Joshua Shin

Mr. Drechsler
September 29th, 2016
Period 3
Annotated Source list
Apstein, Stephanie. "E-sports Nation: How Competitive Gaming Became a Flourishing
Sport." SI.com. Sports Illustrated, 29 Oct. 2015. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

This article talks about the e-sports community, especially focusing on the game League

of Legends. It mainly gives statistics of what e-sports is, how much revenue it brings in, and

viewership numbers. It gives insights on the fan experiences and what it is like to be in the crowd

versus what it is like to be playing on the main stage. It also talks about how e-sports differ from

sports in not many ways, partly because everything is similar except the sport being played.
I researched this article because I was curious about the e-sports community, and how a

game could become so popular with so many people. I wanted to know some secrets of making

an e-sport, but the problem with that was there are very few games played at an e-sport level, and

games like that have to be specifically made to cater to the e-sport audience.

Chalk, Andy. "Unity, Unreal, Crytek Engine Videos Face off at GDC." Pcgamer. PC Gamer, 04
Mar. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
This article was about the differences between Unity, CryEngine, and Unreal engine,

which are the three main game engines of today. It focused on eachs strengths and weaknesses,

as well as their competitive pricing and other attributes. It said that Unity and Unreal were

relatively similar, but CryEngine was graphically intensive. It also said that Unreal had a

technological edge over Unity, but it noted that Unity would be getting updates.
I personally found this article intriguing because I wanted some new insights on

CryEngine out of my own curiosity, and because the article came with a video, I got to see what

CryEngine was from a graphical standpoint. Visually speaking, CryEngine far surpassed Unity

and Unreal, but in my game I was not going to use CryEngine, so it helped me narrow my choice
down to Unity and Unreal. From there, I picked the engine that was more focused on my needs

and financial plans, which was Unity.

Fahey, Mike. "The Mechanics Behind Satisfying 2D Jumping." Kotaku. Kotaku, 29 Feb. 2016.
Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
This article is about 2D jumping in a 2D platformer. It talks about notable examples of

jumping, such as in Super mario Bros. The video games also talk about the responsiveness in 3D

vs 2D jumping, and not only that, but it also tests fairness. The jumping in games also is very

important because is symbolizes being able to reach new heights.

I personally found this article good because it talked about a staple of the game industry,

but it also talked about the way to do it. I knew most of the objectives of what the article was

about, but it was still good to have a refresher. I also liked the video that accompanied the article.

Game Dev Tycoon. Greenhart Games. 2012. Video Game.

Game Dev Tycoon is a game created by Greenhart Games that simulates game making. It

has you start out in your garage making cheap games to a huge studio with many people at your

disposal. The game gives you options to distribute costs and other resources to different aspects

of the games that you are making to make really good games. It has realistic aspects in the fact

that you and your workers can get tired from overtime, and there are also realistic money figures.
I played this game recently to get an idea for the game developing market because I

wanted to know some basic parts of gaming development. I feel like the game accurately

captured the concept because it accurately simulated different parts of development, such as

engine creation and micro-managing money, as well as attending conventions. Given that, I felt

like the game was forced to portray development as only concerning the good parts of

development, as there are also many negatives, such as time-crunching.

Giappone, Krista Bonello Rutter. "Game Studies." Self-Reflexivity and Humor in Adventure
Games. The International Journal of Computer Game Research, July 2015. Web. 14 Oct.
2016.
 This article focused on the adventure games genre, and how they evoked emotions from

their players. Most of the time, the article talked about the convoluted-ness of adventure games,

because many times adventure games are filled with puzzles that lead to detours and more

detours. The article says that adventure games are almost like puzzle games, in the fact that you

have to find items and figure out how they work and where to use them to progress. The article

also drew connections between nostalgia and parody, and how they can be equally important in

gaming. This is because gamers like to see references of other games while playing games to be

able to revive and relive moments they did in other games.

I personally found this article interesting, but a difficult read at that. It showed me that

many different themes can be found in many different video games, that that allowed me to open

up my mind to different themes that I would incorporate into my video game. What I also

realized while reading is that sometimes, not all games need to have in-depth lore because

sometimes in moments of games, it should be played for enjoyment of the mechanics, and not

the complex themes and psychology behind it.

Hamilton, Kirk. "Five Things I Didn't Get About Making Video Games (Until I Did It)." Kotaku.
Kotaku, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
This article primarily focused on what games are like during their development phases. It

takes 5 key notes on what games are like, including cosmetics and details. The article takes

common myths about game development and turns them around by debunking them. The article

also talks about how the dev team know more than they let on, partly because they also listen to

the things that everyone says.

