Reading List (November 2019) (Patreon)

Hello! How’s it going? 

You’re getting the reading list a few days early as I’m popping to Essen, Germany for a couple days at the end of November to talk at the Next Level Festival. Should be fun! 

Here’s some stuff that I’ve enjoyed this month (or, in some cases, am saving to read on the flight!)

Top Pick

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] The Environmental Impact of Physical Games - I thought this video on the ethics of buying games was really interesting. As creator HeavyEyed says, “Let’s talk about plastic”. 

Designer Notes

[Read] How developers left violent combat behind to create kinder games - Eurogmer talks to the developers of games like Wandersong, Spiritfarer, and Röki to chat wholesome game design.

[Read] A Russian Crucible: Pathologic 2 and the Problem of Video Game Difficulty - EGM Now asks the devs of Pathologic, “How do you think about challenge and accessibility when the point is to punish the player?”. Relevant to my interests!

[Read | Long Read] World on Fire: The Oral History of Fallout and Fallout 2 - A frankly enormous history of the classic Fallout games, featuring Brian Fargo, Chris Taylor, and more.

[Read] Gaming’s Pleasure Principle: How Virtual Worlds Make Our Creative Brains Come Alive­ - EGM looks into the neuroscience of game design.

[Watch | CC | 7 mins] How Games Are Actually Designed - The secrets of design documents, iteration loops, and more.

[Read] How did Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order get so unusual? - Jennifer Scheurle reverse engineers Fallen Order, to talk about its Dark Souls and Tomb Raider influences of this new Star Wars game.

[Read] Designing Grindstone's super satisfying board-clearing gameplay - Capybara Games stealth released a new game recently: the addictive gem matcher Grindstone. Here’s how it was made. 

[Read | Long Read] How Resident Evil 2 fell apart, then became one of Capcom’s biggest hits - A huge long-read on the making of (the original) Resident Evil 2.

Critical Hit

[Read] How Modern Warfare smooths over the horrors of war - Ars Technica argues that the more COD grasps for realism, the more artificial it feels.

[Read] Video Game Ladders Suck. Here's Why that Matters - Ladders have long been the bane of game designers’ lives. Death Stranding gives them a comeback. 

[Watch | CC | 5 mins] The Magic of Abzu - Eurothug gushes about the underwater adventure, Abzu.

[Watch | 2 hours] Pathologic is Genius, And Here's Why - hbomberguy’s got another one of his ultra long videos, this time on the bizarre Pathologic series.

[Watch | CC | 10 mins] Session Is More Than Just Skate 4 - HeavyEyed talks about how Session comes close to real skateboarding, by forcing you to fail, learn, and fail some more. 

Culture Club

[Read] Why More Stars Are Joining Video Games (It's Not Just a Paycheck) - Keanu Reeves, Norman Reedus and more are joining the games industry. The Hollywood Reporter finds out why. 

[Watch | 15 mins] Gaming While Colorblind - You know I dig accessibility stuff in games. So George’s deep dive into colourblind gaming was a great watch.

[Watch | 44 mins] How Does the ESRB Rate Video Games? - Noclip takes a break from talking to game developers, to talk to another important part of the industry. Watch them wiggle when talking about gambling.

[Watch | CC | 6 mins] Why Valve Made Half Life: Alyx a VR Exclusive - Discovered this cute channel, which talks about game news and development histories through cartoons and soft vocals. 

[Watch | CC | 17 mins] What Breath Of The Wild Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games - Razbuten continues his tour through the mind of his non-gamer wife, to see what she makes of Nintendo’s expressive masterpiece. 

[Watch | 13 mins] EA stole this man's game and made millions - You probably know Zuma. You probably don’t know Puzz Loop. Here’s how they are related.

[Read] Horror Master Junji Ito Doesn’t Know Video Games - But Video Games Certainly Know Him - EGM looks at the impact and influence of this famous manga artist. 

Art and Aesthetics

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] Why Journey's last song was the hardest to compose - An interview with Austin Wintory.

[Watch | CC | 14 mins] The Animation of Indivisible - Dan breaks down the exaggerated art of the indie Metroidvania, Indivisible. 

[Watch | 7 mins] Real-time Destruction in Control - I played a fair bit of Control and never really noticed how cool the destruction is. 2klilksphilip shows off the fun of smashing tables.

[Watch | CC | 7 mins] The Effects Animation of Hollow Knight - While I was talking about the world design of Hollow Knight, Dan was chatting about the awesome visual effects.

[Watch | 17 mins] Satisfying Reloads | The Art in Reload Animations - A super high production value video on reloading guns. 

[Watch | 22 mins] Let’s Compare Assassin's Creed Odyssey to Real-Life Greece - Okay, George. Let’s. 

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | 8 mins] How Spotlight Dramatizes Good Journalism - Nerdwriter explores how Spotlight makes the boring bits of journalism incredibly unboring. 

[Watch | 6 mins] This AI Clones Your Voice After Listening for 5 Seconds - If I can get an AI to read my scripts for me, I’d download that thing in an instant. 

[Watch | 6 mins] The Truth About Test Screenings - Shazam director David F. Sandberg talks about test screenings, and how they can go very wrong.