Reading List (January 2021) (Patreon)

Hello! Welcome to the first Reading List of the year. It's a big one! It's got all the best stuff I watched and read in January, plus all the delicious content I consumed over Christmas.

I'm starting off with some alternative "end of year" lists. Forget the "game of the year" stuff, we're looking at the year in accessibility, animation, blogging, and loss.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

[Read] A look back at accessibility in 2020 - Accessibility consultant Vivek Gohil does his own round-up of 2020's strives in disability options.

[Read] 2020, The Losses - The History of How We Play explores 2020 through the lens of loss, looking at the video game pioneers who sadly died in 2020.

[Watch | CC | 16 mins] My Favorite Game Animation of 2020 - New Frame Plus looks at the most scrumptiously animated games of the year, from Crash 4 to Spiritfarer.

[Read | Long Read] Dominic’s Indie Picks Of 2020 - Of all the "games you might have missed" lists, this one is the most exhaustive. Here's dozens of games that you should check out.

[Read] 2020 in Videogame Blogging - If my reading lists aren't enough, here's almost 100 pieces from the last year - looking at everything from climate to queerness to immortality.

[Read] The games we're looking forward to in 2021 - Axiom Verge 2! Psychonauts 2! Vampire: The Masquerade 2! And lots of other games that don't end in 2.

[Read] 21 indie video games to look forward to in 2021 - Forget the big budget blockbusters! Here's a bunch of boutique games coming your way in the next 11 months.

Designer Notes

[Read] Sigmoid Curves are Game Designers’ Friends - S-Curves can be used for balancing, progression, learning curves, and more. Some in-depth details here.

[Read] King of Cards: Joustus Deep Dive - Yacht Club Games stuffed a collectable card game in the final Shovel Knight DLC. Here's how they made it. Part 2 and Part 3 are also available.

[Read] Why Do Exploding Barrels Make Video Games So Much More Fun? - Wired talks to a bunch of game designers about the power of elemental reactions.

[Read] A Story From The Development Of Rockstar’s Agent - This story about Rockstar employees getting arrested in Cairo is a pretty damning critique of devs who pillage other cultures for background set dressing.

[Read | Long Read] Shigeru Miyamoto Wants to Create a Kinder World - "The legendary designer on rejecting violence in games, trying to be a good boss, and building Nintendo’s Disneyland."

CyberPunk'd

[Watch | 40 mins] overpromise, sell, underdeliver Cyberpunk 2077 - As soon as I started seeing all the bugs, I started waiting for the inevitable Crowbcat montage. It's a monster.

[Watch | 46 mins] Cyberpunk 2077: CD PROJEKT are all Liars - BeatEmUps goes hard on Cyberpunk, with a stabbing critique of the game's design. My favourite bit - Hwangbo, the NPC who followed Wood for the entire game.

[Read] 5 Insights from 3700 Reviews of Cyberpunk 2077 - A meta-analysis of Cyberpunk's Metacritic reviews unveils some interesting trends, including positive and negative sentiments. 

[Read] Inside Cyberpunk 2077's Disastrous Rollout - Jason Schreier finds out how Cyperpunk ended up being the most high profile game to be yanked off the PlayStation Store.

[Read] Hey, did Cyberpunk 2077 get kind of fun while we weren't looking? - Okay, just to balance out the criticism. Here's a piece from someone who has been having legitimate fun with the game. "And then it crashes again, but hey: Pobody’s nerfect!".

Culture Club

[Watch | 16 mins] Who finds the Glitches used in Speedruns? - "How are glitches even found? Are they found by accident, or how would anyone even think of doing 100 perfect inputs in a very specific order?"

[Read] Strategy games, ADHD and the curse of ‘one more turn’ - Freelancer Timothy got diagnosed with ADHD, and wanted to learn how this affected his relationship with addictive strategy games.

[Read] Embracing social learning in fighting games - "Taking on fighting games solo is to play on the hardest difficulty, and that’s not a recommended path for anyone who is new to fighting games."

[Read] The story behind Runescape’s most expensive item - "The humble party hat was designed to be a junk item, but now it's worth billions of in-game gold"

History Corner

[Read] Great moments in PC gaming: Killing Anna Navarre in Deus Ex - "For me, that's the moment that made Deus Ex: The realization that if something seemed out of bounds but maybe possible, I should try it".

[Watch | 13 mins] How Graphics worked on the Nintendo DS - Modern Vintage Gamer explains how Nintendo brought 3D to its handhelds for the first time - and on two screens. (Well, sort of - you'll see).

[Read | Long Read] From Xenogears To Xenoblade: The History Of Monolith Soft - "[A] reputation for overpromising and underdelivering haunted the company for well over a decade before finally managing to become the well-respected entity it is today."

[Read] What I learned playing 30+ years’ worth of Jeopardy! video games - Ars Technica looks at 40+ games based on the famous American game show.

[Read] Long-forgotten PS1 Net Yaroze game Magic Castle comes out over 20 years later - In the 90s, Sony gave hobbyist coders a basic PS1 devkit to make games. This month, one of those games was finally finished and released.

[Read] The impossible quest to finish every CRPG in chronological order - "It's one thing to attempt to set out to play every single game in an entire genre. But to finish each one in the order they released and then to blog detailed accounts of them is a quest beyond belief."

[Read] 50 Years of Text Games - And if interactive fiction is more your style, "Every week in 2021, I'll be posting an in-depth look at one text-based computer game from each year between 1971 and 2021" - from The Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon.

Indie Nation

[Watch | CC | 30 mins] How Papers, Please Was Made and The History of The Developer - "Discover how solo developer Lucas Pope got the idea for a game about checking people’s documents and how he was able to generate thousands upon thousands of unique travelers all on his own."

[Read] Guide For Pitching To Publishers - Pixel art publisher Chucklefish provides some crystal clear advice for getting your game funded.

[Read] Rise & Fall Guys: How To Save A Hit - Fall Guys was the fad hit of 2020. This article looks at its decline, and suggests some ways to give it better retention.

Art and Audio

[Read] How stunning visual effects bring Ghost of Tsushima to life - Over on the PlayStation Blog, Sucker Punch artists Matt Vainio goes deep on the game's particle effects. Like any good guest, Matt brings GIFs!

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | 10 mins] Pixar's Soul: A Masterclass in Fake Light - Thomas Flight explores how Pixar uses raytracing to make light more realistic.

[Read | Long Read] Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine - I literally don't understand any of this article but it is fascinating.

[Watch | 35 mins] Everything You Need to Know About Mank - I didn't dig Mank - David Fincher's new film about the writer of Citizen Kane. But I did enjoy this video about the real world references in the flick.