I took this article to heart because it gave me much insight on the world of game

development, and it also showed me the truth behind game development. Because this was an

anecdote of someone already in the industry, it showed me that the developers arent perfect, in

fact, far from. What I did get out of this article was the reason behind why they werent perfect,
and I thought that the reason was more important than anything else because that would allow

the reason to be targeted and removed.

Hernandez, Patricia. "10 Big Myths About Video Games, Debunked By The People Who Make
Them." Kotaku. Kotaku, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
This article focused on the myths around game developers, as the information received

was from game developers themselves. This article gave 10 myths, and the truths behind the

myths, such as DLC is Evil, and other thoughts that have crossed players minds. It also

focused on development as a whole and how hard it is. It shut down some common ideas that

came across many players minds when playing games, because that would allow them to

emphasize on the difficulty of game development.

This article was overwhelmingly helpful because it gave me great insights on how game

developers actually work, and it gave me ideas on how to work as well. While reading, I realized

that game developers put in much time and work in order to make a good game, so then I found

out that I would have to put in a lot of time and effort to make the game Im making end up

correctly. It also showed me that game developers werent rich, which shows me that I cant

expect too much money coming in.

Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.
This book is about Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple. The book is a biography of

his life, and how Apple came to be. Some points focused on in the book are that Jobs knew what

and how to do things at the time, and how he nearly single-handedly carried Apple out of its

slump. It also talked about the mentality of Steven Jobs and how he mistreated his workers yet he

still somehow innovated and created.

Despite all the negativity that this Isaacson gives toward Steve Jobs in this book, I still

have to admire him for his work. Steve Jobs carried a company from bankruptcy in his career

through leadership: brutal yet strong, and I have to respect that fact. Steve Jobs was also said to

have an artistic eye, which was very important at the time because an artistic sense was very
important when creating the modern products we know today as the iPhone and iPod. Given that,

I believe that Jobs leadership can be looked up to because of his immense success.

Jagneaux, David. "Top 10 Best Indie Game Development Programs for Beginners." The
Koalition Comments. The Koalition, 24 Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
This site gave some tools to use, such as the game making software that many indie

developers use. There was a list and description of the engines provided, and how they were used

in real games made by real people. It also provides the list of platforms that the software works

on, such as Windows or Mac. It also ranks the software from least known to highest known to

show a sense of importance. Furthermore, they included learning curves to help show which

software is the easiest to learn, therefore being the quickest to make games in.
I found this article to be helpful because it gave me insight in which software to use. I

ended up purchasing Game Maker VX at a very low price, and that allowed me to get some

experience in making simple games. I think that this article was well done, especially because of

the in-depth details of why the software is good. There were many examples of games that I

could look up and examine for positive reviews, and I appreciated that.

Laffan, Derek. "Identifying Core Psychological Themes in the Legend of Zelda Video Game
Series: A Focus on Music Learning, Personality Change and Jungian
Archetypes." Computers In Entertainment. Computers In Entertainment, 2016. Web. 30
Sept. 2016.
This source goes in-depth about psychological themes in games, especially focusing on

the Legend of Zelda Series. The source argues that the RPG (Role-Playing-Game) genre not only

are fun and entertaining, but also have deep morals and tropes underneath them. This included

music learning, personality change, and Jungian Archetypes. It went in-depth about all three

examples, providing analogies to other games in the Legend of Zelda series as well as outside the

series, proving that many of the tropes were indeed present inside of the games. This source also

analyzed the personality changes present in the game: Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask. It
showed that the individual masks represented a conscious of the main character, and that in turn

could cause both controversy and benefits to the game as a whole.

This article was decently helpful to me, but it did not have enough application to game-

making as a whole, which detracted from its value. It was decently written, and had many

sources, but I would rather have liked it if was not as structured, because it made it feel like the

article was limited to the only tropes mentioned as part of the thesis. However, I did find that the

article linked me to the music games using real controllers, and how that could actually be

applied to the game Im making as a whole.

Lovato, Nathan. "21 Free Learning Resources for Game Developers." GameAnalytics. N.p., 20
Aug. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
This source was about good resources for game developers. It had 21 different resources

that could be accessed to help developers work on new ideas and learning, especially concerning

games, such as story and art. It also had links to all the resources that it was focusing on. It

provided brief summaries of what each resource did, and why it was important or significant in

development.

