Reading List (July 2022) (Patreon)

Hey! This month I’ve been ridiculously busy with the GMTK Game Jam, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t found time to squeeze in some reading and watching!

Below are articles and videos that I recommend you check out - with a special section devoted to GMTK Game Jam 2022 dev logs.

The Design of Games

[Watch | CC | 26 mins] The Lost Art of Permadeath in Fire Emblem - “Permanent Death is at the core of the Fire Emblem series. It's the mechanic which pull all other aspects of the game design together to form a unique play experience”

[Watch | CC | 16 mins] What Makes A Game Speedrun Friendly? - Design Doc talks about “how you can design a game to give the thrill of The Run to everyone!”

[Read] Puzzle Level Idea Strategies - Patrick’s Parabox designer Patrick Traynor gives some great puzzle game design tips. Gonna bookmark this for Magnet Game.

[Read] Do games have to be a neverending story? - “Destiny, Call of Duty and other epics expect you to play not for hours but for years. This endless games monoculture isn’t just bad for players – it’s bad for innovation”

The Business of Games

[Read] Vampire Survivors Success: An opportunity in the Steam marketplace - “It seems to violate every bit of advice about games marketing on Steam. Let’s take a look at what’s going on here.”

The Development of Games

[Read] "Good Numbers" for Game Design Prototyping - “Do you ever find yourself designing something for a game and needing to plug in some numbers? Where do you start? What numbers should you pick?”

[Watch | CC | 11 mins] The 2D Aim Assist Problem - A game dev breaks down the maths and best practices of doing aim assist, using case studies like Hades and Death’s Door.

[Watch | CC | 9 mins] How I made a Hole in the Wall game in my bedroom - The mad lad Jelle Vermandere uses a webcam, a heartbeat monitor, and some clever Unity code to build a Japanese game show in his house.

[Watch | CC | 44 mins] Bloodborne PSX: Recreating Bloodborne for the Original PlayStation - Noclip talks to Lilith Walther about her fan project to de-make Bloodborne to look like a classic PS1 title.

[Read] Game engines are more than libraries glued together - “? What is a game engine, and why can't we make one by slapping high-quality libraries together in a sticky, gluey blob?”

[Read] Logo Development - Fireblade (from fellow Patron Sean Noonan) talks about making the logo for the upcoming FPS, Sentry.

[Watch | 24 mins] My thoughts on Unity recent events... - YouTube teacher Code Monkey looks at the recent Unity controversy, and gives his honest thoughts as a Unity super user.

Roll of the Dice

[Watch | 9 mins] stuck INSIDE a DICE!? | GMTK Game Jam 2022 - JHunter was one of our top 20 game jammers, with the clever puzzle game Curse of the Dice Witch.

[Watch | 25 mins] I Gave The Companion Cube Superpowers - YouTubers Mental Checkpoint and Tarodev teamed up to make Shutter Labs, which made the top 100 games.

[Watch | 7 mins] Making of BLACK DICE - GMTK Game Jam 2022 - Regular game jam supporter Noa, from Blackthornprod, talks through his submission: Black Dice.

[Watch | CC | 27 mins] The unexpected logic behind rolling multiple dice and picking the highest - If you’re not sick of dice yet, a look into the weird maths of die rolls.

The Playing of Games

[Read] - Stray's Little Worlds Are The Best Part Of The Game - “The one thing I can’t get out of my head is not the cat, nor the robots, nor the platforming, but how much I loved each one of its little worlds.”

[Read] 17 years ago, Yakuza reinvented video game masculinity - “One thing that remains consistent is the series’ staunch resistance to the toxic masculinity we see in so many other games”.

[Watch | CC | 11 mins] The Best Hitman Game You Probably Forgot About - Hamish Black has looked at a lot of Hitman games. Now he turns his attention to the weirdly good puzzle game, Hitman GO.

[Read] RollerCoaster Tycoon taught me to be a ruthless capitalist - From Polygon, “This unit would be dedicated to playing RollerCoaster Tycoon. Concepts like profit, price, and loans were to be teachable moments”.

[Watch | CC | 40 mins] Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda - Jacob Geller on Zelda, death, and darkness.

[Read] Before Hades, Supergiant's Pyre Let You Lose and Changed the Game - “The way Pyre ties its characters’ arcs so firmly to their mechanics as players in the Rites is an extension of the game’s ethos as a whole”

The Art of Games

[Read] 12 principles for game animation - A massive, beautifully illustrated article on animating games.

Beyond Games

[Watch | 16 mins] Laziness isn't real - Game dev Shaun Spalding talks about motivation, and ADHD.

[Watch | CC | 1 hour] Captain America Punching Nazis: Why Comics Were ALWAYS Political - NerdSync “dives into the history of Captain America to explain how his first comic book appearance punching Nazis led superheroes to fight for political change then and now”.

[Watch | CC | 22 mins] Music Video VFX Magic With ATARASHII GAKKO! - An absurd video. Truly, bonkers. Captain Disillusion recreates music videos with Japanese pop-stars, squeezing months of VFX work into a 20 minute video.

[Watch | CC | 19 mins] Everyone Everywhere Needs Waymond Wang - This film contains “one of the most challenging and subversive representations of masculinity I’ve ever seen in any genre.”