#but andromeda is so much untapped potential

[crqstalite]

also thinkin abt writing a post-mea fic where i get to write everyone at a nexus gala. i think itd be funny lol

[entrylevel-adult]

Remember that SQ in year 4 where MC uses polyjuice potion to turn into Snape?? Yeah, I had some thoughts.

[triple-sight-firebug]

Punisher Scorpius Arena Master Oh no! Are you hurt? Good. I laugh at your misery Past: Scorpius was always known for being a trouble maker. It started when he was a hatchling. He would steal and lie. He'd bully his siblings. He was always the biggest of them. Always the strongest. As he grew into a young adult his crimes went from stealing and bullying to fighting and threatening. He liked to attack others, simply because he could, and he was brutal about it. His fighting was slow and heavy handed, but damaging. Most dragons never fully recovered from fighting him. When Scorpius was done with them they left with out eyes, with bones broken so badly they'd never be mended properly, with head injuries that would leave dragons with brain damage forever. Fortunately Scorpius didn't know how to defend himself, only attack. Dragons were able to find open spots on him easily. That is until Scorpius learned how to use his untapped magical potential. He learned he could combine magic with combat. He let his claws and teeth do all the damage to his opponent, but he used his magic to defend himself. He used spells to deflect his opponent's attacks. Even other attacks done with magic. He was unbeatable, unstoppable. He started to kill. Murder after murder. Dragons were getting angry, and scared. He was a terror. Something needed to be done about him. That's when the Exalted were called. The Arcanist's Exalted barely showed themselves outside of the Observatory, but when they did, they meant business. Their combined magic was no match against Scorpius. They captured him and declared him guilty. A public execution was scheduled for him. The families of the loved ones he killed demanded to see his own blood be spilled for once. They had set him up under a guillotine. He did not fight. He did not complain. Instead he only smiled and accepted his fate. "Stop!" One voice called out. All eyes turned to a small fae carrying a large pearl that glowed slightly purple "I want that one." The Exalted stared at the fae in disbelief. Scorpius watched with curiosity. The fae went on to explain that she was Andromeda, queen of Nihil and the founder of the Pearl. The Exalted seemed shocked when they realized what pearl Andromeda held, but they still told her to leave. "This dragon is a murder, we can't let you save him, even if you did find the Pearl." "So is it not true that whomever found the terrible Cassiopeia's Pearl gets to request a favor from the Arcanist's Exalted?" "No, it's true. But Pearl or not we can't let you interfere with business such as this." Andromeda went on to argue that it was no good to let a dragon like Scorpius's potential be lost. If she saved him, she'd keep him on her island, where he wouldn't be able to escape. After much arguing and angry yells from the bloodthirsty crowd, finally the Exalted agreed and let Andromeda take Scorpius. After the angry crowd had left Andromeda had told Scorpius he did not have to join her clan, but if he did he would be in charge of the brutal and bloody arena battles. Scorpius didn't even hesitate when he said he's love to live in Nihil. Present: Just as promised, Scorpius is now in charge of Clan Nihil's arena games. He makes sure the games are as violent as possible and they involve a combination of magic and combat. It is during the games the monster Vulpecula is let out to play, it is where apprentices are tested, clan members are punished, and prisoners are killed. Really the games and how to play them are endless and Scorpius loves mixing it up. Sometimes he even joins in on the fun. The games are always an exciting time for the clan and it's a treat each time they're held. Personality: Scorpius is incredibly rude and violent. He loves taking advantage of other's and loves running his arena. He considers Vulpecula his 'pet' since he's in charge of the skinwalker. He feeds and cares for the creature and only he ever releases Vulpecula from their cell. They have an odd relationship. * {Extras} Mate: Preference: Gender: Theme Songs: Vulpecula(?) bisexual Trans male

[vileart]

In Pursuit of Dramaturgy: The Apex @ Edfringe 2018

What was the inspiration for this performance? It came from a few different places. One was my fascination with the Isles of Scilly and how geographically different they are to the rest of the British Isles, wanting to explore a mystical side to what happens there. Another was my love of all things fantasy, how I've always wanted to bring realms of the mystical into the real world, in particular with Andromeda the folklore of mermaids. How untapped they are in terms of their agenda and what their history is. Finally the big one for me was WWI. My research began at the beginning of 2017 when visiting the Imperial War Museum in London, meeting with chief historians in WWI studies and understanding the horrors that the soldiers went through, not just on the front line, but within themselves, as is the case with Edward. With 2018 being the 100 year anniversary of the armistice of WWI, this story feels somewhat current despite the era it's set within.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

I think it’s quite possibly one of the only potentially safe spaces left to have a public discussion of ideas! The idea of holding the mirror up to society is such a powerful image to me that I feel goes hand-in-hand with performance, whether it be a play, musical, dance piece etc. It’s created to make an audience not just question society but also themselves within society and their own role. I normally go to the theatre on my own, sad I know, and I always find that there’s nothing more interesting than when leaving a show and listening in on what people thought of the piece, even more so when two people think to completely different things.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I’ve always been a very ‘hands on’ approach kind of person, especially from a young age and definitely when I was in school. I simply can’t sit behind a desk or watch a demonstration, I have to be very much involved on a physical level.

