Weekly Links #252

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Hello, everyone! As gaming news worthy of attention are fashionably late this week, I took the time to write an article about alternate uses for gamedev tools. It concludes my year-long exploration of this particular topic, at least for now. Not that I'll stop working on my own tools, or finding cool new uses for them. The focus will simply be on other things. And hey, that's a good season finale, that foreshadows the next one like it's supposed to.

In the way of news, on Wednesday, PCGamer posts a fascinating insight into how the Infinity Engine was made. And on Thursday we have a couple of game development blog posts worth mentioning:

  • First, a look at the virtual city of Rubacava. For those who can't place it instantly, that's from Grim Fandango, one of the most famous graphical adventures ever made. Not much to say there, Konstantinos Dimopoulos knocks it out of the park as usual. I'll just add that cities are dear to my heart, most of my own fiction (less so my games) taking place in one, and even though I only know Rubacava from the game's novelization, it's still a special place.
  • Then, musings on designing the user interface of a sci-fi business simulator. Note how many examples they took inspiration from, some fictional, others very much real. If only designers of practical software did the same, because Prosperous Universe sounds like a game to watch closely.

Last but not least, Anatoly Shashkin points out that a history of Ocean Software from a few years ago was just released for free on the Internet Archive. Unfortunately all the download options are gigantic. Can't tell you much about files I can't actually open on my computer. But if you have a beefier machine, knowing how 8-bit pioneers did their great work is probably worth the trouble.

Enjoy, and see you next week.


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Tags: news, tools, rpg