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Reading List (June 2019)
🕑 Added 2019-06-27 14:01:00 +0000 UTCHey everyone! This month, all eyes were on Los Angeles for the annual “here’s who you’ll be shooting next year” marketing event. So I’m kicking the list off with some E3 nuggets.
And then it’s onto Dark Souls animations, Kaizo Mario hacks, and Ouya game preservation for the rest.
Enjoy!
E3 2019
[Read | 8 mins] The 16 best games of E3 2019 - Missed E3? You could do a lot worse than check out The Guardian’s run down of the best games. It’s a great list with lots of variety, from the massive Cyberpunk 2077 to the tiny Spiritfarer.
[Read | 6 mins] Female Representation in Videogames Isn't Getting Any Better - Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian and Carolyn Petit get the gang back together to break down the presence of women (real and fictional) at E3.
[Watch | CC | 15 mins] How to make a perfect E3 press conference (or drinking game) - Polygon’s Brian David Gilbert unravels E3 press conferences to break down the perfect recipe for a slightly awkward business presentation. Don’t forget to put your blazer over a gaming t-shirt!
Critical Hit
[Watch | CC | 16 mins] First-Person Shooter: Mysterious Photography in Firewatch - What’s So Good About That uses one minor mechanic to thematically explore an entire game, and looks at Campo Santo's Firewatch through the lens of its virtual camera.
[Watch | CC | 26 mins] Virtual Empathy – How The Witcher 3 Encourages Moral Reflection - Movie YouTuber Like Stories of Old tackles video games, by looking at how The Witcher 3 encourages players to empathise with the game’s characters.
[Read | 4 mins] Return of the Obra Dinn - Interaction fiction expert Emily Short finds a lot to love in Lucas Pope’s murder mystery.
[Watch | CC | 17 mins] Ocarina of Time 3D Comparison and Review - Sometimes Less is More - Nerrel is no stranger to remake comparison reviews. This time, he tackles Nintendo’s first stab at overhauling 3D Zelda.
[Watch | 27 mins] Ferrari: A Gaming Overview - A really interesting lens with which to look at games: how Italian car brand Ferarri has appeared in games throughout the years.
[Read | 7 mins] Don't Wake the Night Tackles Morality Better Than Any AAA Game - VICE scribe Cameron Kunzelman discovers a powerful story in an itch.io game.
[Watch | CC | 12 mins] Finding Comfort in Chaos: Dangerous Driving and Snakeybus - Hamish Black gets to shut off his brain, while he slams into cars and busses.
Designer Notes
[Watch | 8 mins] Save Scumming - The Game Design of Save Systems - Enjoyed my video on playing past your mistakes? Extra Credits provides more to chew on in its video about save scumming.
[Read | 9 mins] How Mordhau went from janky community project to the biggest melee brawler on PC - This game, made by hardcore Chivalry fans with a copy of Unity, has sold a million copies. Here’s how it came to be.
[Read | 5 mins] Sitting In On A Design Meeting For Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - A really interesting look at what it’s like to be in a design meeting for a huge triple A game.
[Read | 13 mins] The Developers of Monster Hunter Explain What It's Like to Build Monsters - Patrick Klepek talks to Capcom about the art and design of a Monster Hunter critter.
Vice: Have you ever considered letting players pet the animals, instead of attacking them?
Tsujimoto: [laughs]
Art and Animation
[Watch | CC | 6 mins] Gato Roboto's Animation - Dan Root takes a look at the animation of the pixel perfect, monochromatic Metroidvania Gato Roboto. Lots of lovely little touches in this one.
[Watch | CC | 16 mins] Which Dark Souls Has the Best Parry Animation? - If you’ve enjoyed Dan’s look at individual animations (like Spider-Man’s zip to point, or Skyrim’s mining) then you’ll dig this vid on Dark Souls parries.