When I was finishing my final years at secondary school I used to pop up to London on my own and go to watch theatre, in particular to the Royal Court, what I believe to be the home of the most exciting, engaging and thought provoking new writing and performance.

That building inspired me deeply and even does so today, in particular with writing plays, hopefully one day my name will appear on those red neon lights…

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I’m a meticulous planner. People who know me know that my day-to-day activities have to be structured and thought out, even if it’s a lazy day at home with nothing on the agenda, I’ll still make an effort to prepare the day!

The same goes with the making of a show. When it came to writing In Pursuit of Andromeda I had a story layout, scene/act map, character arc line and research notes galore, I could never write anything cold, there are some who can and I’m in awe of them, but for me it’s all about the preparation down to the very last detail.

As the Polish bar manager said to me at a cocktail bar I used to work at “Fail to prepare then prepare to fail.”

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

This is the first production that I have ever put on, as well as my first written piece! I’m sure lessons and regularity will become clearer once we have finished our time up in Edinburgh, but hopefully this has a life after so maybe anything I learnt that needs working on can be cleared up then…

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope that the audience experiences something new, exciting and breathtaking. In Pursuit of Andromeda is an enchanting little play, littered with beautiful music from our composer Harry Sever and stunning movement from our movement director Micaela Miranda, where after many years of the world tearing itself apart in the most horrific of circumstances, the real world and the fantasy world meet one another to try and put just a little piece of it back together again.

I’ve written the lyrics for all of the songs too so if I get to hear any of them from audience members around the streets or pubs then that’ll be a nice added bonus!

from the vileblog https://ift.tt/2LXIzga

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the design of Klei's Oxygen Not Included, a look at Nintendo's Arms, and much more.

Another early newsletter this week, since I'm off to Los Angeles for both PrE3 (Sony, Microsoft and Bethesda press events) and E3 itself. Always interesting to see what's going on with the massive games and platform holders at the show, even if the focus has drifted somewhat towards announcements and away from the LACC itself.  

And in a 'winner take all' world, at least some of the games announced or showcased at the event will be multi-million sellers. (Not to be sniffed at, when it's difficult to burst through the insane mass of games jockeying for attention nowadays.) Until next time, and I'll try to have something for you despite E3sanity...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art Of Creating A Game (Brandon Martynowicz / CGSociety) "My name is Brandon Martynowicz. I have been working in the game and film industry for the past 10 years, primarily as an Environment Artist. Recently I completed production as the Art Lead for the game: What Remains of Edith Finch... This article will be a high-level brain dump about how we, as a small art team, created the massive amount of content for What Remains of Edith Finch."

Building replayability into the intricate architecture of Tokyo 42 (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "In the opening minutes of Tokyo 42, you’re accused of murder and have to flee your cramped flat with a stampede of bullets hot on your tail. Before long, you find yourself hustling to survive in the cloud-piercing heights of its futuristic city."

Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Jolie Menzel / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel explains why a shared understanding of narrative gives a level designer a guide for everything from the pace of their level to an understanding for which assets should be placed where to tell a convincing story using physical space."

Game Freak Is More Than Just A Pokémon Developer (Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku) "Game Freak is best known for one thing: Pokémon. But while they created the iconic franchise, Game Freak isn’t afraid to let its developers get their sea legs making non-Pocket Monster games on non-Nintendo hardware. That’s why, in the past few years, Game Freak has released a number of totally original titles on platforms you might not expect."

The Art Of Everything (Laura Parker / California Sunday) "On a recent Wednesday afternoon, David OReilly stopped by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to set up an installation of his new video game, Everything. OReilly — who, as a child in Ireland, dropped the apostrophe from his name, partly because it’s more visually appealing — was dressed entirely in black and white."

We Are Not Alone - Developers Respond To The 1000 Game Makers Thread (Joel Couture / IndieGames) "After taking the time to speak to Steve Cook about the 1000 Game Makers Thread - a collection of gifs and links to unique, personal, and interesting games from around the world that Cook wanted to see supported, we sought out the developers who had been touched by his work."

Arms' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World (Kyle Hilliard / Game Informer) "Ahead of its release, we spoke with Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki and art director Masaaki Ishikawa about the game. We discussed a number of topics, like what it means to wake up with extendable arms one morning, why everyone is already obsessed with Twintelle before the game even is even out, and whether or not we can ever expect to see a cameo by Luffy of One Piece fame (we won't)."

