Reading List (November 2022) (Patreon)

Yo! 

We're barrelling towards the end of the year with an unsettling pace. But at least this cold weather gives us an excuse to wrap up warm indoors, and watch some YouTube. 

Here's 20-odd articles and videos I can recommend from November.

The Design of Games

[Watch | CC | 5 mins] The Fiend's Cauldron - Sakurai explains the design thinking behind the risk and reward difficulty system of Kid Icarus: Uprising. Nice to see him admit issues with the idea, too.

[Watch | 9 mins] How Games Resolve Skill Issue - "What causes a game to make the player strive to be better at It? What rewards do games use to incentivize the player to play with higher skill?"

[Read] Unexpected nudity and vomit-covered cats: how Dwarf Fortress tells some of gaming’s most bizarre stories - "For around 20 years, brothers Zach and Tarn Adams have been working on their idiosyncratic fantasy game – and it’s only just got graphics"

The Business of Games

[Read | Long Read] My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal - There's an ongoing spat between DOOM's creators and composer Mick Gordon. In this lengthy medium post, he explains his side of the story, with receipts. Grimly fascinating to read.

[Watch | CC | 36 mins] Valve's Gambling Problem - "Despite some major controversies in the past, games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive continue to support a thriving, unregulated gambling scene."

[Watch | 22 mins] Experts Reveal the Tricks Behind Encouraging Steam Purchases & Wishlists - Noclip enlists some game dev experts to help spruce up the studio's upcoming game.

[Read] Gamergate was a test and the industry failed - "The industry's silence in the face of an obvious harassment campaign was a shameful mistake that continues to harm"

[Read] Video games face a tough choice: Realistic graphics or sustainability - "One climate author wants to spearhead sustainability from the inside — starting with Unity"

The Development of Games

[Read] Muno on Twitter - Studios of Aether dev Muno explains rollback netcode with the help of Mario and GIFs.

[Watch | 17 mins] Physics of JellyCar: Soft Body Physics Explained - "In this video I visually explain all of the elements involved in creating a (2D) soft-body physics simulation like the one I created for the JellyCar series."

[Watch | 13 mins] Mortal Kombat Needs To Tone Down The Violence... No Seriously - This video argues that Mortal Kombat should tone down its gory death scenes, as some devs face trauma after implementing them.

The Playing of Games

[Watch | CC | 31 mins] A Misguided Guide To Finishing Your Gaming Backlog - "A weird existential dread that comes from a looming video game backlog. How will we ever beat it all? Should we beat it all?"

[Watch | CC | 20 mins] Playing Games in the "Wrong" Way - "What about certain titles makes them so interesting to mess around in and why is playing games in weird ways so appealing to so many people?"

[Watch | CC | 18 mins] Why The Best Part of Silent Hill 2 Isn’t the Main Campaign - "Born From A Wish quickly solidified itself as one of my favourite Silent Hill experiences because of how different it felt"

[Watch | 15 mins] The Lore Behind the Lore Behind the Lore of RPG Magic - "How did basic cliches of magic spellcasting make their way from the ancient world thousands of years ago into video games today?"

The Art of Games

[Watch | 2 hours] ROBLOX_OOF.mp3 - An investigation into the messy creation of Robolox's "oof" sound turns into the video equivalent of "I'm about to destroy this man's entire career". Like a car crash, it's impossible to look away.

[Read] In 'God of War,' Moms Come Last - "In a game very much about fathers and sons, the role of a mother is to be invisible or toxic."

[Read] The Unsettling Power of Dishonored’s Dunwall - "10 years later, Arkane Studios' decaying Victorian-era London still lives rent-free in my brain"

The History of Games

[Read | Long Read] Mass Effect: The oral history of a game-changing RPG - "There are a lot of restrictions on the Star Wars universe and what you can and cannot do. So being able to open up our own canvas and sketch out our own ideas and our own concepts was really exciting"

[Read] The Making Of Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's Original Open-World Epic - "When we finished the project, I went on holiday. I was convinced the game was a flop. No one was going to buy this. It had so many imperfections."

Beyond Games

[Watch | 10 mins] Where Does Inspiration Come From? - Some useful and effective ideas for being more creative.