Reading List (February 2017)

Hello boys and girls. It's that special time again, when I unleash a whole bunch of interesting articles, engaging video essays, and weird internet discoveries.

Hope you enjoy!

Resident Evil 7

How a dirty house turns Resident Evil 7's Jack Baker into a true monster - PC Gamer talks about the value of environmental storytelling, in amping up the player's fear for the Baker family. 

Resident Evil 7: Break the Mould - But as Ed Smith says, the game takes a turn for the worse when it chooses to over-explain its mysteries. 

VHS, Resident Evil, and the Found Footage Tradition - Olivia White discuses Resi 7's connection to the found footage horror genre. 

Resident Evil 7’s director explains how his team created the game’s best boss fight - The first boss fight in Resi 7 is surprising, hilarious, and terrifying. Capcom reveals all on its creation. 

Yakuza 0

[Video / CC] Why Yakuza 0 is a Masterclass in Managing Tone - Hamish Black reckons Yakuza's manic zig-zag between seriousness and humour is its best asset. 

[Video / Transcript] The Things That Make Tokyo Feel Alive In Yakuza 0 - Yakuza is incredible for virtual tourism, too. Heather Alexandra tells us more about its world and use of characters. 

Yakuza 0 is A Postcard from Another Time - This prequel is set in the 1980s. Heidi Kemps talks about Japan's economic boom at this time, and how this is reflected in the story and gameplay. 

Yakuza 3: Played, reviewed and fact-checked. With the Yakuza - I'm also reminded of this great piece, where BoingBoing got actual Japanese gangsters to comment on the veracity of the Yakuza series. 

Post-Mortem

Exit, Stage Left: Trying to Escape the Shadow of The Binding of Isaac - This is really good. Edmund McMillen wrestles with the fact that people are playing his game in a way he didn't intend - and what that means for him as a creator. 

[Video] Inside the Making of Dishonored 2's Best Level: A Crack in the Slab - GameSpot chats to Arkane about Dishonored's loopy time travel level. Fun fact: the idea was originally dreamt up for Bioshock 2!

Diablo 3 Post-mortem with Jay Wilson - Submission from a Patron here (sorry, can't remember who it was). Jay Wilson goes in deep on the development of Diablo 3. 

[Video] The Game Makers: Inside Story - Love storytelling in games? Then I have a treat for you: 10 videos, with interviews of all the major names in video game narrative. 

Blizzard's In-Depth Tour Of Overwatch's Oasis Map - Game Informer is joined by a couple Blizzard devs for a walkthrough of the game's newest map. I think it's the newest map, at least. 

Welcome to The Zero: the making of Kentucky Route Zero's open road - I didn't get on with this game, sadly. But if you did, here's a big making-of article to dig into. 

Design Space

[Video / CC] Playing the Scripted Set Piece - Turbo Button looks at the gameplay value of cinematic set pieces in games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider. 

20 years after Diablo, every game is Diablo - The AV Club reckons Diablo's "instant gratification of its effortlessly repeatable action" lives on in most games today (for better or worse).

[Video] Nioh - Commanding Attention - Turbo Button again, this time looking at a cool mechanic in Nioh that seems like a mix of active reload in Gears, and the regain system in Bloodborne. 

[Video / CC] Deconstructing Mario: How New Super Mario Bros. U handles Difficulty - If you liked my stuff on Mario's level design, check out this great video from Ceave Gaming. 

How Designers Engineer Luck Into Video Games - Your lucky Peggle hit was probably just PopCap tweaking the outcome in your favour. Simon Parkin looks at how developers can fiddle with luck in the player's favour - or in the developer's.

[Video] The Dead Space 3 the developers wanted to make - A classic tale of publisher meddling. Also, isn't it time for Dead Space 4? (Or a VR remake of that cool, on-rails Wii game?)

[Video] Lost in the Woods - A 30-year Analysis of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - A breezy catch-up video series, looking at the changes in the Zelda series leading up to this week's new game. Like Boss Keys, but more generalised (and way fewer graphs).

[Video] Hyper Light Drifter: The Best Game Ever - Cool Ghosts looks at the sharp design and subtle beauty of this rad Zelda-like game. 

Odds and Ends

A year in Stardew Valley: life, labour and love - A lovely piece on Stardew Valley, cutting back and forth between the game, and the author's own life. 

The case for a video game musical - I've been thinking about this recently, with games like Gitaroo Man and Parappa the Rapper that mixed rhythm action gameplay with a proper story. Anyway, George Osborn looks at the difficulties of making a musical video game. 

Wolfenstein 3D mod asks if it’s OK to shoot Nazis - Still not sure if it's okay to inflict violence on Nazis? Polygon unearths an interesting Wolfenstein mod...

[Video / No Commentary] Other Places: Hitman - The animated postcard series Other Places returns for one last gig: the insane detail of Hitman. 

The Cinematic Platformer Compendium - This NeoGAF thread presents an absorbing visual history of a fascinating sub genre, filled with games I love and games I've never even heard of. 

[Video] World Record Progression: Super Mario World - More speed-run goodness from Summoning Salt. He also did Super Metroid this month. You're subscribed to his channel, right?

[Video] Motion Sickness in VR - Super Bunnyhop explores VR queasiness. It's got something to do with ear juice, I guess? He also explains why Resi 7 was perfectly comfortable (for me at least) in VR. 

[Video] Overblood: PS1 Horror Gone Wrong | Back From the Dead - TheGamingBrit looks back at a schlocky PS1 game. With bonus Game Maker's Toolkit cameo! Peeeepooooo!

[Video / CC] Super low Half-Life 2 on an Intel Atom - Half Life 2 on its lowest possible settings is totally my asthetic. 

0/10. Is this even a video game?

[Video / CC] The Social Network — Sorkin, Structure, and Collaboration - You know I love this channel. I was waiting for this guy to dig into an Aaron Sorkin screenplay, and he delivered. Watch it while simultaneously walking briskly through the White House.

[Video] The Day The Simpsons Died - Everyone's got a Simpsons episode that personally signalled the death knell for the show. This video makes a compelling argument for one controversial episode.

[Video] How MLK Composed 'I Have A Dream' - Here's your obligatory Nerdwriter video of the month. An important breakdown of MLK's historic speech. 

[Video] How the BBC makes Planet Earth look like a Hollywood movie - Spoiler: gimbals. Lots of gimbals.