing this on July 15th* and I’ve already got 30 must-see articles and videos to recommend! So without further ado, let’s get into it!
*I’m moving house at the end of this month, so I’m getting Patreon rewards done now so there’s no way I’ll miss my deadline!
Top Pick
[Watch | 25 mins] Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood? | Genre and the Adventure Game - I thought I was done with discussions on genre forever, but Ian’s thoughtful piece on adventure games gave me a lot to think about.
Game Dev Story
[Read | 7 mins] My Friend Pedro's journey from Flash cult hit to indie success - The Max Payne-inspired indie My Friend Pedro came out this month. Gamasutra talks to the dev about the game’s Browser-based roots and more.
[Read | 9 mins] How Artifact became Valve's biggest failure - Eurogamer charts the downfall of Valve’s Hearthstone-wannabe, Artifact. Even with Magic the Gathering smarty pants Richard Garfield at the helm, the game didn’t hit.
[Watch | CC | 17 mins] The Secrets of GoldenEye's AI Revealed - AI and Games goes back to the 90s to look at one of the most important shooters on consoles. It even influenced Valve to change Half-Life.
[Read | 9 mins] Meet the geographer who tells studios when they’re ignorant and offensive - Accents, animations, music, symbols - there’s so many areas were developers can accidentally cause offence. RPS talks to a woman whose job is literally to spot these oversights before games go gold.
[Read | 13 mins] The time I tried to ruin Halo 2 - A story about the clash between business and design. And a time when design, thankfully, won out,
[Watch | 11 mins] The 134 people that Blizzard Entertainment is trying to fire - Unions are only going to become a bigger and bigger topic in games going forward. Chris gets in on the ground floor, in France.
[Read | 10 mins] Sean Murray on No Man's Sky: "I thought we were making a niche game" - What do you do when you suffer the biggest backlash of all time? For Sean Murray, you keep calm and carry on.
History Lesson
[Read | 11 mins] How a Zelda Clone Outshone Actual Zelda: The Case for a Forgotten PS One Gem - Katriona Angel never actually played Zelda, but they fell in love with the game’s clone. Here’s why that game deserves your attention.
[Read | 9 mins] Preservationists Are Saving Video Game History, One Upload at a Time - Another month, another story about the challenges of preserving our medium’s history. Until the problem is solved, I won’t stop posting them.
Good Acoustics
[Watch | 10 mins] The Bizarre Importance of Audio in Video Games Part 1 - A new channel to check out. This one’s about sound design, and includes interviews with devs in the business of making audio.
[Read | 5 mins] The afterlife of an 8-bit soundtrack - Eurogamer chats to Ninja Gaiden composers Keiji Yamagishi and Kaori Nakabai about the resurgence of chip tune music and 80s bleep-boop soundtrack.
[Watch | CC | 18 mins] What Happened to Memorable Game Music? - Matt from Game Score Fanfare tries to answer that age old question: “how come they don’t make songs like the DuckTales moon level music anymore?”
Critical Hit
[Watch | 14 mins] Blips 2: Making Friends, Circling Enemies, and More! - Chris Franklin’s mini indie game recommendation engine returns, with new games to check out.
[Watch | 5 mins] Assassin's Creed II | Farlands Cartography - An interesting idea from Farlands, which seeks to look at how an open world map is used during a game’s main missions. How much space are the devs actually using, and re-using?
[Watch | CC | 39 mins] Analysing Every Mission from Hitman 2 - Hamish Black revisits one of his most famous videos, which delved deep into Hitman 2016’s levels, this time looking at the sequel.
[Read | 7 mins] Why Do We Play Games About Everyday Life? - Games like Animal Crossing, and the day-time sections of Persona games, simulate very mundane, typical lives. So why are they so compelling as games?
[Watch | 11 mins] How the Heck Do We Talk About Outer Wilds? - I haven’t actually watched this yet because I’m still neck deep in the game. But I’m looking forward to checking it out!
[Watch | 20 mins] How Supergiant Created a Decade of Excellent Games - From Bastion to Transistor to Pyre and to Hades, Supergiant is one of the most prolific and hard-working indies around. This vid celebrate’s the studio’s legacy.
Mechanics at Work
[Watch | 5 mins] Star Fox's Rail Movement - More Mix and Jam. This time, recreating Star Fox gameplay. Can’t get enough of this channel. Such a clever idea!
[Read | 3 mins] How developers build the tutorials you skip - PC Gamer talks to Spacechem designer Zach Barth, and more, about the construction of compelling tutorials.
[Watch | 11 mins] The different ways SCREEN SHAKE is used in games? - I need to go back to my juice video one day and give it a touch up (add some particle effects and hit stop, of course). In the mean time, catch this video.
[Read | 2 mins] Games Are Better With Double Jumps - “The concept of jumping and being able to jump again in midair opens up a wealth of possibilities for any game,” argues Kotaku’s Heather Alexandra, who reckons the double jump is one of gaming’s most elegant mechanics.
Cultural Victory
[Watch | 51 mins] Media Literacy and Game News - Super Bunnyhop talks to games journalists to find out the state of modern gaming news, and provide tips to help you read articles more critically.
[Read | 20 mins] The Tangled Web of Video Game Addiction - Game Informer sat down with researchers and psychological experts to discover what is currently known about video games and addiction - and where we go from here.
[Watch | 16 mins] "Accurate" E3 Demos - What exactly are we watching, when devs show their games during E3 Keynotes?
[Read | 9 mins] The Video Games That Made People Question Their Beliefs - Games can be as influential on our belief systems as any book, movie, or TV show. These stories are proof of that.
[Read | 10 mins] The Changing Face Of Arcade Games In 2019 - What does an arcade look like, decades after the coin-op craze has died down? Gamespot investigates.
[Read | 40 mins] The Anita Sarkeesian story - Whatever you think of Anita, you can’t deny her massive impact on gaming culture. So brush up on her story.
Beyond Games
[Watch | CC | 10 mins] Making An App Is A Terrible Idea, But Here's How You Can Do It - Tom Scott’s got a huge multi-part series on making apps - from idea to execution. Very interesting, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Comments
Alex Van Aken
Would love to see more Good Acoustics featured in next month's Reading List. Love that segment!
Si Davies
It annoys me as well... people have forgotten about the lies and seem to think it's fine releasing a tech demo 18 months before that eventually turned into a game.
Si Davies
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfo9WD942EDRgf6e-a7hymI9ZhQ_qQ_xR a playlist of the youtube stuff if anyone is interested. I look forward to the Reading List every month to see what videos I've missed, or what articles I can read.
Matthew S Sechrist
Not reading related, but I was *ahem* reading that today is the GameBoy's 30th anniversary. Any chance on a video for that milestone?
Podhead
Agree that jumpimng remains one of the best mechanics ever in games. Bit frustrated with all the credit Sean Murry is getting. The studio came out with an update that made the game a lot better, but going radio silent after significant backlash is terrible PR. Yet now he's sharing advice on marketing games
Emanuel
I would like to recommend you the reading of the dev documents that Don Hopkins upload last 19Jul about the sims and same-sex relationships in games. i dont know if i can share links here but worth the risk https://donhopkins.com/home/TheSims/
Aadit Doshi
Tom Scott's video series is highly applicable to indie games too! Definitely recommend it.
