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Weekly Links #108

Hello, everyone. I won't be so talkative today, having already spent my energy on the previous rant. Let's start with Develop magazine explaining how practical models defined the original Doom. Which is pretty funny, considering how Hollywood went through a period of all CGI, all the time, around the turn of the millennium, only to rediscover the value of practical FX. But I had no idea game developers would also resort to props and such in the past. Maybe that would be a better way out of the uncanny valley than even more polygons?

Then there's Shamus Young with an overview of randomness in gamesanother issue I tackled myself in the past. In the same key, a thread on the rpg.net forums discusses what card-based mechanics can do that dice can't. Worth keeping in mind, especially as I gave serious thought to making games based on card mechanics but never got around to it.

Last but not least, it turns out someone is implementing a Civilization clone on a Commodore 64. Which is way cool, and proves once again (are you tired of hearing this already?) just how badly we've been underutilizing computer hardware for the past... oh, more than 30 years now. And as a post scriptum, here's a spoilerific retrospective of Planescape: Torment by Hardcore Gaming 101.

Have a nice week, and see you next time.