Weekly Links #103
Oh well. That's what happens when you have a ton of hobbies. After
several weeks of game development, I went back to writing fiction for
now. But that doesn't mean news are passing me by. This week's most
powerful story is about the struggles of a Muslim game developer,
ranging from the representation of Middle Eastern people mostly as
enemies to be shot, to the simple fact that traveling to conferences
can be difficult these days if your name is Muhammad. See my longer
comment on Tumblr. Much food for thought, in any event.
On a more cheerful note, I have a couple of very sentimental articles.
First is an homage to Tetris, with interesting remarks about
the author's unique genius. Then this write-up about what happens
when MMOs close down. In short: people become invested
in the virtual worlds they frequent. People begin to care. Because
that's what people do. There are memories you're leaving behind. And
friends. Who are as real as the game was virtual. But somehow we're
supposed to just move on because "this is capitalism"? There has to
be a better way.
Last but not least, in actual game development news, it appears there
are people out there porting indie games to arcade cabinets [via Tales of the Rampant Coyote],
and it's a fascinating trip to take. The best postmortem I've read in
a long time, really. Especially as many of my own games want to be
arcades at their core, but I never quite went the whole way with them.
Someday, perhaps.
For now, have a nice week.