I found this article helpful, and I also favorited the page because as an indie developer, I

need to have all the help I can get. Indie developers often times have to be very talented to spread

across many different fields of work, such as artwork, storytelling, programming, marketing,

networking, etc. and there has to be a way to be able to learn. Because of the tools in this article,

I was able to learn new skills.

Marsh, David. "Nine Paths to Indie Game Greatness." Gamasutra. Gamasutra, 2016. Web. 28
Oct. 2016.
This source provided some advice to the reader about indie game greatness, and what

made an indie game great. It gave real-life examples of popular games, and how they were

successful in their own ways. The article suggested to be innovative instead of being mainstream

because it would generate more profit and success. The article also talked about funding and

where to get it from.

 I found this article helpful, but it was somewhat unusual because all of the articles up

until this point mainly focused on being mainstream to succeed. This article was exactly the

opposite, because it said to be innovative and use unusual ways of funding and raising money. I

agreed with some of the statements and arguments made in this article, but there were also some

I disagreed with, such as funding, because currently I do not need funding for my game.

Mood, Jillian. "IGDA Interview Series: Ben Kane - 14 October 2015." Igda. International Game
Developers Association, 17 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
This article is an interview from the International Game Developers Association to a

person who was another startup indie game developer. Ben Kane, previously of Electronic Arts

(EA), gives insight on his game industry opinions and startup indie games. The source states that

VR is becoming a bigger player in the game industry as more and more companies are

attempting and making games in VR. However, it also says that VR is still in its early stages, and

because of that, VR needs more real games and less demos. Furthermore, the source talks about

making games with no current markets for those types of games, such as bomb defusing games.

Kane talks about staying flexible being the key to many successes, and the fact that initial ideas

may not be the key to success.

This article extremely helpful to me, because it showed me that one should stay flexible

and not charge in one direction without any feedback from the community. I myself now

reviewed my game design and changed some ideas I had for my game, and I changed them

around in order to fit slightly better to the current industrys standards. This article also talked

about VR, which I am interested in, and I would like to explore deeper into, not in high school,

but maybe later in college.

Mood, By Jillian. "International Game Developers Association (IGDA)."International Game

Developers Association (IGDA). IGDA, 02 Dec. 2015. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
This article is an interview from the International Game Developers Association to a

person in the game development industry about her career and starting up a game studio. The
article covers some of the differences between a major AAA studio and a grassroots indie studio.

Tyrer, the interviewed, focuses on how large studios have talent and specialization, as well as

name brand. The interview focuses that big game studios like Ubisoft have very tight schedules,

and they have to constantly learn new things very quickly. It also brings up a major point that

large studios are very formal as well as systematic, whereas minor studios can be chaotic instead

of promoting creative freedom. The article also talks about how startup companies should not

have consumer debt, and budgets on startup games should be low, because income might not

come until the game is released.

This article was very helpful to me, because it showed me insight on the aspects of the

startup indie game. I found out that many indie games will take a decent amount of time to

create, and that they could potentially be chaotic instead of creative. It also gave me advice on

the financial world, so if I chose to follow up with my plan to continue game-making, I would

have a decent starting point. Furthermore, the source said that IGDA can help get people jobs in

the game development industry, and that could be potentially helpful because I want to get a

future job in the game development industry.

Muncy, Jake. "Undertale's Not as Peaceful as It Pretends." Kill Screen. Kill Screen, 17 Nov.
2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.
This article talks about the game Undertale, made by Toby Fox. It focuses on some of the

tropes in the game, as well as a character and theme analysis. It talks about the fonts used in the

games, and it also talks about morals in video games, and how they can be implemented. It notes

that implementing themes in games is difficult because the player has to infer the themes while

the make has to implement them.

I played the game Undertale, and I liked it a lot. Although it seems when I look at the

game from an analytical standpoint, it loses some of its charm because it cannot be appreciated

for what it is, instead of tearing it apart to analyze each little bit of it. Because I think that games

should be appreciated for what they are, I wasnt too engrossed in this article. But because it did
point out a few useful things about the themes and simple combat, I decided to take the

information into consideration for my own game.

OConnor, Randy. "How Long to Spend." Gamasutra Article. Gamasutra, 12 Oct. 2016. Web. 14
Oct. 2016.
This article is about a game developer who went and made an android game in under a

week. The developer said that they wanted to try to make a simple game with a simple mechanic.

For the most part, the article also talks about the price working on the mobile medium. It also

talks about how ads are ugly in games, no matter where they are, even though it is almost

required for a mobile game to have ads.

