Reading List (May 2018) (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Hope you’ve had a fab May. Before the month closes out, I’m here with a bunch of articles and videos I think you might enjoy.

As always, never hesitate to send me cool content over Twitter or email or wherever. I can’t find everything myself! 

Top pick

[Read] Recalling the Leviathan Axe - God of War’s key mechanic - throwing and recalling Kratos’s axe - took a huge amount of work to get just right. The devs share their story.

Design in depth

[Read] It’s (Potentially) Dangerous to Go Alone – Exploring the Fog of War - A look at the history and design of obscuring information in strategy games.

[Read] Stirring the Pot - A critical look at Breath of the Wild’s oblique cooking mechanic.

[Read] Taxonomy of Fishing Mini-games - I am so here for this in-depth look at fishing mini-games in everything from Shovel Knight to Twilight Princess. Turning real world activities into games is fascinating to me.

[Read] How Rare designed Sea of Thieves' infinite pirate generator - Rare wanted to offer unique avatars, but didn’t want players to make Monster Factory-esque abominations. This was their solution.

[Watch] How The Train Level In Uncharted 2 Works - This YouTuber uses some kind of hacked / debug version of Uncharted 2 to show how the game’s incredible train level is put together. Clever tricks galore.

[Watch | CC] Should Games Always Be Accessible? - Adam explores the pros and cons of standoffish design.

Dev perspective

[Read] Nier, Psychonauts, And Other Devs Discuss What Games They Admire Most - What recent games are tickling the fancy of Tim Schafer, Yoko Taro, and Rami Ismail? Find out.

[Read] Directing from the sidelines - Polygon looks at the rise of “concept teams” in Japanese game design: “a small, independent group that generates game ideas and designs, and then partners with other studios to see those plans through”.

[Read] The past, present and future of The Binding of Isaac - Binding of Isaac has gone through significant change during its life. Polygon talks to Edmund McMillen about the game’s history.

[Watch] Building Games That Can Be Understood at a Glance - Every dev should think about make their games more readable. Here’s a great talk on that subject.

Narrative and Aesthetics

[Watch | CC] What Makes a Game Punk? - Hamish Black looks at the works of Suda 51, and others, to find a definition of punk game design. 

[Read] High Scores: Jukio Kallio’s “Minit” Soundtrack Embraces Lo-Fi Sounds - I love the weirdo music of Vlambeer collaborator Jukio. He chats to Bandcamp about his process and history.

[Read] The Four Basics of Open World Storytelling - A writer for Avalanche (Just Cause, Mad Max) discusses the unique challenges of forging a narrative in an open world. 

[Read] Hellblade's permadeath bluff is "not as simple as people think" - A year (ish) on, Ninja Theory talks about the controversial permadeath (ish) in Senua’s Sacrifice. 

[Read] What makes a great idle animation? Devs share their favorites - My favourite is undoubtedly Mario sleeping in Odyssey - and then seeing region specific birds land on his nose. Adorable. 

Retronauts

[Read] The complete history of Street Fighter - More words about the Street Fighter series than you ever asked for.

[Read] AI Can Generate 'Doom' Levels Now - Who needs level designers anymore? I’ll shut down my channel right now.

[Read] Is Dark Souls Remastered worth playing without its former mystery? - PC Gamer looks at whether Dark Souls still holds up, after all its secrets have been found and shared 

[Watch] RetroAhoy: The Secret of Monkey Island - I haven’t watched all this yet, but Ahoy’s long form documentaries are always worth a watch.

Screwing up

[Read] What went wrong with PSVR exclusive Bravo Team, the "Halo of VR shooters" - Top tip: don’t call your game “the Halo of…”. It never works out well. 

[Watch] 9 Game Design Mistakes That Will Kill Your Indie Game - Making an indie game? Heed this advice.

Culture club

[Read] How Fortnite Captured Teens’ Hearts and Minds - Fortnite is ridiculously big right now. If you want to get caught up, The New Yorker’s piece is a good starting spot.

[Watch] The Important Power of Super Smash Bros - Haedox talks about how crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros has had a knock-on effect in other areas of the gaming culture.

[Watch] Far Cry 5 and the Art of Saying Nothing - Should have seen this one coming. Errant Signal rips apart the toothless Far Cry 5.

Beyond the bytes

[Watch] Did The Verve Steal Bitter Sweet Symphony? - I’m now bummed out whenever I hear Bittersweet Symphony. Even though I really like the song. I suppose you could say its a bittersweet symphony. Uhm.

[Watch] The Art Of Sci-Fi Book Covers - Typically brill stuff from Nerdwriter.

[Watch | CC] The sound that connects Stravinsky to Bruno Mars - A fascinating history of a weird sound effect sample that has shown up in songs for decades.