Reading List (October 2017) (Patreon)

Got some nifty things for you to watch and read this month. 

As always, I’m fiercely curatorial with this stuff. I don’t just chuck in any old crap to bump up the numbers - it’s all stuff I think is genuinely cool and interesting. 

As always, feel free to recommend stuff throughout the month. Tweeting at me is the best way to make sure I see it in time

News in Perspective

EA’s Star Wars ‘pivot’ is a vote of no confidence in single-player games - This month, EA closed down Dead Space developer Visceral Games and ceased development on its singleplayer player Star Wars game. Polygon reckons “solo is going the way of the dodo”

Ex-Visceral dev calls death of single-player fears "totally absurd" - But Dead Space designer Zach Wilson disagrees. “EA might not be the company that carries that torch, but there are so many groups out there that are passionate about this kind of game that they won't go away”.

Activision Researched Using Matchmaking Tricks to Sell In-Game Items - Activision got in hot water, after it emerged that the company patented a system to mess with matchmaking to pair you up with people rocking items bought with microtransactions. Watch this older Cool Ghosts vid for more thoughts on manipulative games.

There's No Such Thing as a Hard Game (Or an Easy One) - As the debate on video game difficulty continues, Rami Ismail digs deep into how game designers think about challenge. 

How video game difficulty became a cultural battleground - And Simon Parkin looks at the history of difficulty modes, with a focus on their use in old school shmups. 

Aztez: The bloody indie brawler that should've been big - Finally, two sides to the story of selling games. Aztez developer Team Colorblind lament on the failure of their striking indie brawler. 

Secrets of the developer who sold half a million videogames you’ve never heard of on Steam - While a different developer shares the practical secrets of selling indie games on Steam. Promote with brutal honesty, tick all the boxes, and don’t get emotionally attached. 

Game history

[Video | Transcript] The Fallout 3 we never got to play - More great games history stuff from Chris Bratt over at Eurogamer. Here, he looks at the cancelled Fallout Van Buren - which would eventually be completely scrapped in favour of Bethesda’s first-person shooter.

[Video | CC] The Story of CD Projekt - Witcher Documentary - And Danny returns with another enormous documentary series. This time, it’s all about The Witcher, starting with the studio, the first two games, and then in-depth talk on the quests, design, and even localisation of The Witcher 3. 

[Video] Sonic 3D's Intro Sequence Is Impossible To Fit On A Cartridge - A developer explains how his team pulled off an impossible feat of technology on the Sega Saturn. The whole channel is packed with untold stories of gaming’s past. 

Culture club

[Video] Divide and conquer: How Microsoft researchers used AI to master Ms. Pac-Man - The realm of “AI learning and beating video games” is just fascinating. Here’s a super short video about Microsoft’s successful plan to make an AI that can beat Ms. Pac-Man. 

[Video] Spies vs. Mercs 2005 (And how to play it today!) - Super Bunnyhop explains why this weirdo multiplayer mode from the mid 2000s is so compelling - and even walks through the technical steps that will let you play it today. Tunnelling! I haven’t thought about tunnelling for years!

Modern Video Games Are Giving Kids Unrealistic Standards For How Many Swords They Can Carry At One Time - Too true. 

Hold X to Read - A blog dedicated to short bits of text in games. Item descriptions, flavour text, UI, place names. It’s all about the little things. 

[Video | CC] Who Gets to Be a Civilization? - Enjoyed this video, looking at how Civilisation’s developers have decided who gets to be a nation, who gets to be a city state, and who’s left to be a barbarian. 

[Video | CC] Growing Older With Video Games - Sid takes a look at the types of games that are viable to people with a full schedule and not as much time to play games. 

Game dev

[Video] Mike Jungbluth - Anatomy Of A Hit Reaction - A good, in-depth talk I watched this month about hit reactions in games. Everything from animation to sound effects to to hitstop. 

Spatial composition and flow in Breath of the Wild - Nintendo, uncharacteristically, released a wealth of behind-the-scenes content on the new Zelda. Robert Yang’s post, linked, gathers tweets from this thread. 

How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days - An old piece I stumbled on, but very interesting and inspiring. World of Goo came from a prototype that was made in a week.

Design think

The 24-hour ticket: Examining 'daily runs' - Gamasutra talks to devs behind three games with daily runs, looking at the nuances of this cool bonus mode. 

[Video | CC] How Action Games Encourage Skill - A nice follow-up to my video about encouraging player behaviour, Game Design Archive looks at how Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden make you play more skilfully.

The long, hard, journey behind the design of Dead Cells’ player builds - Plus, RPS talks to the designers on Dead Cells, with stuff that mirrors my video. “I wasn’t thinking as a player but more like a designer. It’s difficult to get rid of the idea of the way we want it to be played, and the efficient way is usually the opposite,”

[Video | CC] Prey - The Enemy Inside - Extra Credits goes all in with a spoiler heavy look at Prey’s narrative. Like, super spoiler heavy. But if you’ve finished the game, watch this vid. 

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is at war with itself over slavery - Also quite spoiler heavy, Polygon looks at how the cutscenes and mechanics of Shadow of War can’t agree on whether slavery is bad or wicked sick awesome. 

“How Hard?” More Like “Hard How?” – A Response to The Meta - An interesting piece, looking at the value of skill-heavy secret techniques in multiplayer games. These need a more pithy name. 

[Video] Studying Dustforce's Animation - Dan Root’s got a new series looking at animation in games, which is definitely worth a subscription. Here, looking at how the indie platformer Dustforce conveys speed and power through its frames. 

[Video | CC] A Hat In Time: Spiritual Successor to Original IP - I still haven’t played this one, but let Snoman walk you through the game - complete with an interview with the game’s lead designer. 

[Video | CC] Cuphead & The Difficulty Dilemma - Snoman again, this time looking at some of the weaker aspects of Cuphead. I admit, I started cursing all the foreground layers when I played Cuphead after watching this video. 

The second death of the immersive sim and a dark prophecy for a third-wave immersive sim - Robert Yang talks about the future of the immersive sim, as it relates to the foresight ability in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

[Video] Naughty Dog and Nonlinearity - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy brought a new level of freedom to the Uncharted series. Charlie breaks down how Naughty Dog has experimented with non-linearity throughout its history - starting with Crash. 

Other junk

9 (Short) Storytelling Tips From A Master Of Movie Trailers - Tips for making movie trailers. Probably relevant to game trailers, too. 

[Video] I made a movie. It stunk - A frightfully honest story about ambition, limitations, and failure. Very enjoyable. 

[Video] The Greatest Paralympic Scandal of All Time - Same YouTuber, different story, just as engrossing. Subscribe to this guy. 

The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare - Actually, it’s about ethics in mattress journalism