Reading List (May 2020, Part 1) (Patreon)

Hey everyone! While the UK lockdown has apparently changed from "stay inside" to "stay alert" (whatever that means?!), we're still stuck indoors. So that means another two reading lists this month! Here's part one for May. Enjoy, you lovely lot.

Top Pick

[Read] These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Books - As someone who obsessively graphs out video game structures, you know that I loved stumbling across this article.

Designer Notes

[Watch | CC | 1 hour] Darkest Dungeon Documentary - If you wanted to know more about the Darkest Dungeon outrage I outlined in my latest video, this documentary from The Escapist should do you just fine. 

[Watch | CC | 1 hour] The History of Creative Assembly - Chris Bratt (of People Make Games) teamed up with Noclip for the channel's first UK-centric documentary. This one's on Total War and Alien Isolation maker, Creative Assembly.

[Read] Game Design Dirty Little Secrets - A rundown of cheeky tricks game developers use to unlock the experience they're hoping for. 

Critical Hit

[Read] Game over, man: How Aliens—not Alien—shaped three decades of gaming history - It would take years for Alien's claustrophobic horror thrills to convert to games. But the gonzo gunplay of Aliens was perfect fodder for video game rip-offs.

[Read] A Father Presses, A Son Acts: A Kratos-centric Model of God of War’s Universe - An interesting take on the parental relationship of the latest God of War, and how (perhaps, the wrong) meaning is derived from its controls.

[Watch | 18 mins] The Beauty of Hyrule Temple - An interesting breakdown of one of Super Smash Bros' most famous stages.

[Read] What makes a good RPG dungeon? - We're talking proper, old school dungeon crawling here. None of that Water Temple nonsense. Old fashioned tiles and slimes and stuff.

[Watch | 11 mins] How Games Get Grenades Wrong - Gamespot returns to its loadout series, this time explaining the ins and outs of digital bombs.

[Watch | CC | 14 mins] An Examination of Resident Evil 3's Nemesis - Hamish Black had a great video on the systems that drive Mr. X. So I'm glad he found time to talk about Capcom's new unstoppable nasty, Nemesis. 

Culture Club

[Read] Virtual rate cut forces Nintendo gamers into riskier assets - The Financial Times wrote about the economy of Animal Crossing as if it was real life and I love it.

Code Monkeys

[Read] A small state-of-the-art study on custom engines - A fascinating analysis of the engines being used across the industry. 

[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Pikmin’s Gameplay - Mix n Jam recreates Pikmin's core gameplay loop in Unity. Just, you know… because.

[Visit] Pixel Font Converter - A handy tool for turning pixel art text into a useable font file. Thanks to the Discord user who posted this one. 

History Corner

[Watch | 12 mins] Crusader of Centy: Sega's Zelda Clone on the Genesis - The Gaming Historian turns his attention to one of the many attempts to leech off Link's popularity.

[Read] Hi Octane - Bullfrog (Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate, etc) was asked by EA to make a game, from scratch, in eight weeks. This is the story. 

Business Lunch

[Read] The many ways video game development impacts the climate crisis - Moving forward, we're really going to have to face up to the ways this industry perpetuates some bad ecological behaviour. 

[Read] When Your Wishlists Don't Convert - 16,000 people put WarriOrb on their Steam wishlist. 357 people bought it. What happened?

[Read] The Five Deadly Sins Of Game Attractiveness - Trying to get people to care about your game is hard (see above!), so Simon Carless reveals five ways that you're failing to grab people's attention.

[Read] ‘Being pregnant changes everything’: The game industry awkwardly grapples with maternity - “I hadn’t made a big deal out of being pregnant, so when I posted about our new baby a lot of people thought I was referring to the game.”

Art and Audio

[Watch | 10 mins] The Color of Corruption - Razbuten explores the way games use purple to signify poison, corruption, and general nastiness. 

[Watch | CC | 6 mins] How Nintendo changed SMB2 Mario for Mario Maker - Nintendo recently added a mushroom to Mario Maker that turns him into his Super Mario Bros 2 sprite. Dan Root explores the changes made to fit the two games together.

[Read] From kazoos to trash cans, how animal sounds are made in videogames - Being a foley artist always sounds like the best job.

[Watch | 16 mins] How They Remade the Mako Reactor Theme from Final Fantasy 7 - Previously, we looked at how the animation of FF7 was overhauled for the remake. Now it's time for the music. 

[Watch | 1 hour] Sparkling Dialogue: A Masterclass - Jon Ingold, from Inkle (80 Days, Heaven's Vault) uses a scene from Blade Runner to show how (and how not) to do good video game dialogue.

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | 22 mins] Predator: The Smartest Genre Mash-Up Ever? Probably! - What do you get if you combine a Halloween-style slasher movie with a bonkers '80s action romp? Predator, probably. 

[Watch | 11 mins] The Movie That Changed Movies - Bonnie and Clyde kicked off a new wave of movie making by borrowing the best ideas from French cinema of the time. This video explains more

[Watch | 22 mins] How I made a basketball hoop that always goes in - Look, we're all bored during lockdown. Don't judge.