Next Video
So in my last newsletter I’ve mentioned working on the next video on the topic of Ocarina of Time and its reputation in the gaming community. This particular video is kinda on a backburner now. I wasn’t too happy with the result and couldn’t get it quite right. Focusing just on Zelda felt like I was bashing it, which wasn’t what I wanted to do, and as I tried to fix it the video started transforming into a much broader topic regarding the iterative nature of games and time span of their relevancy. Which I think is an important topic, but also one that I need to give more thought to, so for now it’s in the backlog. I’m thinking to work on a video on the topic of characterization through mechanics, however I don’t know if I’ll manage to release any videos until the last full week of May, because…

DevGamm
I’m travelling to Russia next week to be a speaker at DevGamm, have a talk on the topic of Cohesive Game Experience. The trip will take the most of my week, and while I am excited for it, preparing and actually travelling will take time away from the work on the videos.

Bioshock Twist
I finally got to the twist in Bioshock, and I’m very disappointed. Like, to the point that some time after it I didn’t even want to finish the game anymore. You don’t do a twist meant to comment on the futility of player agency, and frame it all in a cutscene. Without even button prompts. The moment where we need to pick up a wrench is a better commentary on the topic than what the cutscene tries to be.

Tales from the Borderlands
Tales from the Borderlands, on the other hand, I did finish, and it’s absolutely amazing. I was actually really surprised how much I cared about the characters by the end, because Borderlands as a world and characters wasn’t something I was particularly interested in before. Makes me want to play the FPS game, because I’ve played only the first one, a long time ago, and not for too long.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
I’m also continuing my adventures in trying out classics that I, for one reason or another, did not play previously. This time it’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and I gotta say I’m having quite a bit of fun with this. The game actually teaches the player its mechanics in an interesting way, and either I’m gonna dedicate a little video to it, or have it mentioned in some other video on a more general topic, we’ll see.

So this is all I have to say this week. Thanks for your time! Feel free to leave any comments below. If you’d like to keep an eye on my future blog posts, feel free to follow me on Twitter @farlander1991 🙂

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