I personally wanted to see more content from this individual article, but the reason why I

didn't find it was because it wasn't made by a developer under a huge time crunch. I thought that

a video game under a week was nearly impossible until I read this article, and it also taught me

that games don't have to be super complex to be games. It gave me an idea of simplicity that I

could apply to my game later on.

Olano, Marc. "The Game Industry and Other Assorted Topics." Online interview. 11 Oct. 2016.
This source was an interview that I did with Dr. Olano, a UMBC associate professor and

long-time game developer, over skype. We mostly talked about some questions that I had about

the game industry and indie development, as well as some criticisms I had about the game

industry. He clarified some of the motives behind the game studios that he had previously

worked at as well. The structure of the interview was me asking questions while he answered

them, and then we both discuss the topic or added comments.

I found this interview to be overwhelmingly helpful, because I had many questions that

only a veteran in the field could have answered. He gave me many insights on executing my plan

to create a 2D MMO, when to release it, which engine to make it in, and the time required to

create a game. He also pointed out some flaws I had in my original plan, and fixed up points that
I was unsure of. I also appreciated his insights on the technology of VR; he stated that VR still

had a huge potential to grow, and it should be monitored closely.

Olano, Marc. "Re: Questions on VR. Message to Joshua Shin. 17 Oct. 2016. E-mail.
This source was about game development and hardware from Dr. Olano, as I had

questions about VR and how it would affect the game industry. He clarified the fact that VR is

currently really expensive to develop, considering the fact that it is still new and the market share

isnt that big yet. Not only that, but he also gave me some insights on development costs-to-

profits of big-figure companies. He also told me about Unity and how it would apply to different

games that I would be making in the future.

This gave me insights on how I would execute my plan, similar to the interview that I had

previously. I personally decided on my monetization and my server costs, and that would allow

me to calculate costs better. I also appreciated how he described the costs very accurately

compared to his real-life experiences, and that helped me immensely because I learned what

would be required to get everything right.

Schreier, Jason. "Game Industry Veteran Writes Horrifying Article In Defense Of Poor Working
Conditions [UPDATE]." Kotaku. Kotaku, 18 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
This article talks about the Video Game Industrys job conditions, as seen through St.

John, creator of WildTangent. Even though he describes the game making as an art, he states that

80+ hours a week is normal. This is because of the crunch that all developers come to know

and practice, as stated by St. John. The article states that this could cause developers to unionize

and work against the companies.

I read this article out of entertainment purposes, but I drew from it the fact that I should

not overwork any team members or helpers to my project Im pursuing. Not only that, but

because I do not have any funds to pay my workers, the payout is all hypothetical when it comes

to profits. So this articles gave me insight that I should not stress the time for any of my fellow

workers, if I were to hire any.

Schreier, Jason. "Video Games And The Door Problem." Kotaku. Kotaku, 03 May 2016. Web. 13
Oct. 2016.
This entire article was about doors, and what they symbolize in games. It was mainly

based off of a blog post by Ubisoft designer Liz England, and it describes the Door Problem. It

focuses on doors, doors, and more doors. It gives questions like Can doors be locked and

unlocked? that ask how the doors interact with the player, and what specifications are important

for the doors to have. It also describes the roles that each member has in a company, such as the

directors and the artists, and what they have in making a door.
Much of this article was silly, but there was a deeper meaning behind it. It showed me

how one project had many different aspects to it, and that it was possible to have a very deep

meaning behind a single work, such as a door. I learned that it was possible to have many people

working on the same project but different parts of it, just like big game companies split off many

different parts of the door to the specialized people. Furthermore, I realized that doors are a very

important part of video games, because they symbolize progression by crossing the threshold.

Schreier, Jason. "The Horrible World Of Video Game Crunch." Kotaku. Kotaku, 26 Sept. 2016.
Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
This article was about the time crunch that video game developers go under, partly

because of deadlines and other requirements of the game. It focuses on Jessica Chavez, a

developer who has been working 14 hours a day, six days a week, for a total of around eighty-

hour work weeks, with little break. The article states that developers often lose health under the

crunch due to sheer stress and work that they have to undergo. Developers sink much of their

free time into video game development, and this article also focuses on the crunch that around

81% of game developers go through at some point or another. The article says this is because the

other options of the developer are slim, and therefore he or she has to crunch.
I found this article interesting because it told me that I would probably undergo a crunch

myself, considering the fact that I am a developer in the making. With added schoolwork and
outside extra-circulars, it seems as though a major time crunch is inevitable if not fate. But I still

found that the article helped me plan out my game development schedule, as I am still working

out the details of how fast I need to work in order to roll out a demo on time.

