A Very Belated March Reading List (Patreon)

Heya folks, apologies this one took so dang long to get out. We'll be dialing back the streaming schedule to hopefully give me more time to focus on everything else I'm supposed to be doing.

But it's here! March was GDC month, which always produces some fun anecdotes, Armored Core hype got Writing on Games to give a breakdown of the entire series you should check out, Daryl Talks Games has made probably one of the best youtube videos I've ever seen about Outer Wilds and much, much more!

Second Opinions

Tales from the Backlog 68: Silicon Dreams | Cyberpunk Interrogation by Tales from the Backlog: TftB covered Blade Runner-meets-Papers Please indie Silicon Dreams, complete with a shoutout for First Five!

Grand Tours

Every once in a while, some mad lad decides to make a video about not just one game, but every game in a series. And this month, we somehow got two.

The Armored Core Series: A Newcomer’s Journey by Writing on Games: Hamish got hyped up by that new Armored Core trailer and decided to go back and play through the entire franchise, focusing on the series’ typically hefty gameplay, its verisimilitudinous gameplay, and comparisons to FromSoft’s other big franchise.

The Indie Arcade Racing Game(s) That Disappeared || A Tribute to Arcade Racing by AveragePixel: AveragePixel took a rigorously edited tour through the past decade of arcade racers big and small.

GDC Wrapups

GDC’s always a gold mine for entertaining game dev anecdotes, and every year, journalists highlight a few of the juiciest bits from the conference.

A Seven-Year Blink of an Eye: Before Your Eyes’ Woes Deconstructed at GDC by Sam Machkovech: Machkovech did a wrap up on a GDC talk by Graham Parkes about beloved indie Before Your Eyes’ development.

The Witcher 3: The Story Behind CD Projekt Red’s Decision to Kill Off a Beloved Book Character by Kat Bailey: Bailey highlighted a particularly juicy anecdote from CD Projekt Red’s GDC Talk, 10 Key Quest Design Lessons From The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077,” about the team’s decision to kill one of the game’s central characters.

Everything Else

Outer Wilds Is Not A Video Game by Daryl Talks Games: Daryl talked through his experiences with Outer Wilds and how it forced him to engage with it differently from other games.

Why I Boycotted Ubisoft for 10 Years by LambHoot: LambHoot gave us a self-contained intro for his series talking about Ubisoft and representation, discussing the company’s connections to Quebec’s government and their efforts to faithfully capture foreign cultures.

How Twitch Lost Its Way by Nathan Grayson: Grayson took a look back at Twitch’s past few troubled years, highlighting new bosses brought in from outside, a cordial relationship with streamers, and advertising woes.

Putting on the Blue Coat by Chris Breault: Breault covered Like a Dragon: Ishin, focusing on how the game successfully builds up an immense weight of meaning into its protagonist’s uniform.

Appreciating Frustration With Bennett Foddy by Darkfry: Darkfry made a gut-ripping dive into the concept of affective difficulty and Bennett Foddy’s infamous mountain-climber Getting Over It.

We Entered the World of Microsoft Excel eSports & Got Our Asses Beat by People Make Games: PMG discovered a niche world of eSports, and of course, the first thing they tried to do was get some first-hand experience.

Snipers: A Nightmare for Developers and Players by Arch: Arch investigated the challenges games face in trying to balance the archetypical bolt-action sniper, then has a few suggestions of their own on how the archetype can be brought into line.

The Strangest Game of 2023 by Jacob Geller: Geller revels in the absolute absurdity of Wanted: Dead and its many artistic decisions.

The Universe Coaster by Marcel Vos: Vos created a new, record-breaking length roller coaster (yes, orders of magnitude longer than Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride). And then he explained how he did it!

Despite Music Being Just ‘A Hobby,’ This Composer Co-Created One of the Year’s Best Soundtracks by Ted Litchfield: Litchfield tells the story of how Pizza Tower got its composer (and the composer got their first credit!)

Xalavier Nelson Jr. Wants To Make Game Development More Sustainable For Everyone by Phillip Russell: Russell interviewed Xalavier Nelson Jr., head of Strange Scaffold Studios (whose games regularly show up on this channel) about how he prioritizes sustainable practices at his studio. Turns out, there’s a lot more to do than just eliminating crunch!

We Aren’t Ready For What’s About To Happen With Fortnite by Patricia Hernandez: Big news this month is that Fortnite’s getting Unreal Editor support, and Hernandez forecasts a bright new future for the game’s already-nascent modding scene.

Every Game is Happy Death Day by Emma Kostopolus: Kostopolus tackles respawn systems in games, honing in on ones that specifically acknowledge their existence in-game.

Love Like a Sunset: The Inspiration and Ideology Behind Season’s Hazy Visuals by Chris Kerr: Kerr interviewed the developers behind painterly indie Season on how they achieved the game’s “illustrated” artstyle.

What Games Do We Play to Relax? by Jordon With An O: Jordan asked several youtubers what their favorite game is to just vibe out with. Turns out, the answer pretty consistently is “the game I’ve played a million times and know inside and out,” but everyone had their own wildly different favorites.