[Read | 3 mins] Here Is What Happens When You Try To Create A 3D Pokémon In 5 Minutes - Some gamers said Nintendo is lazy for not adding every Pokemon to Sword and Shield. Heck, you could render a pocket monster in just five minutes, couldn’t you?
[Watch | 23 mins] Link - Low Poly - This channel charts the evolution of game characters, by looking at how their 3D model has changed over time. So in this vid, you’ll see how blocky Ocarina Link evolved into the hyper detailed (but stylised!) Breath of the Wild Link.
Culture Club
[Watch | 25 mins] Banjo-Kazooies Creators - Super Smash Bros Reveal Interview! - I loved this video about Banjo musician Grant Kirkhope and artist Steve Mayles’ reaction to the bear and bird appearing in Smash. Wholesome content for sure.
[Watch | 17 mins] The Wonderful World of Kaizo Mario Hacks - With a new Mario Maker on the horizon, it was the perfect time for Ingeniousclown Gaming to look at those infuriating Mario hacks that make you want to rip your moustache hairs out.
[Read | 15 mins] Meet the angry gaming YouTubers who turn outrage into views - You’ve no doubt seen them on your recommendation feed when watching my vids. Gamers who spend more time talking about gaming’s business failures than its successes. Well, it certainly makes business sense for these YouTubers.
[Read | 10 mins] For Men Who Hate Talking On The Phone, Games Keep Friendships Alive - Well. Yeah. I mean. Yeah, you got me.
[Read | 5 mins] Common Problems When Translating Games into Japanese - From mixing up speech styles, to accidentally dropping in swear words, to translating stuff that Japanese players would expect to see in English: don’t make these mistakes.
Business of Games
[Read | 25 mins] The Human Cost Of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - At Kotaku, Jason Schrier looks at what sort of a toll it takes to make a COD game.
[Read | 13 mins] Cultist Simulator mobile: the all-singing, all-dancing data dump - Should you port your indie game to mobile? Thee stats might help you decide.
[Read | 15 mins] The economics of making indie games are wack - Should you make an indie game at all? Grey Alien Games breaks down the depressing probability that your game will make no money at all.
[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Why everyone wants to be the Netflix of games - Xbox Game Pass! Uplay+! PlayStation Now! Stadia! Don’t buy games, says the industry: stream them! Why is this? Polygon explains.
[Read | 5 mins] Preservationists Are Racing to Save Ouya's Games Before They Disappear - This is terrifying. The Ouya wasn’t that hot, but the thought of a gaming library less than 10 years old being lost to the ether should be a wake up call to anyone who cares about preservation.
History Time
[Watch | CC | 11 mins] That Time The Chinese Government STOLE Super Mario - I have no idea where Thomas Game Docs finds this stuff. Here’s two occasions when governments ignored copyright laws and pinched Nintendo’s hard work.
[Watch | 27 mins] The Amazing Story of The Dig - A new YouTuber I’ve found, Cannot be Tamed, takes a look at LucasArt’s The Dig - and the bonkers story of its protracted development.
[Read | 1 min] Fan Fix For 13-Year-Old Far Cry Bug Officially Added To The Game - This makes my heart swell.
Comments
Game Maker's Toolkit
I haven't heard of it - sounds cool, thanks for the recommendation!
Rogier Postma
Hi Mark, Thank you for the work you’re doing. The additional content on Patreon is much appreciated. I was curious if you’ve ever listened to Script Lock? A podcast about storytelling in video games. It’s hosted by writers Max and Nick Folkman who interview other writers from the industry. I thought it might be of interest to you. Best, Rogier
Blackthornprod
Awesome List Mark :) ! Just red "the economics of making indie games are wack". Pretty scary post, I hope it doesn't discourage anyone to even start making games. It's indeed very important to build an audience. With the amount of games coming out every day it's so easy for a small indie title to not even be given a proper chance to shine. But still, don't let those stats stop you. If some indie devs make it there's absolutely no reason why you can't too. Might sound like a motivational, corny speech but it's so true :D