The 50 Worst Games Of All Time (Miguel Lopez, John Davison, Simon Cox, Jody Macgregor / Glixel) "We've all played games that are bad. If you've been a gamer for more than a few years, you've no doubt been exposed to your fair share of genuinely awful experiences – but which of them can be counted as the worst of all time? [SIMON'S NOTE: in general, I'm against 'worst' lists, but this one has some pretty obscure AND interesting games in there.]"

Activision Blizzard Aims for the Big Leagues (Michael Lev-Ram / Fortune) "Activision Blizzard built a videogame empire around bestselling titles like Call of Duty and Warcraft. Now it wants to become the ESPN of competitive gaming. Will audiences play along?"

The Tyranny of Kawaii | Tokyo 42 (Toussaint Egon / Heterotopias) "Of this we can be certain: the first, last, and greatest protagonist of cyberpunk is no “console cowboy”, but the city itself. Tokyo 42 understands this intuitively, its isometric perspective situating the genre’s debt to the lineage of modern architecture at the forefront of the player’s perspective."

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live (Kyle Orland / Ars Technica) "For three years now, Ars’ Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gaming’s most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, we’re ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers what’s popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360."

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization (Game Developers Conference / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC classic game postmortem, Civilization creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley tell the story of how Shelley's background in board game design and Meier's history of sim game development blended together perfectly to create what is perhaps the biggest and longest-running strategy game franchise in the world."

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development (Jason Schreier / Kotaku) "In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the next entry in their epic sci-fi franchise. Their goal, they decided, was to make a game about exploration—one that would dig into the untapped potential of the first three games. Instead of visiting just a few planets, they said, what if you could explore hundreds?"

Sunder - Interview with Rakuen developer Laura Shigihara (Sunder / YouTube) "Sunder is joined by Laura Shigihara to talk about her new game, Rakuen, as well the development process of creating and releasing an indie game."

How Dangen Aims To Connect Indies With The Devs That Inspired Them (Cam Shea / IGN) "Formed by a group of ex-pats who have been embedded in the Japanese games industry for many years – working at places like Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Q-Games and Playism - Dangen is the latest small-scale publisher to emerge focused solely on indies."

Video Games Aren't Mindless - Or Heartless - Entertainment (Matthew Smith / Salon) "In 1991 before I was even born, my father purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for my older sister. That system spawned plenty of long play sessions of “Super Mario Brothers” and “Donkey Kong Country.” And while my sister regarded it more as a distraction than a marvel, I was entranced from the moment the 16-bit curtain rose."

We asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored (Rob Dwiar / Eurogamer) "Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances."

The Unusual Excellence Of Halo's Most Iconic Level (GB Burford / Kotaku) "Soon to see its third re-release, Halo: Combat Evolved remains not only one of the best shooters ever made, but also one of the best video games. That's a pretty big claim to make, but Halo's got the levels to back it up."

Hirokazu Yasuhara - How to make a game "fun" (Digital Dragons / YouTube) "There are so many fun games nowadays. And it is getting easier to make games by using various engines and tools. But it is hard to make them “fun” without game design, like as people can’t build high risen building without architecture. [SIMON'S NOTE: the codesigner of Altered Beast and Sonic in a rare design talk with my buddy Brandon Sheffield!)"

Layering challenges in Klei's survival sim Oxygen Not Included (Joel Couture / Gamasutra) "With Oxygen Not Included, Klei Entertainment, developers of harrowing, sometimes-hilarious survival game Don’t Starve, tasks players with surviving in an even more inhospitable environment: outer space. Oxygen, minerals, water, entertainment, and a place to just exist within provide all new-challenges to players."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the design of Klei's Oxygen Not Included, a look at Nintendo's Arms, and much more.

Another early newsletter this week, since I'm off to Los Angeles for both PrE3 (Sony, Microsoft and Bethesda press events) and E3 itself. Always interesting to see what's going on with the massive games and platform holders at the show, even if the focus has drifted somewhat towards announcements and away from the LACC itself.  

And in a 'winner take all' world, at least some of the games announced or showcased at the event will be multi-million sellers. (Not to be sniffed at, when it's difficult to burst through the insane mass of games jockeying for attention nowadays.) Until next time, and I'll try to have something for you despite E3sanity...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art Of Creating A Game (Brandon Martynowicz / CGSociety) "My name is Brandon Martynowicz. I have been working in the game and film industry for the past 10 years, primarily as an Environment Artist. Recently I completed production as the Art Lead for the game: What Remains of Edith Finch... This article will be a high-level brain dump about how we, as a small art team, created the massive amount of content for What Remains of Edith Finch."

Building replayability into the intricate architecture of Tokyo 42 (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "In the opening minutes of Tokyo 42, you’re accused of murder and have to flee your cramped flat with a stampede of bullets hot on your tail. Before long, you find yourself hustling to survive in the cloud-piercing heights of its futuristic city."

Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Jolie Menzel / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel explains why a shared understanding of narrative gives a level designer a guide for everything from the pace of their level to an understanding for which assets should be placed where to tell a convincing story using physical space."

