Reading List (June 2020, Part 2) (Patreon)

Hello!

Well, I don't know if this lockdown is ever going to end. But as the world is sort of slowly transitioning back into normalcy (just, one with masks and social distancing and plexiglass screens etc) I'm going to transition back into monthly reading lists. Turns out, it's very hard to find 50-odd worthwhile things about games every month! 

I hope the doubled up reading lists provided you with some entertainment, though! As ever, suggestions for articles and videos are always welcome. Best option is to DM me on Twitter, or post a link in the game-design channel of the Discord.

Top Pick

[Play] Singled Out - With the GMTK Game Jam for 2020 starting very soon, I wanted to give a shoutout to Matt Glanville who took his winning game for the 2019 Jam… and released it on Nintendo Switch! Wow! Go Matt!

Designer Notes

[Read] Deus Ex at 20: The oral history of a pivotal PC game - The immersive sim that still casts a long shadow over gaming today. Key figures weigh in on its creation.

Critical Hit

[Read] Studio Ghibli’s influence on game designers is extensive and expanding - Polygon looks at games that take inspiration from Japan's most celebrated modern director. Including Ori, A Boy and His Blob, and Mutazione.

[Watch | 1 hour, 30 mins] Aesthetics of Modern Warfare - A huge exploration of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare  

[Watch | CC | 18 mins] The Strange Reality of Roller Coaster Tycoon - Roller Coaster Tycoon is apparently about more than just removing bits of track while your customers are halfway around the ride. 

[Watch | 25 mins] Slay the Spire "Clones" - Slay the Spire has proven wildly influential, inspiring a number of games to build upon its clever core design.

[Read] The Uncomfortable Complicity of The Last of Us Part II (Full Spoilers) - Hey, I wrote this! It's a super spoiler-ific look at The Last of Us, and how the story butts up against player motivations. 

Culture Club

[Read] The Art of the Blindfolded Speedrun - When racing through a game at breakneck speed just isn't hard enough.

[Read] The FDA just approved the first prescription video game — it’s for kids with ADHD - We've come a long way from "video games turn kids into murderers," eh? 

[Read] Meet the 19-year-old CEO who started a professional Minecraft building company - "A multinational company that earns money from building in Minecraft would have been unheard of five years ago," says PC Gamer. 

[Read] KFC Makes Animal Crossing Island, Gives Visitors Free Real-Life Chicken - Well this is just super cute.

[Read] Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Environmental Intimacy - Inviting random strangers to your heavily personalised island (or KFC restaurant) is an intimate moment of trust. Uppercut explores. 

Code Monkeys

[Watch | 6 mins] Recreating Mario Party’s Slaparazzi - Mario Party is full of clever Game Jam-esque games. Mix 'n' Jam looks at just one of them.

[Watch | CC | 23 mins] The AI of "Creatures" - A friend of mine has started a new YouTube channel looking at development and design. Here, he breaks down the AI of an ancient Windows 98 cult classic.

History Corner

[Watch | 28 mins] The Upsetting Secret of Monkey Island - This video looks at how the brilliant, shock ending to Monkey Island 2 was handled by the many follow-ups. 

[Read] The very specific horror of old graphics card packaging art - Please buy our graphics card. It can generate higher quality nightmares than ever before. 

[Read] Rygar Is A Non-Linear 8-Bit Masterpiece - There's lots of weird genre offshoots from the NES era that are worthy of play and study. Rygar looks to be one of them, according to Kotaku.

[Read] Hunting down the people who legally changed their names to Turok - Acclaim once did a PR stunt where it gave out cash to people who changed their names to Turok. VG247 tries to track these poor souls down.

[Read] Reconstructing a lost NES game from 30-year-old source code disks - The Video Game History Foundation somehow managed to salvage the unreleased NES game Days of Thunder.

Business Lunch

[Watch | 39 mins] How Capcom's Dead Rising Studio Fell Apart - Liam Robertson explores the studio troubles that led to the cancellation of Dead Rising 5, and the closure of Capcom Vancouver. 

[Read] Voice Actors From Ghost of Tsushima to Persona 5 On the Challenges Facing Asian-Americans in Games - There's a long legacy of white actors being cast to play Asian roles. These are the games, and actors, that are smashing that legacy to bits.

Art and Audio

[Use] Open Source Afro Hair Library - Recreating black hair can be difficult. So use this.

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | CC | 11 mins] The most overlooked way to be more productive - This is some advice I should take more often. 

[Watch | 11 mins] How GOTYE Created A Song We Used To Know - Talk about a one hit wonder! Middle8 looks at how the song was made, and what the artist did next.

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] I Asked 64,182 People About “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells”. Here's What I Found Out - What's the next line to that silly playground song? Once you have your answer, watch the video.