Reading List (July 2019) (Patreon)

Hello hello! It must have been a pretty chunky month for good gaming reads, because I’m actually writing this on July 15th* and I’ve already got 30 must-see articles and videos to recommend! So without further ado, let’s get into it!

*I’m moving house at the end of this month, so I’m getting Patreon rewards done now so there’s no way I’ll miss my deadline!

Top Pick

[Watch | 25 mins] Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood? | Genre and the Adventure Game - I thought I was done with discussions on genre forever, but Ian’s thoughtful piece on adventure games gave me a lot to think about. 

Game Dev Story

[Read | 7 mins] My Friend Pedro's journey from Flash cult hit to indie success - The Max Payne-inspired indie My Friend Pedro came out this month. Gamasutra talks to the dev about the game’s Browser-based roots and more. 

[Read | 9 mins] How Artifact became Valve's biggest failure - Eurogamer charts the downfall of Valve’s Hearthstone-wannabe, Artifact. Even with Magic the Gathering smarty pants Richard Garfield at the helm, the game didn’t hit. 

[Watch | CC | 17 mins] The Secrets of GoldenEye's AI Revealed - AI and Games goes back to the 90s to look at one of the most important shooters on consoles. It even influenced Valve to change Half-Life.

[Read | 9 mins] Meet the geographer who tells studios when they’re ignorant and offensive - Accents, animations, music, symbols - there’s so many areas were developers can accidentally cause offence. RPS talks to a woman whose job is literally to spot these oversights before games go gold.  

[Read | 13 mins] The time I tried to ruin Halo 2 - A story about the clash between business and design. And a time when design, thankfully, won out, 

[Watch | 11 mins] The 134 people that Blizzard Entertainment is trying to fire - Unions are only going to become a bigger and bigger topic in games going forward. Chris gets in on the ground floor, in France.

[Read | 10 mins] Sean Murray on No Man's Sky: "I thought we were making a niche game" - What do you do when you suffer the biggest backlash of all time? For Sean Murray, you keep calm and carry on. 

History Lesson

[Read | 11 mins] How a Zelda Clone Outshone Actual Zelda: The Case for a Forgotten PS One Gem - Katriona Angel never actually played Zelda, but they fell in love with the game’s clone. Here’s why that game deserves your attention. 

[Read | 9 mins] Preservationists Are Saving Video Game History, One Upload at a Time - Another month, another story about the challenges of preserving our medium’s history. Until the problem is solved, I won’t stop posting them. 

Good Acoustics

[Watch | 10 mins] The Bizarre Importance of Audio in Video Games Part 1 - A new channel to check out. This one’s about sound design, and includes interviews with devs in the business of making audio. 

[Read | 5 mins] The afterlife of an 8-bit soundtrack - Eurogamer chats to Ninja Gaiden composers Keiji Yamagishi and Kaori Nakabai about the resurgence of chip tune music and 80s bleep-boop soundtrack. 

[Watch | CC | 18 mins] What Happened to Memorable Game Music? - Matt from Game Score Fanfare tries to answer that age old question: “how come they don’t make songs like the DuckTales moon level music anymore?”

Critical Hit

[Watch | 14 mins] Blips 2: Making Friends, Circling Enemies, and More! - Chris Franklin’s mini indie game recommendation engine returns, with new games to check out.

[Watch | 5 mins] Assassin's Creed II | Farlands Cartography - An interesting idea from Farlands, which seeks to look at how an open world map is used during a game’s main missions. How much space are the devs actually using, and re-using?

[Watch | CC | 39 mins] Analysing Every Mission from Hitman 2 - Hamish Black revisits one of his most famous videos, which delved deep into Hitman 2016’s levels, this time looking at the sequel.

[Read | 7 mins] Why Do We Play Games About Everyday Life? - Games like Animal Crossing, and the day-time sections of Persona games, simulate very mundane, typical lives. So why are they so compelling as games?

[Watch | 11 mins] How the Heck Do We Talk About Outer Wilds? - I haven’t actually watched this yet because I’m still neck deep in the game. But I’m looking forward to checking it out!

[Watch | 20 mins] How Supergiant Created a Decade of Excellent Games - From Bastion to Transistor to Pyre and to Hades, Supergiant is one of the most prolific and hard-working indies around. This vid celebrate’s the studio’s legacy.

Mechanics at Work

[Watch | 5 mins] Star Fox's Rail Movement - More Mix and Jam. This time, recreating Star Fox gameplay. Can’t get enough of this channel. Such a clever idea!

[Read | 3 mins] How developers build the tutorials you skip - PC Gamer talks to Spacechem designer Zach Barth, and more, about the construction of compelling tutorials. 

[Watch | 11 mins] The different ways SCREEN SHAKE is used in games? - I need to go back to my juice video one day and give it a touch up (add some particle effects and hit stop, of course). In the mean time, catch this video.

[Read | 2 mins] Games Are Better With Double Jumps - “The concept of jumping and being able to jump again in midair opens up a wealth of possibilities for any game,” argues Kotaku’s Heather Alexandra, who reckons the double jump is one of gaming’s most elegant mechanics. 

Cultural Victory

[Watch | 51 mins] Media Literacy and Game News - Super Bunnyhop talks to games journalists to find out the state of modern gaming news, and provide tips to help you read articles more critically. 

[Read | 20 mins] The Tangled Web of Video Game Addiction - Game Informer sat down with researchers and psychological experts to discover what is currently known about video games and addiction - and where we go from here. 

[Watch | 16 mins] "Accurate" E3 Demos - What exactly are we watching, when devs show their games during E3 Keynotes?

[Read | 9 mins] The Video Games That Made People Question Their Beliefs - Games can be as influential on our belief systems as any book, movie, or TV show. These stories are proof of that. 

[Read | 10 mins] The Changing Face Of Arcade Games In 2019 - What does an arcade look like, decades after the coin-op craze has died down? Gamespot investigates. 

[Read | 40 mins] The Anita Sarkeesian story - Whatever you think of Anita, you can’t deny her massive impact on gaming culture. So brush up on her story. 

Beyond Games

[Watch | CC | 10 mins] Making An App Is A Terrible Idea, But Here's How You Can Do It - Tom Scott’s got a huge multi-part series on making apps - from idea to execution. Very interesting, if you’re into that kind of thing.