Game Freak Is More Than Just A Pokémon Developer (Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku) "Game Freak is best known for one thing: Pokémon. But while they created the iconic franchise, Game Freak isn’t afraid to let its developers get their sea legs making non-Pocket Monster games on non-Nintendo hardware. That’s why, in the past few years, Game Freak has released a number of totally original titles on platforms you might not expect."

The Art Of Everything (Laura Parker / California Sunday) "On a recent Wednesday afternoon, David OReilly stopped by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to set up an installation of his new video game, Everything. OReilly — who, as a child in Ireland, dropped the apostrophe from his name, partly because it’s more visually appealing — was dressed entirely in black and white."

We Are Not Alone - Developers Respond To The 1000 Game Makers Thread (Joel Couture / IndieGames) "After taking the time to speak to Steve Cook about the 1000 Game Makers Thread - a collection of gifs and links to unique, personal, and interesting games from around the world that Cook wanted to see supported, we sought out the developers who had been touched by his work."

Arms' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World (Kyle Hilliard / Game Informer) "Ahead of its release, we spoke with Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki and art director Masaaki Ishikawa about the game. We discussed a number of topics, like what it means to wake up with extendable arms one morning, why everyone is already obsessed with Twintelle before the game even is even out, and whether or not we can ever expect to see a cameo by Luffy of One Piece fame (we won't)."

The 50 Worst Games Of All Time (Miguel Lopez, John Davison, Simon Cox, Jody Macgregor / Glixel) "We've all played games that are bad. If you've been a gamer for more than a few years, you've no doubt been exposed to your fair share of genuinely awful experiences – but which of them can be counted as the worst of all time? [SIMON'S NOTE: in general, I'm against 'worst' lists, but this one has some pretty obscure AND interesting games in there.]"

Activision Blizzard Aims for the Big Leagues (Michael Lev-Ram / Fortune) "Activision Blizzard built a videogame empire around bestselling titles like Call of Duty and Warcraft. Now it wants to become the ESPN of competitive gaming. Will audiences play along?"

The Tyranny of Kawaii | Tokyo 42 (Toussaint Egon / Heterotopias) "Of this we can be certain: the first, last, and greatest protagonist of cyberpunk is no “console cowboy”, but the city itself. Tokyo 42 understands this intuitively, its isometric perspective situating the genre’s debt to the lineage of modern architecture at the forefront of the player’s perspective."

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live (Kyle Orland / Ars Technica) "For three years now, Ars’ Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gaming’s most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, we’re ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers what’s popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360."

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization (Game Developers Conference / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC classic game postmortem, Civilization creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley tell the story of how Shelley's background in board game design and Meier's history of sim game development blended together perfectly to create what is perhaps the biggest and longest-running strategy game franchise in the world."

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development (Jason Schreier / Kotaku) "In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the next entry in their epic sci-fi franchise. Their goal, they decided, was to make a game about exploration—one that would dig into the untapped potential of the first three games. Instead of visiting just a few planets, they said, what if you could explore hundreds?"

Sunder - Interview with Rakuen developer Laura Shigihara (Sunder / YouTube) "Sunder is joined by Laura Shigihara to talk about her new game, Rakuen, as well the development process of creating and releasing an indie game."

How Dangen Aims To Connect Indies With The Devs That Inspired Them (Cam Shea / IGN) "Formed by a group of ex-pats who have been embedded in the Japanese games industry for many years – working at places like Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Q-Games and Playism - Dangen is the latest small-scale publisher to emerge focused solely on indies."

Video Games Aren't Mindless - Or Heartless - Entertainment (Matthew Smith / Salon) "In 1991 before I was even born, my father purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for my older sister. That system spawned plenty of long play sessions of “Super Mario Brothers” and “Donkey Kong Country.” And while my sister regarded it more as a distraction than a marvel, I was entranced from the moment the 16-bit curtain rose."

We asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored (Rob Dwiar / Eurogamer) "Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances."

The Unusual Excellence Of Halo's Most Iconic Level (GB Burford / Kotaku) "Soon to see its third re-release, Halo: Combat Evolved remains not only one of the best shooters ever made, but also one of the best video games. That's a pretty big claim to make, but Halo's got the levels to back it up."

Hirokazu Yasuhara - How to make a game "fun" (Digital Dragons / YouTube) "There are so many fun games nowadays. And it is getting easier to make games by using various engines and tools. But it is hard to make them “fun” without game design, like as people can’t build high risen building without architecture. [SIMON'S NOTE: the codesigner of Altered Beast and Sonic in a rare design talk with my buddy Brandon Sheffield!)"

