Reading List (December 2020) (Patreon)

Hello friends! It's the last reading list of 2020. Hope these hand-picked articles and videos keep you busy over the Christmas season.

As always, you can send me stuff that you think is cool on Twitter, on the Discord, in the comments on these articles, or just shout them in the vague direction of the United Kingdom.

Designer Notes

[Watch | CC | 35 mins] How Microsoft Flight Simulator Recreated Our Entire Planet - Noclip talks to the people behind Flight Sim, to find out how this technical and logistical achievement happened.

[Watch | CC | 36 mins] Shinji Mikami, the birth of the survival horror game - An interview with one of gaming's best directors. Part one of a series.

[Read] The uneasiness of ‘easy modes’ prompts creative approaches from game developers - The Washington Post talks to some devs about that thing I keep going on about: assist modes.

Critical Hit

[Read] DJing Gets a Truly Great, Authentic Video Game Adaptation with 'Fuser' - I secretly loved DJ Hero back in the day, but apparently Fuser is a touch more faithful to the source material.

[Watch | CC | 17 mins] Bloober Team Bites - How the ‘Layers of Fear’ Dev Copy/Pasted Their Way to Notoriety - A look into the shady practices surrounding this PT-esque game.

[Watch | CC | 12 mins] Crafting Is (Kinda) Pointless - Razbuten explores the many ways crafting works (and doesn't work) in games.

Culture Club

[Read] How Toxic Online Culture is Affecting Women in Games - The Cyberpunk 2077 drama is just the latest step in female journalists (and more) getting harassed.

[Watch | CC | 43 mins] The Last of Us Part II - Platinum Journey - I always love Adam's crazy journeys to get a platinum trophy. Here's one for Naughty Dog's latest.

[Watch | 27 mins] Indigeneity, Language, & Representation | Why Ratonhnaké:ton Is So Important - Assassin's Creed III isn't the best, but its main character is beloved by some.

[Watch | 35 mins] Representing Latines and Hispanics In Games - How many Latinx characters in games are drunken rapists in matador outfits? Yeah - let's explore that!

[Watch | CC | 1 hour] How We Talk About Games - HeavyEyed talks to a bunch of video makers about the ways we discuss video games.

Code Monkeys

[Watch | 23 mins] Ori And The Will of the Wisps Switch Analysis: Inside An 'Impossible' Port - All eyes have been on Cyberpunk's awful last-gen ports. But forget that - here's how Moon Studios made Ori 2 work on Switch.

[Watch | 13 mins] Why Games Are Massive (Literally) - I've always been curious about this! Why DOES Call of Duty need 150GB on my hard drive? Turns out the answer is kinda infuriating.

[Watch | 8 mins] Highlight Games from the Mix and Game Jam 2020 - I've helped Andre a little with this jam. It's always fun to see the winning games.

[Watch | CC | 47 mins] How Watch Dogs: Legion's 'Play as Anyone' Simulation Works - If you found my video on Watch Dogs interesting, this will give you way more detail.

History Corner

[Read] The Game Boy’s forgotten genre - The Game Boy was bursting with black-and-white detective games. Here's a quick history.

[Read | Long Read] Sega VR Revived: Emulating an Unreleased Genesis Accessory - A crazy preservation project to fix up a long-forgotten relic.

Business Lunch

[Watch | CC | 21 mins] How Among Us Was Made and Why The Developers Wanted to Quit - It's the game of the moment. Here's how it came to be.

[Read] Games Made Under Crunch Conditions Don’t Deserve ‘Best Direction’ Awards - If this award is for the people who run the ship, then maybe it shouldn't go to those who abuse their workforce, Kotaku argues.

[Watch | 24 mins] The Crunch Culture Conundrum - If you want more on crunch, this video goes in-depth with interviews from anonymous developers.

Art and Audio

[Watch | CC | 9 mins] Converting 2D animation into 3D - Dan looks at how Nintendo converted Simon Belmont from NES sprite to Smash Bros fighter.

[Watch | 13 mins] Katamari Damacy's Lonely Rolling Star Rocks - A breakdown of one of gaming's most catchy tracks.

[Read] This may be one of the most unknown obscure piece of music in Zelda series - A forum post about a Zelda song you've almost certainly never heard.

[Watch | 12 mins] The huge secret hidden within Zelda's music - And more Zelda music - this time, Thomas tracks down the original sample CDs that Koji Kondo used for Ocarina of Time (and more).

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | 13 mins] Making an unpickable lock. Calling locksmiths - The project itself is cool, but I actually just learned a lot about how lockpicking works.