Reading List (January 2019) (Patreon)

Hello! Happy new year

 While there have been some changes to things on Patreon, the Reading List hasn’t really changed a dot. Everyone likes it, so let’s keep it going! Expect a great bunch of articles and videos, that come recommended by me, Mark! 

You know, the GMTK guy. The British guy. You know who I’m talking about. 

Top Pick

[Read] How At the Gates took 7 years of my life – and nearly the rest - Civ 5 designer Jon Shafer is releasing his own game this month. Here, he talks honestly about the unbelievable strain the development put on his life. It’s not an easy read, but important to consider in light of stories we hear about crunch and burnout.

Design ‘em Up

[Read] Beyond Mechanics: How The First Two Doom Are Designed - A look at the mechanics and level design of Doom 1 and 2, and how the two games ended up feeling so different.

[Read] The ins and outs of bouncing balls in the joyful brick-breaker Holedown - I got a bit addicted to mobile timesink Holedown last year. Here, Martin "grapefrukt" Jonasson reveals the game’s design secrets. 

[Read] Skytorn is Cancelled - Noel Berry (part of the Celeste team) has been working on an indie Metroidvania called Skytorn. In this brazenly honest tell-all piece, he reveals why the game will never be finished. 

[Read] Modern stealth games give players too much power - I read this while researching my stealth video. An interesting discussion on the genre’s “shift from evasion to confrontation”.

[Watch] DUSK and the Design of 90's FPS Games - Errant Signal looks at Dusk, and how it does - and doesn’t - call back to the heady days of Quake and Duke Nukem.

[Watch] What's With The Spy? - He’s definitely one of the most inventive characters in multiplayer shooters. CJ dives deep into Team Fortress 2’s sneaky secret agent.

[Read] Hyun Jong Won on Twitter - A level designer breaks down the loopy magic of God of War 2018’s level design. Hubs, spokes, and reemergence! 

[Read] Supercell's killed games: Celebrating lessons, not failures - Supercell (Clash of Clans, Clash Royale) has canned more games than it has released. This studio is famous for killing games at the last minute if they don’t live up to the studio’s high standards.

Tech Trees

[Read] How Enemy AI Works In Dicey Dungeons - Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV, Super Hexagon) is working on a tantalising new game called Dicey Dungeons. Here, he talks about making AI for the game’s opponents.

[Watch | CC] Behaviour Trees: The Cornerstone of Modern Game AI - Behaviour trees are “one of the most commonly adopted AI technologies in modern video game development”. Expert Tommy Thompson explains exactly how they work. 

Art Attack

[Watch] The Bizarre Animation of Mr. Game & Watch - Dan’s continuing his look at Smash Bros animation, this time with the utterly weird Mr. Game & Watch. How do you turn a completely 2D liquid crystal blob into a fighting game hero? Dan knows.

[Watch] My secret life... as a voice actor - Austin McConnell reveals a treat from his childhood - his days as a voice actor for a crappy Shenmue fan game. This video’s super cute.

Looking Ahead

[Read] 60 Indie Games To Get Excited About In 2019 - We know all the big releases of 2019. Anthem, Sekiro, Days Gone. But what about the tiny indie releases that sneak up on you and catch you off guard? Ready yourself the right way, with this look ahead to the year in smaller games.

History Lesson

[Read] A Brief History of Speedrunning - Kat Brewster looks at how “Doom and Zelda became stages for an exhilarating internet subculture”.

[Read] Recovering Nintendo’s Lost SimCity for the NES - A Christmas present from archivist Frank Cifaldi: all of the details on an unreleased NES game. 

[Read] The history of the strategy game - From computerised Risk to Into the Breach, PC Gamer’s done an exhaustive look at the evolution of the PC player’s favourite genre. 

Culture Club

[Read] How Playing Over 1000 Hours of 'Into the Breach' Helped Me Survive 2018 - Waypoint’s Danielle Riendeau had a tough year. Here, she talks about the self-care (and self-preservation) benefits of video games. 

[Read] How Fallout lost its soul - Polygon looks at how Fallout went from a cult isometric RPG to a buggy and broken MMO. Bethesda “must recall that games should be about something, and that this franchise it inherited had meaning”.

[Watch] The Cultural Impact of Tony Hawks Pro Skater - HeavyEyed talks about how Tony Hawks helped propel skate culture into the mainstream. 

[Read] From Pac-Mania to Fortnite fever: are video games becoming more addictive? - The Guardian looks at the history of video game addiction. Are today’s loot boxes anymore the coin gobbling arcades of yesteryear?

[Read] Birding Like It’s 1899: Inside a Blockbuster American West Video Game - In Red Dead Redemption 2, a birder finds joy and despair in a realistic portrayal of wildlife in the pre-conservation era.

Beyond Games

[Watch | CC] Why Incredibles 2 is a BAD Sequel - NitPix does a deep dive into this Pixar sequel, and talks about how the studio is struggling to make amazing movies.

[Read] The best video essays of 2018 - I’m lucky enough to be on this list from Polygon. But ignore that and watch all of the other videos that made the cut.

[Read] How the surprise new interactive Black Mirror came together - I wasn’t enamoured with Black Mirror’s Telltale-eseque “Bandersnatch” episode, but the thrill of Netflix becoming a new player in interactive fiction is hard to deny. So read up on the stories behind the studio’s first major game.