Reading List (December 2017) (Patreon)

Hello! Welcome to the reading list, a curated collection of articles and videos I’ve enjoyed in the last month.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the lists this year - here’s to many more in 2018!

Design in detail

[Video | CC] Looking for Love on Pandora: Procedural Content Generation and Borderlands 2 - Tommy Thompson talks us through the procedural generation at the heart of the Borderlands games, and how it creates real relationships with bits of randomly cobbled together content.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild director explains why you can't pet the dogs - An innocuous question about petting dogs in Zelda gets to the heart of how the game works. Not a bunch of separate mechanics but a few ideas that add and multiply together.

5 Radical Ideas for Dialogue Systems - Video game dialogue systems are kinda flat. This Gamasutra post suggests some wacky new ideas. I’d like to look into this topic myself one day. 

[Video] Essential Elements of Sonic - What is a Sonic game? This video casts aside fluffy animal friends and goofy stories to get to the gameplay that drives this series forward. 

The best incidental animations in games - From wobbling bits on the side of guns to Lara Croft wringing out her wet ponytail. Very GIF heavy, so maybe skip this one if you’re on mobile or, uhm, a 56k mode.

How Thief Inspired Dishonored's Best Levels - Dishonored is obviously inspired by Thief. This article pinpoints the exact levels from Thief that got remixed and referenced by Arkane’s series. Including the Bank Job stage from my recent video. 

Analysing The Best Puzzle in Resident Evil 7 - A nice look at a clever bit from Resident Evil 7. Mid-game spoilers, if you haven’t played this one yet. 

How to build mobile games with people in mind - Lots of good ideas and lessons about usability, interface design, and more. 

Critical hit

Open-world games are broken, and Nintendo spent 2017 trying to fix them - A.V. Club explains how Zelda and Mario fixed some fundamental issues that plagued open world games. 

[Video] NieR Automata: [W]orth the Wait -- [The InVashtigation] - A big chunky look at one of the year’s most intriguing games: Nier Automata. 

[Video | CC] Going Back to MGSV: The Phantom Pain (Part 1: Gameplay) - An even chunkier look at Metal Gear Solid V. Hamish spent a hundred-odd hours replaying the game for this critical second look.

[Video] Cool Ghosts: Episode 1 - The Cool Ghosts crew return with an entire TV episode which I’d describe as a mix between, maybe, Consolevania and The Mighty Boosh. Funny, weird, and also packed with game thoughts. 

[Video] Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Spoilers) - Chris goes all in on the narrative of Wolfenstein 2. Heavy spoilers. 

Making of...

Developers share their most memorable dirty coding tricks - Developers talk about cheeky tricks they used to fix bugs and get through certification. The invisible squirrel story is a highlight. There are links in there to previous articles on the same theme. 

Localizing “Jump Up, Super Star!” - Nintendo’s localisation department details the process of translating the all-Important song of Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo wanted the song to work on its own, even if people didn’t get the Mario jokes and references. 

Nine years later, one feature in GTA4 has never been bettered - here's its story - Remember the funky physics system from GTA V that turned Nico into a clumsy drunk whenever he spied a set of stairs? Here’s how it came together, and why it’s not a part of more games. 

The Making of Dawn of War III: A New Dawn - A nice documentary from Gamespot about the making of these seminal strategy games. 

[Video] I Spent 6 Months Making A Game And Here It Is! - I subscribe to HappieCat for her great gamedev videos but now I’m doubly excited to follow her with this new dev log series on a detective game she’s been cooking up.  

The business of games

In-Game Purchases Poison The Well - A frank look at the psychology of in-game purchases and how they can affect a player’s relationship to the game’s design. 

Applying 'players first' logic to loot boxes and other mechanics in Hearthstone - Some good advice for lootbox makers, from Blizzard. 

Why do indie developers sign with publishers? - Indie developers talk about signing up with publishers like Devolver Digital and Curve. 

[Video] SEGA's 3 Biggest Mistakes - The Gaming Historian counts down the three most dunderheaded decisions in Sega’s history. And judging by Sega’s fall from grace, you can tell that these mistakes really hurt!

Alt-game agony

my post Day of the Devs observations about how people view/treat art games and their creators - Two recent posts started a conversation about how we see alt-games (or art games, or whatever you like to call these experimental titles). In this one, Nathalie Lawhead talks about the reaction to her game at a video game expo. 

The Fun is Over, We Have to Get Serious about Games - And in this one, James Cox talks about how his non-traditional horror game got booted from Steam. 

Exhibiting Difficult Games - This post suggests some ways to help fix the first problem, with ideas for designing booths and exhibitions that help people get into more challenging games. Good tips for people showcasing things like puzzle games and narrative games, too. 

Culture club

Confessions of a Semi-Reformed Video Game Completionist - As someone who killed all the pigeons in Liberty City, got all the orbs in Crackdown, and played kids games for the Xbox 360 achievements, this article speaks to me. Don’t worry, my completionist days are over now. 

[Video] VG Myths - Can You Beat Super Mario Odyssey Without Jumping? - An entertaining, funny, and well-presented take on a bizarre gaming challenge. 

Ridealong: A real comedian goes to Comedy Night - Think stand up comedy is hard? Try doing it in front of a bunch of anonymous racist gamers!

Wait, these aren't video games!

Postmortem: Every Frame a Painting - The channel that really inspired me to start YouTube is no more. Sad times. I can relate to a lot of stuff in Tony and Taylor’s piece here. 

The Trailers for Ghostbusters (2016) and the Art of Editing Comedy - But if you still need more EFAP, just read this in Tony’s voice. 

The secrets behind the life (and death) of Titanic’s propeller guy - Remember that guy who fell off the Titanic, pranged into the propeller, and then spiralled into the ocean? Here’s his story! (Don’t worry, it’s only CGI)

[Video] What Realistic Film Dialogue Sounds Like - More good stuff from Nerdwriter, this time looking at realistic movie dialogue. 

[Video | CC] How to Make a Perfect Action Scene - And this series from Patrick Willems is terrific. Episode one is a look at the best action scene that no one would think of when asked for an example of a good action scene. Episode two is about making a terrible mess of things.