Reading List July 2020 (Patreon)

Hello again folks! Now that I've gotten that monster itch.io bundle video out, the next order of business is to get you all the July reading list ASAP. As always, there's a veritable tide of great stuff to read and watch that came out this month, so enjoy!

Second Opinion

Whenever I finish a review, I usually end up watching a few other reviews or other related content afterwards. Here’s some of the best stuff other people have had to say about the games I’ve been talking about lately! The Itch.io Bundle video was the only video out in July, but I’m far from the only person talking about it, so there’s still plenty to cover!

Finding The End and What Comes After in the Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality by Dia Lacina [Read]: I’m, of course, far from the only person who wanted to highlight their favorites from the Itch.io bundle, and Lacina had some eloquent words for a few of her’s!

Itch.io’s Anti-Racism Bundle Gave Me Space to Reflect, Rather Than Look Away by Shonte Murray-Daniels [Read]: In addition to the endless tide of recommendations in this bundle, there’s of course the context of why this bundle exists in the first place. Back when it came out, Murray-Daniels reflected on what the bundle as an event itself means for the industry and them personally.

Randombundlegame.com: I mentioned this site in my video, but in case you missed it: Randombundlegame is basically a StumbleUpon made specifically for the racial justice bundle. If you’re still hungry for more recommendations, it’s a great way to find tons of games you somehow missed or forgot about the first time you looked through the bundle.

Quick Impressions - Bundle for Racial Justice by Toma [Read]: Toma’s on a mad quest to play and give a quick review of every single game in the bundle, and as of this writing, has made it all the way to 248 (another 30 since I first wrote my script for this month’s video!) There are a ton of games explored here that I didn’t even mention, and it’s absolutely worth a look.

Secret Little Haven by Errant Signal [Watch]: I know I find a way to link Errant Signal almost every month, but he takes a far longer and deeper dive into one of the prime highlights from this month’s video, Secret Little Haven. But this is just a jumping off point, as it’s far from the only bundle game he’s highlighted.

Awesome Interviews

There have been a ton of great interviews this past month. From a massive yearlong project retelling the creation of Street Fighter to highlighting the efforts of black women in the fighting game community, they covered a lot of ground, too!

Street Fighter 1: An Oral History by Matt Leone [Read]: Essentially part one of what will eventually be a book, Polygon has embarked on interviews with the developers of Street Fighter, starting with the original in this article with more to come.

The Black Women of the Fighting Game Community Are Pushing for True Inclusivity by De’Angelo Epps [Read]: Epps covered several prominent black women in the FGC in a feature about their uphill struggles against misogyny and intolerance.

‘We Got Stabbed in the Back’: How Rune 2 Survived One of the Worst Game Launches in Years by Andy Chalk [Read]: The title says it all, but this PC Gamer interview goes down the rabbit hole of one of the weirdest game launches in recent memory and talk about where the game’s at now.

Mathematicians Tried to Prove How Hard The Witness is — With Surprising Results by Cian Maher [Read]: The Witness fascinated a group of mathematicians, and Maher covered their dive down the rabbit hole which led to the eventual 2018 research paper Who Witnesses The Witness?

What If We Could Shuffle Plot Twists Each Time We Played? By Robert Purchese [Read]: Misleading headline aside, most of the article is actually a fun interview with Ray Winninger, executive producer of Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons operation, about plot twists.

The Last of the Takes

Everyone’s probably pretty exhausted by TLOU2 discourse by this point, but there are two last really solid articles I read/watched this past month I swear are worth checking out.

The Not So Hidden Israeli Politics of ‘The Last of Us Part II’ by Emanuel Maiberg [Read]: Maiberg traces the history of Druckmann detailing how TLOU was inspired by real world events in Israel and Palestine, then draws on his own personal experiences growing up through that conflict to critique TLOU’s attempts to grapple with that inspiration.

Making Tragedy Meaningful by Pixel a Day [Watch]: There have been a million TLOU2 takes, especially on the game’s flawed attempts to engage with violence as a theme. Pixel a Day covers many of the same points, but delivers one of the most succinct and eloquent presentations of those talking points I’ve seen.

Everything Else

From meditations on grinding in games to history lessons on real life wars over conflict minerals fueled by demand from the electronics industry, there’s a ton more great stuff that came out this past month you should watch!

The Grind by Yussef Cole [Read]: More than yet another rehash of what makes Dark Souls great, Cole uses this article to take those regular talking points one step further by applying them to labor in the real world, as well.

Why Life Simulators Fill Me With Existential Dread by Grace Curtis [Read]: While life sim games might feel designed to last forever, no cup is bottomless, and Curtis explores what happens when you finally reach the bottom.

An Unreleased Indie Game Took Over Twitch, but It Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere by Nathan Grayson [Read]: The incredibly fun-looking Fall Guys took over Twitch for a weekend during its closed beta, and Grayson used this event as a case study for how companies are refining their attempts to purposely go viral.

Max Payne, Kane & Lynch, and the Meaning of Ugly Games by Jacob Geller [Watch]: Geller really hit the ball out of the park with one of his latest, a dive into games that aren’t visually ugly, but spiritually so, that are so mired in the moral muck that they become almost indigestible.

The Best Games from GMTK Game Jam 2020 by GMTK [Watch]: The GMTK Game Jam is an increasingly massive event, and Mark Brown did a roundup of his favorite games produced by the jam. It’s an absolute feast of clever indie titles, so if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!

How Final Fantasy VII Remade its Soundtrack by Game Score Fanfare [Watch]: GSF delved into the nuts and bolts of how FF7R iterated on the original’s score, as well as how it structurally improves how it uses that music compared to more recent titles such as FFXII and XV.

The PlayStation War by HeavyEyed [Watch]: Your first guess likely isn’t that the PlayStation War is an actual, real life conflict waged in Africa, but HeavyEyed highlights a less publicized conflict as part of his continuing Ethics of Games series.

Subject to Change | The Hidden Dangers of Modifying Games by MegaBite [Watch]: Everyone remembers the infamous change to the ending of Mass Effect 3, but MegaBite uses that event as merely a jumping off point to talk about the full range of ways we alter games after release from patches to complete overhauls and the pros and cons of such alterations.

COVID Has Closed Theaters, But Some Actors Are Finding Work in Virtual Reality by Patrick Klepek [Read]: Every month, there’s a surprising story about how profession x is using virtual spaces now that they can’t operate in physical ones, and the latest is a dive into stage plays.

This Woman Inspired One of the First hit Video Games by Mapping the World’s Longest Cave by Claire L. Evans [Read]: Evans details a group of cave divers who explored Mammoth Cave, and how their experiences eventually went on to become Colossal Cave Adventure.

The Joy of Sculpting Beautiful Little Towns in Townscaper by Robert Purchese [Read]: Townscaper is a shoe-in for an eventual quarterly wrapup, but until then, Purchese had some fantastic words about the game.

Why I Love Super Mario Beach Levels by Eurothug4000: Eurothug took a deep dive and very personal look at their favorite Mario levels, making for a pretty wholesome time.