Layering challenges in Klei's survival sim Oxygen Not Included (Joel Couture / Gamasutra) "With Oxygen Not Included, Klei Entertainment, developers of harrowing, sometimes-hilarious survival game Don’t Starve, tasks players with surviving in an even more inhospitable environment: outer space. Oxygen, minerals, water, entertainment, and a place to just exist within provide all new-challenges to players."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the design of Klei's Oxygen Not Included, a look at Nintendo's Arms, and much more.

Another early newsletter this week, since I'm off to Los Angeles for both PrE3 (Sony, Microsoft and Bethesda press events) and E3 itself. Always interesting to see what's going on with the massive games and platform holders at the show, even if the focus has drifted somewhat towards announcements and away from the LACC itself.  

And in a 'winner take all' world, at least some of the games announced or showcased at the event will be multi-million sellers. (Not to be sniffed at, when it's difficult to burst through the insane mass of games jockeying for attention nowadays.) Until next time, and I'll try to have something for you despite E3sanity...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art Of Creating A Game (Brandon Martynowicz / CGSociety) "My name is Brandon Martynowicz. I have been working in the game and film industry for the past 10 years, primarily as an Environment Artist. Recently I completed production as the Art Lead for the game: What Remains of Edith Finch... This article will be a high-level brain dump about how we, as a small art team, created the massive amount of content for What Remains of Edith Finch."

Building replayability into the intricate architecture of Tokyo 42 (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "In the opening minutes of Tokyo 42, you’re accused of murder and have to flee your cramped flat with a stampede of bullets hot on your tail. Before long, you find yourself hustling to survive in the cloud-piercing heights of its futuristic city."

Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Jolie Menzel / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel explains why a shared understanding of narrative gives a level designer a guide for everything from the pace of their level to an understanding for which assets should be placed where to tell a convincing story using physical space."

Game Freak Is More Than Just A Pokémon Developer (Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku) "Game Freak is best known for one thing: Pokémon. But while they created the iconic franchise, Game Freak isn’t afraid to let its developers get their sea legs making non-Pocket Monster games on non-Nintendo hardware. That’s why, in the past few years, Game Freak has released a number of totally original titles on platforms you might not expect."

The Art Of Everything (Laura Parker / California Sunday) "On a recent Wednesday afternoon, David OReilly stopped by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to set up an installation of his new video game, Everything. OReilly — who, as a child in Ireland, dropped the apostrophe from his name, partly because it’s more visually appealing — was dressed entirely in black and white."

We Are Not Alone - Developers Respond To The 1000 Game Makers Thread (Joel Couture / IndieGames) "After taking the time to speak to Steve Cook about the 1000 Game Makers Thread - a collection of gifs and links to unique, personal, and interesting games from around the world that Cook wanted to see supported, we sought out the developers who had been touched by his work."

Arms' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World (Kyle Hilliard / Game Informer) "Ahead of its release, we spoke with Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki and art director Masaaki Ishikawa about the game. We discussed a number of topics, like what it means to wake up with extendable arms one morning, why everyone is already obsessed with Twintelle before the game even is even out, and whether or not we can ever expect to see a cameo by Luffy of One Piece fame (we won't)."

The 50 Worst Games Of All Time (Miguel Lopez, John Davison, Simon Cox, Jody Macgregor / Glixel) "We've all played games that are bad. If you've been a gamer for more than a few years, you've no doubt been exposed to your fair share of genuinely awful experiences – but which of them can be counted as the worst of all time? [SIMON'S NOTE: in general, I'm against 'worst' lists, but this one has some pretty obscure AND interesting games in there.]"

Activision Blizzard Aims for the Big Leagues (Michael Lev-Ram / Fortune) "Activision Blizzard built a videogame empire around bestselling titles like Call of Duty and Warcraft. Now it wants to become the ESPN of competitive gaming. Will audiences play along?"

The Tyranny of Kawaii | Tokyo 42 (Toussaint Egon / Heterotopias) "Of this we can be certain: the first, last, and greatest protagonist of cyberpunk is no “console cowboy”, but the city itself. Tokyo 42 understands this intuitively, its isometric perspective situating the genre’s debt to the lineage of modern architecture at the forefront of the player’s perspective."

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live (Kyle Orland / Ars Technica) "For three years now, Ars’ Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gaming’s most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, we’re ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers what’s popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360."

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization (Game Developers Conference / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC classic game postmortem, Civilization creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley tell the story of how Shelley's background in board game design and Meier's history of sim game development blended together perfectly to create what is perhaps the biggest and longest-running strategy game franchise in the world."

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development (Jason Schreier / Kotaku) "In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the next entry in their epic sci-fi franchise. Their goal, they decided, was to make a game about exploration—one that would dig into the untapped potential of the first three games. Instead of visiting just a few planets, they said, what if you could explore hundreds?"

Sunder - Interview with Rakuen developer Laura Shigihara (Sunder / YouTube) "Sunder is joined by Laura Shigihara to talk about her new game, Rakuen, as well the development process of creating and releasing an indie game."

