Hey!
I'm coming at you from the newborn trenches.
Things are getting easier and more manageable. My baby is sleeping for six hour stretches overnight, sometimes! I'm starting to see how I will eventually get back to work - and I'm excited to do it.
I've even written half a script for the next video, so that's fun.
But in the mean time - fill your eyes and ears with videos and articles about making games, from around the web.
Chat soon,
Mark
Design
Read - Revisiting the Madhouse - "The saddest concession of the horror game is that you can only truly play it once".
Watch (18 mins) - Inside Like a Dragon's Last-Minute Change to Turn-Based Combat - "Take a look at how Yakuza Like a Dragon continued the series after Kiryu, [and] reinvented the series into an all-time great JRPG".
Watch (30 mins) - The John Wick Game Problem... - Raycevick looks at all the existing John Wick games, plus home grown games inspired by the movies.
Read - Difficulty done differently: Cairn and Baby Steps deliver kinder, more generous masocore - "But in Cairn and Baby Steps, you need not memorise the five attack patterns of a fiendish boss to move forwards".
Read - The Soul of Soulslike - "How the Soulslike rose to prominence, evolved, and conquered the games industry, as told by those who make them".
Watch (23 mins) - The Mysterious Art of Secrets in Game Design - "This video examines how secrets are incorporated into games, their design function, but also how they intertwine with the culture of secrets outside of games to create meaning and depth".
Read - Notes on level design workflow for the 3D platformer Big Hops - "The conventional wisdom is to make the beginning of your game at the end of your dev cycle, to craft a stronger first impression".
Watch (43 mins) - 6 Years To Build BIG HOPS - Dev Dive Documentary - "In this Dev Dive documentary, Tucker Hazell and Chris Wade explore the design and development of the colorful 3D platformer Big Hops".
Watch (21 mins) - Crazy (but not too crazy) Game Weather - "Video games can have any weather they want. Any intensity, any type, any time. All it has to be is fun".
Watch (15 mins) - The Horrendous User Interface of Hearthstone - "J & Ludo delve into the mismatched and contradictory world of Hearthstone's user interface".
Development
Read - 15 Years of Indie Dev In 4 Bits of Advice - "They all sold great and reviewed great, and to the extent that we controlled that at all, I credit it to prioritising sustainability".
Watch (26 mins) - Gyms, Zoos, and Museums: Your documentation should be in-game - Game dev Robin-Yann Storm talks about three ways to keep your dev documentation inside the game itself.
Read - The biggest gaming series are going indie. It could it save the games industry - "Konami isn’t making Silent Hill: Townfall in-house and God of War Sons of Sparta isn’t solely a Santa Monica Studio production. Instead, much smaller indie teams are at the helm".
Watch (20 mins) - How to optimize (almost) anything - "Performance is one of the most important aspects of game development, but how do you actually approach it?".
Read - Stardew Valley Turns 10: The Big ConcernedApe Interview - "The majority of my adult life now has been basically dedicated to Stardew Valley".
Read - Why chasing twitter's approval doesn't work - "The opinions you believe are universal are being fed to you by an algorithm designed to show you things you agree with".
Culture
Read - We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) - "The solution to problems wouldn’t be on screen. They’d be in a real physical binder on the desk next to you".
Read - Four months and 40 hours later: my epic battle with 2025’s most difficult video game - "When Hollow Knight: Silksong came out last summer I was in so much pain that I didn’t know if I’d be able to play it".
Watch (18 mins) - Exploring Weird Source 2 Engine Maps - "From liminal spaces to virtual museums," Eurothug looks at Countr-Strike 2's weirdo side stuff.
Read - Game devs reveal what Pokémon means to them — and how it's shaped their work - "Pokémon’s influence on modern gaming is ubiquitous and undeniable. That’s because plenty of the folks who make the games you love today grew up playing Pokémon, too".
Critique
Read - I’m so over the video game soap opera - "It’s a damning moment for the ever-consistent Yakuza, and one that makes me wish more game series could go out on a high note".
Watch (26 mins) - Why Climb A (Video Game) Mountain? - "Cairn asks the question: why would you climb a mountain? Jusant, Peak, and Baby Steps answer it".
Watch (19 mins) - Zelda Is A Legend, Not A Timeline - "For all of my years playing Zelda games, there is one thing that has never mattered to me; yet, it has dominated online discussion of the series".
Watch (16 mins) - Unified Lara Can't Exist - Crystal Dynamics wants to make a Lara embodies the classic games and the two reboots. Can it be done?
History
Watch (33 mins) - The History Of The Word "Metroidvania" And How It Spread - "Who coined the word "Metroidvania"? Or was it independently coined by multiple people?".
Read - Mirror's Edge: An oral history - "17 years on from its release, DICE's first-person parkour thriller remains in a class of its own. We spoke to nine team members about how the game came to be".
Watch (19 mins) - How Pokémon Gold & Silver Were Made - "After six years of creating Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, the team was completely exhausted".
Watch (1 hour) - Remakes and Art: Can Games Be Replaced? - "A deep dive the complexities of remakes and the nature of art itself, maybe even life itself".
Beyond Games
Watch (9 mins) - Why MARTY SUPREME looks so good - "I break down the look of the movie, the long lens style, the tight close ups, the gritty atmosphere, and why the cinematography feels so raw and intense".Watch (1 hour, 32 mins) - You are being misled about renewable energy technology. - It's about more than just solar panels.
Watch (21 mins) - Why Some Movies Feel More Alive - "Extras play a crucial but often overlooked role in the art of filmmaking. This video examines some of the most unique, interesting, and artful uses of extras I've ever seen in film and TV".