Reading List (January 2023) (Patreon)

Happy new year!

This January I've been hard at work on Untitled Magnet Game (a new episode of Developing will be coming the first week of February). But I've still found time to read and watch loads of awesome content about game design, development, and culture. 

Here's what I've got for you this month:

The Design of Games

[Watch | 17 mins] 10 Brilliant Beginnings In Video Games - "A beautifully crafted videogame opening can be the difference between someone deciding to play a game for one hour… or ten."

[Watch | 11 mins] All Open Worlds are Disneyland - "Would you believe us if we told you that game designers are constantly stealing open-world designs from Disneyland theme parks?"

[Read] How Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld tell radically different stories - "Both Rimworld and newly 1.0 Dwarf Fortress allow deep simulation and player-centered storytelling, but Bay 12's game simply feels more personal."

[Watch | 16 mins] How Games Get LMGs Wrong - "What is the virtual legacy of the LMG, and why does it so often feel more like a souped up assault rifle, than a belt-fed banger?"

[Read] Stealth is everywhere in games, but the innovations of Thief have been forgotten - "Keeping quiet and concealed in shadow is no longer in vogue—which makes Thief a refreshing replay."

[Watch | CC | 22 mins] What Makes A Great Double Boss Fight? - "Double bosses are a unique fight form factor that can make for memorable encounters, but there are unique pitfalls to avoid that can depend on what type of double boss you're trying to make."

The Development of Games

[Watch | CC | 28 mins] Analysing the AI of The Last of Us Part II - AI and Games has a huge video on the AI advancements made in Naughty Dog's stealthy sequel.

[Watch | 14 mins] Finishing and Releasing my First Game on Steam - Congrats to Pontypants for coming to the end of his game dev journey, and releasing Punch A Bunch!

[Read] For Tim Schafer, creativity is king - "After a legendary three decades in the games industry, the Double Fine founder has never stopped pushing creative boundaries"

[Read] In 10 years, gamers will use AI prompts to build what they play - "In a guest editorial, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe creative director Clint Hocking looks at the future of artificial intelligence"

[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Using a REAL Ball as my Game Controller - "No more FIFA, I made my own game and it's much worse!"

[Watch | CC | 48 mins] Working at Valve: 'A Fearless Adventure' or 'Lord of the Flies'? - "What's it actually like working for Valve Corporation? Over the last few months, People Make Games has interviewed 16 current and former Valve employees about the inner workings of one of gaming's most mysterious companies."

The Playing of Games

[Watch | 32 mins] I Created A $1,000 Hitman Challenge. The Results Broke The Game - I really enjoyed this one. Atrioc asked people to speedrun a Hitman level, and the techniques on show are equal parts impressive and hilarious.

[Watch | CC | 17 mins] The Existential Nightmare of Fortnite - " I watched my nephew play a match of Fortnite—a game that has changed so much in the years since I last played it, that I could barely tell what I was looking at."

[Read] Understanding the pull of 'undemanding' games - "While blockbuster titles become bigger, brighter, and more bombastic, these games – appropriately – gently slide into the mainstream to offer a less demanding alternative."

The Art of Games

[Watch | CC | 31 mins] The Best Game Animation of 2022 - From TMNT to The Quarry, from Stray to Mario Strikers. Dan always has the goods.

[Watch | CC | 29 mins] The Real Horrors of Signalis - "It’s a game about ghosts and dreams, identity and memory, a mystery that cannot be fully solved."

The History of Games

[Watch | 28 mins] Doctor Hauzer - The Gaming Brit digs up a weird horror artefact: the predecessor to Overblood, and a game inspired not by Resident Evil, but genre OG Alone in the Dark.

[Watch | 1 hour, 45 mins ] History of Handedness in Video Games - A thoroughly extensive documentary on how games handle handedness.

[Watch | 29 mins] The History of S*x in Gaming - "From Custer's Revenge all the way to Cyberpunk 2077, sex has been around in gaming since the medium began."

[Read] Prince of Packaging: A tale of 1990s box art - "In this fascinating post-mortem, the designer of Prince of Persia tells us the story of how its iconic cover art oddly played into its ultimate success."

[Watch | 14 mins] The Magazines That Shaped Arcade Culture - A look at Japanese magazines like Gamest and Monthly Arcadia.

[Watch | 32 mins] Van Buren: Inside the Canceled Fallout 3 - "Before Bethesda, Fallout 3 was a game being developed by Black Isle studios. This documentary catalogs Van Buren's development, legacy, and the fan projects dedicated to recreating it".

[Read] Why Roberta Williams Came Out of Retirement to Remake a Beloved Text Adventure - "Colossal Cave Adventure summoned the Sierra adventure game legend to her calling. Forty years later, she's heeding its call again."

Beyond Games

[Watch | Multiple] The best video essays of 2022 - The BFI has catalogued over 180 video essays that they recommend from last year, including GMTK's Platformer Toolkit... three times over!

[Watch | 32 mins] What Makes A24 Movie Trailers So Good? - Derek Lieu breaks down the editing of the best indie movie trailers around.

[Watch | 7 mins] The Last Of Us: The Scariest Scene Isn't The One You Think - "The excellent prologue scene in the pilot episode is what grounds all the horror in reality, making everything that much scarier."

[Watch | CC | 11 mins] Why we all need subtitles now - "It's not you — the dialogue in TV and movies has gotten harder to hear."