How Dangen Aims To Connect Indies With The Devs That Inspired Them (Cam Shea / IGN) "Formed by a group of ex-pats who have been embedded in the Japanese games industry for many years – working at places like Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Q-Games and Playism - Dangen is the latest small-scale publisher to emerge focused solely on indies."

Video Games Aren't Mindless - Or Heartless - Entertainment (Matthew Smith / Salon) "In 1991 before I was even born, my father purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for my older sister. That system spawned plenty of long play sessions of “Super Mario Brothers” and “Donkey Kong Country.” And while my sister regarded it more as a distraction than a marvel, I was entranced from the moment the 16-bit curtain rose."

We asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored (Rob Dwiar / Eurogamer) "Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances."

The Unusual Excellence Of Halo's Most Iconic Level (GB Burford / Kotaku) "Soon to see its third re-release, Halo: Combat Evolved remains not only one of the best shooters ever made, but also one of the best video games. That's a pretty big claim to make, but Halo's got the levels to back it up."

Hirokazu Yasuhara - How to make a game "fun" (Digital Dragons / YouTube) "There are so many fun games nowadays. And it is getting easier to make games by using various engines and tools. But it is hard to make them “fun” without game design, like as people can’t build high risen building without architecture. [SIMON'S NOTE: the codesigner of Altered Beast and Sonic in a rare design talk with my buddy Brandon Sheffield!)"

Layering challenges in Klei's survival sim Oxygen Not Included (Joel Couture / Gamasutra) "With Oxygen Not Included, Klei Entertainment, developers of harrowing, sometimes-hilarious survival game Don’t Starve, tasks players with surviving in an even more inhospitable environment: outer space. Oxygen, minerals, water, entertainment, and a place to just exist within provide all new-challenges to players."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the design of Klei's Oxygen Not Included, a look at Nintendo's Arms, and much more.

Another early newsletter this week, since I'm off to Los Angeles for both PrE3 (Sony, Microsoft and Bethesda press events) and E3 itself. Always interesting to see what's going on with the massive games and platform holders at the show, even if the focus has drifted somewhat towards announcements and away from the LACC itself.  

And in a 'winner take all' world, at least some of the games announced or showcased at the event will be multi-million sellers. (Not to be sniffed at, when it's difficult to burst through the insane mass of games jockeying for attention nowadays.) Until next time, and I'll try to have something for you despite E3sanity...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art Of Creating A Game (Brandon Martynowicz / CGSociety) "My name is Brandon Martynowicz. I have been working in the game and film industry for the past 10 years, primarily as an Environment Artist. Recently I completed production as the Art Lead for the game: What Remains of Edith Finch... This article will be a high-level brain dump about how we, as a small art team, created the massive amount of content for What Remains of Edith Finch."

Building replayability into the intricate architecture of Tokyo 42 (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "In the opening minutes of Tokyo 42, you’re accused of murder and have to flee your cramped flat with a stampede of bullets hot on your tail. Before long, you find yourself hustling to survive in the cloud-piercing heights of its futuristic city."

Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Jolie Menzel / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel explains why a shared understanding of narrative gives a level designer a guide for everything from the pace of their level to an understanding for which assets should be placed where to tell a convincing story using physical space."

Game Freak Is More Than Just A Pokémon Developer (Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku) "Game Freak is best known for one thing: Pokémon. But while they created the iconic franchise, Game Freak isn’t afraid to let its developers get their sea legs making non-Pocket Monster games on non-Nintendo hardware. That’s why, in the past few years, Game Freak has released a number of totally original titles on platforms you might not expect."

The Art Of Everything (Laura Parker / California Sunday) "On a recent Wednesday afternoon, David OReilly stopped by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to set up an installation of his new video game, Everything. OReilly — who, as a child in Ireland, dropped the apostrophe from his name, partly because it’s more visually appealing — was dressed entirely in black and white."

We Are Not Alone - Developers Respond To The 1000 Game Makers Thread (Joel Couture / IndieGames) "After taking the time to speak to Steve Cook about the 1000 Game Makers Thread - a collection of gifs and links to unique, personal, and interesting games from around the world that Cook wanted to see supported, we sought out the developers who had been touched by his work."

Arms' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World (Kyle Hilliard / Game Informer) "Ahead of its release, we spoke with Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki and art director Masaaki Ishikawa about the game. We discussed a number of topics, like what it means to wake up with extendable arms one morning, why everyone is already obsessed with Twintelle before the game even is even out, and whether or not we can ever expect to see a cameo by Luffy of One Piece fame (we won't)."

The 50 Worst Games Of All Time (Miguel Lopez, John Davison, Simon Cox, Jody Macgregor / Glixel) "We've all played games that are bad. If you've been a gamer for more than a few years, you've no doubt been exposed to your fair share of genuinely awful experiences – but which of them can be counted as the worst of all time? [SIMON'S NOTE: in general, I'm against 'worst' lists, but this one has some pretty obscure AND interesting games in there.]"

