Reading List (June 2020, Part 1)

Hello! Hope you're all doing okay. As ever, here's your first half of this month's Reading List That should keep you busy for a bit! Enjoy…

Black Lives Matter

[Read] 7 games by Black developers you can support right now - Play games, support underrepresented voices. Win win. 

[Watch | CC | 15 mins] The often forgotten video gaming icon Jerry Lawson - An interesting video about a hugely important person in the history of games.

[Read] Video Games Have To Reckon With How They Depict The Police - In light of the recent protests, Kotaku looks at the role video games have to play in media depictions of the police. 

Designer Notes

[Read] Boldly… Gone – How FTL & Pulsar tackle space rogue-likes in parallel - Developer Emily Rose looks at two space-fairing roguelikes and discusses the differences in their design.

[Read | Long Read] The Last of Us Part II: how Naughty Dog made a classic amidst catastrophe - I haven't read this huge, two-year interview opus with Neil Druckmann as I'm on a Last of Us blackout - but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

[Watch | CC | 23 mins] Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins - Noclip chats to Tarn Adams about the bonkers ASCII simulation Dwarf Fortress, including chat about "the game's origins, how it works, and their plans for Steam".

[Watch | CC | 12 mins] Why Do We Love Skateboarding Games So Much? - Skate 4! Tony Hawks remake! Why do we want to keep revisiting games about wooden planks on tiny wheels?

Critical Hit

[Watch | CC | 18 mins] How To Pace a Game - HeavyEyed explores the length and replaybility of God of War and Resident Evil 3. 

[Watch | 36 mins] Defining Roguelike - If you're not yet sick of videos about "what is a roguelike?", check out this one from Chariot Rider. 

Culture Club

[Read] The Katamari games helped me roll with my clinical anxiety - And ode to the restorative power of a good video game. Spelunky serves a similar purposes for me, when I'm feeling overwhelmed. 

[Read] Inside Nintendo’s weird attempts at making movies and TV shows - From The Super Mario Bros. Super Show to Detective Pikachu, Polygon looks at Nintendo's multimedia efforts.

[Read] Hackers say classic Pokémon games spawn fewer monsters on tragic anniversaries - Apparently Pokemon spawn rates are different on special occasions. More 'mons on St. Patrick's Day, fewer on 9/11. Huh. 

[Read] The Last of Us Part II isn’t just Naughty Dog’s most ambitious game — it’s the most accessible, too - The Verge looks into the many accessibility options of The Last of Us 2. Looking forward to exploring this for my end-of-year wrap-up. 

Code Monkeys

[Watch | CC | 18 mins] How Splinter Cell: Blacklist Builds Balance for Stealth - If you dug my stealth game series, you'll probably like this video on the technical aspects of stealth AI.

History Corner

[Read] The mysterious origins of an uncrackable video game - The BBC looks at a project to uncover the coding secrets of old Atari games: including a maze-making algorithm that has stumped academics. 

[Watch | CC | 1 hour, 44 mins] FIGHT ON: The Killer Instinct Story - A monster documentary about a cult classic fighting game. Check out the channel for more fighting game community stuff, if that floats your boat.

Art and Audio

[Watch | 10 mins] The Sound Design Secrets Of Rocket League - Waveform chats to the devs behind Rocket League to see how they make satisfying sound effects for their rocket-powered football cars.

[Watch | CC | 6 mins] The Secret to Streets of Rage 4's Awesomeness - I'm glad Dan Root took a look at this luxuriously animated beat 'em up. The video focuses on one clever trick that makes the characters feel like part of the world.

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | CC | 8 mins] Ben Schwartz talks about Space Force and milk situations - Not your usual celeb junket interview. A brilliant sequel to Polygon's Sonic interview with Ben. 

[Watch | CC | 38 mins] Protest Music of the Bush Era - Lindsay Ellis explores the resistance music of the Iraq war… or, what little of it there is.