Schreier, Jason. "Why 'Day-One Patches' Are So Common." Kotaku. Kotaku, 08 Aug. 2016.
Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
The article talks about huge Day 1 patches, which are fixes to the game on the first day

of release, from big companies to change up the game. One example that they talk about is No

Mans Sky, and that is because the game was controversial upon release because of its un-

working state upon release. The article states that often times the developers make these fixes for

certification purposes, because the game does not meet the standards imposed onto it. The article

also talks about the outdated copies that are different at the time of certification rather than when

they are actually released on the market.

I found this article a bit vague, because they did not go into specific detail about who

certifies the game, or what is done to certify a game. However, I did find the article somewhat

intriguing because it gave insight on why so many games Ive played have had day 1 patches to

them, and that is because of their changing during the time of certification and the time or

release. It also led me to research certification further.

Taylor, Nicholas, Chris Kampe, and Kristina Bell. "Game Studies." Me and Lee: Identification
and the Play of Attraction in The Walking Dead. The International Journal of Computer
Game Research, July 2015. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
This article focused on the psychology behind the game: The Walking Dead. It delved in-

depth about how the people playing the game saw themselves as the avatar in the game, or at

least, a mirror of the avatar, because they were playing as them through a storyline. It also talked

about the significant moments of a game to a player, and why they were significant to the player.

The article showed how participants reacted to certain situations in the game, and some of the

mindset behind those reactions.

 This article was convoluted and long to read, but I got some of the meaning behind it. I

personally think that the article over-analyzed the tropes of the game as well as the human

psyche. I feel like the article tried too hard to sound scholarly by using jargon to boost the

authors credibility. Not only that, but the logic that the article talked about was highly

convoluted to read and analyze from a readers standpoint.

Scott, Christopher. "Tales of Zestiria & An Analysis of Adventure." Gameranx. Gameranx, 03

Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
This article focuses specifically on the game, Tales of Zestiria, with the genre of

adventure as a co-focus. It focuses on how some adventure games are an emotional investment,

and that the Tales series developers are good at it. The article states that much of the emotional

high and low comes from voice acting, which in turn personify the characters as actual human

beings. It also says that companies that are successful in making good characters often make

them feel like family, and give the player insight on their lives inside the game. Not only that, but

the article also talks about mythologies inside games, and how they are important to keep the

players hooked. The article says that much of story-driven games are based off of the lore and

mythology surrounding them.

I personally found this article fascinating because it shed light on a somewhat-convoluted

topic. It not only told me what my characters need to do, but also that I need to write out some

better lore for my game rather than leaving pages blank in my notebook under the story category.

The article also made connections between in-game myths and allusions to folklore and

mythology today, and how tropes can be found in games, such as Tales of Zestiria.
Wawro, Alex. "Boston Devs Team up to Sell Game Bundles for Child Cancer
Charity." Gamasutra Article. N.p., 27 Oct. 2016. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
This short article was about how a company said that they would be donating to charity

with the proceeds made from their game. They said that 60 percent would be donated to help
fight cancer, and those would mainly be for childrens cancer. Given that, there are a total of 12

games in the bundle, and it would be sold at a cheap price.

I got a new idea for my project, and that would be to donate a portion of my proceeds to

charity to help fight cancer or help the needy. Not once have I thought about using my games to

fight cancer or good causes, but this short article opened up a new mindset in me, which would

be to donate to charity. Perhaps I will implement that in my project later on.

Weststar, Johanna, Marie-Jose Legault, Chandell Gosse, and Wicki O'Meara. "Developer
Satisfaction Survey 2014 & 2015." Igda. International Game Developers Association, 12
Sept. 2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.
This source was mainly about the statistics of the game industry, which is similar to a

census of the game industry. It contained many graphs with statistics of the game industry, such

as income, satisfaction, and ethnicity. Many of the studies conducted asked about equal

treatment, and the general trend was that the industry was better treatment in 2015 than in 2014.

There was also some graphs and studies on the diversity of the population, gender and race-wise.
This article did not give much insight on the actual development of the game, but rather,

the statistics of the industry itself. It showed me some numbers on the industry that I might apply

later, such as the value of the jobs in the industry. Because I want to get a job in the industry, I

might review the article later on, but other than that, I didnt find it to be too helpful. It was very

well written and delivered the information directly.