Activision Blizzard Aims for the Big Leagues (Michael Lev-Ram / Fortune) "Activision Blizzard built a videogame empire around bestselling titles like Call of Duty and Warcraft. Now it wants to become the ESPN of competitive gaming. Will audiences play along?"

The Tyranny of Kawaii | Tokyo 42 (Toussaint Egon / Heterotopias) "Of this we can be certain: the first, last, and greatest protagonist of cyberpunk is no “console cowboy”, but the city itself. Tokyo 42 understands this intuitively, its isometric perspective situating the genre’s debt to the lineage of modern architecture at the forefront of the player’s perspective."

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live (Kyle Orland / Ars Technica) "For three years now, Ars’ Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gaming’s most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, we’re ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers what’s popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360."

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization (Game Developers Conference / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC classic game postmortem, Civilization creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley tell the story of how Shelley's background in board game design and Meier's history of sim game development blended together perfectly to create what is perhaps the biggest and longest-running strategy game franchise in the world."

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development (Jason Schreier / Kotaku) "In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the next entry in their epic sci-fi franchise. Their goal, they decided, was to make a game about exploration—one that would dig into the untapped potential of the first three games. Instead of visiting just a few planets, they said, what if you could explore hundreds?"

Sunder - Interview with Rakuen developer Laura Shigihara (Sunder / YouTube) "Sunder is joined by Laura Shigihara to talk about her new game, Rakuen, as well the development process of creating and releasing an indie game."

How Dangen Aims To Connect Indies With The Devs That Inspired Them (Cam Shea / IGN) "Formed by a group of ex-pats who have been embedded in the Japanese games industry for many years – working at places like Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Q-Games and Playism - Dangen is the latest small-scale publisher to emerge focused solely on indies."

Video Games Aren't Mindless - Or Heartless - Entertainment (Matthew Smith / Salon) "In 1991 before I was even born, my father purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for my older sister. That system spawned plenty of long play sessions of “Super Mario Brothers” and “Donkey Kong Country.” And while my sister regarded it more as a distraction than a marvel, I was entranced from the moment the 16-bit curtain rose."

We asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored (Rob Dwiar / Eurogamer) "Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances."

The Unusual Excellence Of Halo's Most Iconic Level (GB Burford / Kotaku) "Soon to see its third re-release, Halo: Combat Evolved remains not only one of the best shooters ever made, but also one of the best video games. That's a pretty big claim to make, but Halo's got the levels to back it up."

Hirokazu Yasuhara - How to make a game "fun" (Digital Dragons / YouTube) "There are so many fun games nowadays. And it is getting easier to make games by using various engines and tools. But it is hard to make them “fun” without game design, like as people can’t build high risen building without architecture. [SIMON'S NOTE: the codesigner of Altered Beast and Sonic in a rare design talk with my buddy Brandon Sheffield!)"

Layering challenges in Klei's survival sim Oxygen Not Included (Joel Couture / Gamasutra) "With Oxygen Not Included, Klei Entertainment, developers of harrowing, sometimes-hilarious survival game Don’t Starve, tasks players with surviving in an even more inhospitable environment: outer space. Oxygen, minerals, water, entertainment, and a place to just exist within provide all new-challenges to players."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the design of Klei's Oxygen Not Included, a look at Nintendo's Arms, and much more.

Another early newsletter this week, since I'm off to Los Angeles for both PrE3 (Sony, Microsoft and Bethesda press events) and E3 itself. Always interesting to see what's going on with the massive games and platform holders at the show, even if the focus has drifted somewhat towards announcements and away from the LACC itself.  

And in a 'winner take all' world, at least some of the games announced or showcased at the event will be multi-million sellers. (Not to be sniffed at, when it's difficult to burst through the insane mass of games jockeying for attention nowadays.) Until next time, and I'll try to have something for you despite E3sanity...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art Of Creating A Game (Brandon Martynowicz / CGSociety) "My name is Brandon Martynowicz. I have been working in the game and film industry for the past 10 years, primarily as an Environment Artist. Recently I completed production as the Art Lead for the game: What Remains of Edith Finch... This article will be a high-level brain dump about how we, as a small art team, created the massive amount of content for What Remains of Edith Finch."

Building replayability into the intricate architecture of Tokyo 42 (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "In the opening minutes of Tokyo 42, you’re accused of murder and have to flee your cramped flat with a stampede of bullets hot on your tail. Before long, you find yourself hustling to survive in the cloud-piercing heights of its futuristic city."

Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Jolie Menzel / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel explains why a shared understanding of narrative gives a level designer a guide for everything from the pace of their level to an understanding for which assets should be placed where to tell a convincing story using physical space."

