Reading List (March 2020)

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing okay during this scary Coronavirus pandemic. 

I wanted to get the reading list out to you a bit earlier this month, as I’m sure many of you will be stuck inside, either self-isolating or social distancing. I know I am: I have a heart condition, which means it’s probably not a great idea for me to get the coronavirus, and so I’m staying indoors for the forseeables.

I also wanted to say: for many of you, your financial situation might be a bit unsure right now. Let it be known that I am fine, and so if you need to pause or stop your Patreon support (or even get a refund), I totally understand. Look after yourself and your family before me, please.

I’m still working away - I was making a video called “what makes a good stealth game” but it turns out trying to fit two decade’s worth of games and design decisions into one video was really hard, so I’m splitting it up into a short miniseries of stealth-flavoured videos. Episode one should be out next week. 

For now, though: 25 articles and videos to tide you over while the world falls apart outside your window. Stay safe, wash your hands, I love you all.

Top Pick

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] The Game That Inspired Minecraft, But Never Made a Penny - Chris Bratt tells the story of Infiniminer, and asks Zach Barth how it feels to miss out on billions.

Designer Notes

[Watch | CC | 7 mins] A Link Between Worlds Wall Merge - Mix and Jam mimics Link’s most bizarre mechanic, through the power of clever Unity coding.

[Read] Indie Game Dev: Death Loops - A couple psychological traps stop you from finishing your game, says Spelunky creator Derek Yu. Here’s how to break ‘em.

[Read] If you think this game is unfair, you can appeal directly to the creator - Zach Gage knows word games aren’t perfect. So SpellTower lets you complain direct to the source.

[Read] How to Make Games Funny: Three Designers Discuss Comedy Games - The makers of Astrologaster, Untitled Goose Game, and What the Golf spill the beans on making players giggle.

Critical Hit

[Read] 'Dreams' Is So Much Weirder and More Interesting Than Video Game Remakes - Most headlines about Dreams reference the weirdo, blobby Mario and Sonic lookalikes. This article delves a lot deeper.

[Watch | CC | 11 mins] Upgrade Systems Sure Are Weird, Huh? - Hamish Black talks about the ludonarrative oddities of levelling up, and points to some smarter ways to handle it.

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] Analysing the OTHER Missions in Hitman 2 - More Hamish, this time breaking down the DLC stealth sandboxes of The Bank and Haven Island. 

[Watch | 7 mins] .io Games and The Rise of Fake Multiplayer - This is fascinating! Turns out, a lot of those multiplayer .io games (similar to Agr.io and Slither.io) are excluesively filled with bots. Hm!

Culture Club

[Read] First-Person Mario Lets You Shoot Goombas In The Dang Face - GMTK Patron and all-round good dude Sean Noonan is getting good press for his awesome Mario shooter.

[Watch | 11 mins] The Secret Ability That Changed Gaming Forever - A sweet, well-crafted documentary about Street Fighter’s famous fireball.

[Watch | CC | 12 mins] My Kaizo Mario Journey - Snoman’s gone deep into the world of Kaizo: ultra-hard Mario rom hacks that make Mario World speedruns look like child’s play.

[Watch | 12 mins] Jet Set Radio, Splatoon and Identity - Two games about Tokyo graffiti culture - Eurothug investigates. 

[Watch | CC | 8 mins] "My Uncle Works at Nintendo": The True Stories - A few cute tales about times when people really did have an uncle who worked at a big gaming studio. The fallout is usually pretty funny (though, not for the uncle).

[Read] When up means down: why do so many video game players invert their controls? - Chief, I need you to look at these dots on the ceiling and the floor, for… reasons.

[Watch | 9 mins] Word on the Street: Episode 1 - Capcom has kicked off its own series of videos about how to play Street Fighter without just hitting the kick button over and over again.

History Corner

[Watch | CC | 32 mins] How Crash Bandicoot Hacked The Original Playstation - Another great War Stories ep from Ars Technica. Back to the PlayStation for this one.

[Watch | CC | 20 mins] Explosive Barrels - Ahoy tries to find out the answer to the world’s most important question: what was the first explosive barrel?

[Read] How Half-Life 2 influenced a generation to make Dishonored, Dying Light, and eventually, Half-Life: Alyx - Like Ico and Spelunky, Half-Life 2 was one of those games that really spoke to game designers. 

Business Lunch

[Read | Long Read] As Naughty Dog Crunches On The Last Of Us II, Developers Wonder How Much Longer This Approach Can Last - Important, uncomfortable reading. 

[Read] Eight Female Game Devs Reflect On Breaking Into the Industry, Overcoming "Negative Stereotypes" - Important, uncomfortable reading, Part II.

[Read] How a Metroid Fan Turned a Threatening Legal Letter into a Job Making Games - This dude might have made no money on his awesome Metroid 2 remake, but it did get him a role on Ori 2. So, swings and roundabouts.

[Read] Our indie game KUNAI got review bombed to a 1.7 - A painful read, about how the community can do real damage to your game’s launch. 

Art and Audio

[Watch | CC | 13 mins] The Women who Pioneered Video Game Music - Fun fact: most of your favourite 80s games were composed by women. I tweeted a thread about this way back, but Mathew’s got a great video on the subject.

[Watch | CC | 9 mins] Game Animation Fundamentals: Readability - Dan’s back with more animation knowledge. This time, making movements clear to the viewer.

[Watch | 40 mins] Understanding the Music of Sonic the Hedgehog - A huge trek through the history of Sonic music, from Michael Jackson to Bowling for Soup. 

Beyond Bytes

[Watch | CC | 5 mins] The Sentences Computers Can't Understand, But Humans Can - Finally, Tom Scott explains a problem that keeps Alexa and Siri up at night