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Reading List (February 2017)
🕑 Added 2017-02-27 09:26:15 +0000 UTC Hello boys and girls. It's that special time again, when I unleash a whole bunch of interesting articles, engaging video essays, and weird internet discoveries.Hope you enjoy!
Resident Evil 7
How a dirty house turns Resident Evil 7's Jack Baker into a true monster - PC Gamer talks about the value of environmental storytelling, in amping up the player's fear for the Baker family.
Resident Evil 7: Break the Mould - But as Ed Smith says, the game takes a turn for the worse when it chooses to over-explain its mysteries.
VHS, Resident Evil, and the Found Footage Tradition - Olivia White discuses Resi 7's connection to the found footage horror genre.
Resident Evil 7’s director explains how his team created the game’s best boss fight - The first boss fight in Resi 7 is surprising, hilarious, and terrifying. Capcom reveals all on its creation.
Yakuza 0
[Video / CC] Why Yakuza 0 is a Masterclass in Managing Tone - Hamish Black reckons Yakuza's manic zig-zag between seriousness and humour is its best asset.
[Video / Transcript] The Things That Make Tokyo Feel Alive In Yakuza 0 - Yakuza is incredible for virtual tourism, too. Heather Alexandra tells us more about its world and use of characters.
Yakuza 0 is A Postcard from Another Time - This prequel is set in the 1980s. Heidi Kemps talks about Japan's economic boom at this time, and how this is reflected in the story and gameplay.
Yakuza 3: Played, reviewed and fact-checked. With the Yakuza - I'm also reminded of this great piece, where BoingBoing got actual Japanese gangsters to comment on the veracity of the Yakuza series.
Post-Mortem
Exit, Stage Left: Trying to Escape the Shadow of The Binding of Isaac - This is really good. Edmund McMillen wrestles with the fact that people are playing his game in a way he didn't intend - and what that means for him as a creator.
[Video] Inside the Making of Dishonored 2's Best Level: A Crack in the Slab - GameSpot chats to Arkane about Dishonored's loopy time travel level. Fun fact: the idea was originally dreamt up for Bioshock 2!
Diablo 3 Post-mortem with Jay Wilson - Submission from a Patron here (sorry, can't remember who it was). Jay Wilson goes in deep on the development of Diablo 3.
[Video] The Game Makers: Inside Story - Love storytelling in games? Then I have a treat for you: 10 videos, with interviews of all the major names in video game narrative.
Blizzard's In-Depth Tour Of Overwatch's Oasis Map - Game Informer is joined by a couple Blizzard devs for a walkthrough of the game's newest map. I think it's the newest map, at least.
Welcome to The Zero: the making of Kentucky Route Zero's open road - I didn't get on with this game, sadly. But if you did, here's a big making-of article to dig into.
Design Space
[Video / CC] Playing the Scripted Set Piece - Turbo Button looks at the gameplay value of cinematic set pieces in games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider.
20 years after Diablo, every game is Diablo - The AV Club reckons Diablo's "instant gratification of its effortlessly repeatable action" lives on in most games today (for better or worse).
[Video] Nioh - Commanding Attention - Turbo Button again, this time looking at a cool mechanic in Nioh that seems like a mix of active reload in Gears, and the regain system in Bloodborne.
[Video / CC] Deconstructing Mario: How New Super Mario Bros. U handles Difficulty - If you liked my stuff on Mario's level design, check out this great video from Ceave Gaming.
How Designers Engineer Luck Into Video Games - Your lucky Peggle hit was probably just PopCap tweaking the outcome in your favour. Simon Parkin looks at how developers can fiddle with luck in the player's favour - or in the developer's.
[Video] The Dead Space 3 the developers wanted to make - A classic tale of publisher meddling. Also, isn't it time for Dead Space 4? (Or a VR remake of that cool, on-rails Wii game?)
[Video] Lost in the Woods - A 30-year Analysis of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - A breezy catch-up video series, looking at the changes in the Zelda series leading up to this week's new game. Like Boss Keys, but more generalised (and way fewer graphs).
[Video] Hyper Light Drifter: The Best Game Ever - Cool Ghosts looks at the sharp design and subtle beauty of this rad Zelda-like game.
Odds and Ends
A year in Stardew Valley: life, labour and love - A lovely piece on Stardew Valley, cutting back and forth between the game, and the author's own life.
The case for a video game musical - I've been thinking about this recently, with games like Gitaroo Man and Parappa the Rapper that mixed rhythm action gameplay with a proper story. Anyway, George Osborn looks at the difficulties of making a musical video game.
Wolfenstein 3D mod asks if it’s OK to shoot Nazis - Still not sure if it's okay to inflict violence on Nazis? Polygon unearths an interesting Wolfenstein mod...
[Video / No Commentary] Other Places: Hitman - The animated postcard series Other Places returns for one last gig: the insane detail of Hitman.
The Cinematic Platformer Compendium - This NeoGAF thread presents an absorbing visual history of a fascinating sub genre, filled with games I love and games I've never even heard of.
[Video] World Record Progression: Super Mario World - More speed-run goodness from Summoning Salt. He also did Super Metroid this month. You're subscribed to his channel, right?
[Video] Motion Sickness in VR - Super Bunnyhop explores VR queasiness. It's got something to do with ear juice, I guess? He also explains why Resi 7 was perfectly comfortable (for me at least) in VR.
[Video] Overblood: PS1 Horror Gone Wrong | Back From the Dead - TheGamingBrit looks back at a schlocky PS1 game. With bonus Game Maker's Toolkit cameo! Peeeepooooo!
[Video / CC] Super low Half-Life 2 on an Intel Atom - Half Life 2 on its lowest possible settings is totally my asthetic.
0/10. Is this even a video game?
[Video / CC] The Social Network — Sorkin, Structure, and Collaboration - You know I love this channel. I was waiting for this guy to dig into an Aaron Sorkin screenplay, and he delivered. Watch it while simultaneously walking briskly through the White House.
[Video] The Day The Simpsons Died - Everyone's got a Simpsons episode that personally signalled the death knell for the show. This video makes a compelling argument for one controversial episode.
[Video] How MLK Composed 'I Have A Dream' - Here's your obligatory Nerdwriter video of the month. An important breakdown of MLK's historic speech.
[Video] How the BBC makes Planet Earth look like a Hollywood movie - Spoiler: gimbals. Lots of gimbals.
Comments
Will_WMGC
These are so great.
Yessir, thanks for the 'Lost in the Woods' shoutout! Kept getting folks telling me they found me through your Patreon. Boss Keys was definitely an inspiration.
mcwizardry
Great list and thanks for sorting some of the links by game title!
Turbo Button
Cheers for the double shoutout! Keep killing it.
Game Maker's Toolkit
Whoops, there's always one (or more!). Thanks, fixed
I think something is wrong with the link of the Half-Life 2 video. Or maybe is just my browser or something.