Game Freak Is More Than Just A Pokémon Developer (Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku) "Game Freak is best known for one thing: Pokémon. But while they created the iconic franchise, Game Freak isn’t afraid to let its developers get their sea legs making non-Pocket Monster games on non-Nintendo hardware. That’s why, in the past few years, Game Freak has released a number of totally original titles on platforms you might not expect."

The Art Of Everything (Laura Parker / California Sunday) "On a recent Wednesday afternoon, David OReilly stopped by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to set up an installation of his new video game, Everything. OReilly — who, as a child in Ireland, dropped the apostrophe from his name, partly because it’s more visually appealing — was dressed entirely in black and white."

We Are Not Alone - Developers Respond To The 1000 Game Makers Thread (Joel Couture / IndieGames) "After taking the time to speak to Steve Cook about the 1000 Game Makers Thread - a collection of gifs and links to unique, personal, and interesting games from around the world that Cook wanted to see supported, we sought out the developers who had been touched by his work."

Arms' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World (Kyle Hilliard / Game Informer) "Ahead of its release, we spoke with Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki and art director Masaaki Ishikawa about the game. We discussed a number of topics, like what it means to wake up with extendable arms one morning, why everyone is already obsessed with Twintelle before the game even is even out, and whether or not we can ever expect to see a cameo by Luffy of One Piece fame (we won't)."

The 50 Worst Games Of All Time (Miguel Lopez, John Davison, Simon Cox, Jody Macgregor / Glixel) "We've all played games that are bad. If you've been a gamer for more than a few years, you've no doubt been exposed to your fair share of genuinely awful experiences – but which of them can be counted as the worst of all time? [SIMON'S NOTE: in general, I'm against 'worst' lists, but this one has some pretty obscure AND interesting games in there.]"

Activision Blizzard Aims for the Big Leagues (Michael Lev-Ram / Fortune) "Activision Blizzard built a videogame empire around bestselling titles like Call of Duty and Warcraft. Now it wants to become the ESPN of competitive gaming. Will audiences play along?"

The Tyranny of Kawaii | Tokyo 42 (Toussaint Egon / Heterotopias) "Of this we can be certain: the first, last, and greatest protagonist of cyberpunk is no “console cowboy”, but the city itself. Tokyo 42 understands this intuitively, its isometric perspective situating the genre’s debt to the lineage of modern architecture at the forefront of the player’s perspective."

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live (Kyle Orland / Ars Technica) "For three years now, Ars’ Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gaming’s most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, we’re ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers what’s popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360."

Classic Game Postmortem: Sid Meier's Civilization (Game Developers Conference / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC classic game postmortem, Civilization creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley tell the story of how Shelley's background in board game design and Meier's history of sim game development blended together perfectly to create what is perhaps the biggest and longest-running strategy game franchise in the world."

The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development (Jason Schreier / Kotaku) "In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the next entry in their epic sci-fi franchise. Their goal, they decided, was to make a game about exploration—one that would dig into the untapped potential of the first three games. Instead of visiting just a few planets, they said, what if you could explore hundreds?"

Sunder - Interview with Rakuen developer Laura Shigihara (Sunder / YouTube) "Sunder is joined by Laura Shigihara to talk about her new game, Rakuen, as well the development process of creating and releasing an indie game."

How Dangen Aims To Connect Indies With The Devs That Inspired Them (Cam Shea / IGN) "Formed by a group of ex-pats who have been embedded in the Japanese games industry for many years – working at places like Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Q-Games and Playism - Dangen is the latest small-scale publisher to emerge focused solely on indies."

Video Games Aren't Mindless - Or Heartless - Entertainment (Matthew Smith / Salon) "In 1991 before I was even born, my father purchased a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for my older sister. That system spawned plenty of long play sessions of “Super Mario Brothers” and “Donkey Kong Country.” And while my sister regarded it more as a distraction than a marvel, I was entranced from the moment the 16-bit curtain rose."

We asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored (Rob Dwiar / Eurogamer) "Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances."

The Unusual Excellence Of Halo's Most Iconic Level (GB Burford / Kotaku) "Soon to see its third re-release, Halo: Combat Evolved remains not only one of the best shooters ever made, but also one of the best video games. That's a pretty big claim to make, but Halo's got the levels to back it up."

Hirokazu Yasuhara - How to make a game "fun" (Digital Dragons / YouTube) "There are so many fun games nowadays. And it is getting easier to make games by using various engines and tools. But it is hard to make them “fun” without game design, like as people can’t build high risen building without architecture. [SIMON'S NOTE: the codesigner of Altered Beast and Sonic in a rare design talk with my buddy Brandon Sheffield!)"

Layering challenges in Klei's survival sim Oxygen Not Included (Joel Couture / Gamasutra) "With Oxygen Not Included, Klei Entertainment, developers of harrowing, sometimes-hilarious survival game Don’t Starve, tasks players with surviving in an even more inhospitable environment: outer space. Oxygen, minerals, water, entertainment, and a place to just exist within provide all new-challenges to players."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]