We’re back again! Regarding this week’s header pic, the Japan Retro Game Association is refurbishing Super Famicom (Super Nintendo) consoles “to [provide to] 100 households with kids who have to stay at home due to the coronavirus.” How wholesome.

Otherwise, I hope everyone is still dealing OK (enough) with the super weird real-life situation still playing out. I’m still on sabbatical, working on my game discoverability newsletter & this one, and wrestling a small child who is definitely not at preschool. Wish me luck!

- Simon, curator

The Current: Recent Games In The Spotlight

• Cloudpunk (Steam, PC - pictured) is “a story-driven delivery game set in a stunning voxel metropolis”, and looks gorgeous. 📰

• Surprise stand-alone mini-sequel XCOM: Chimera Squad (PC) “achieves greatness by disassembling the turn-based formula.”

• The raytracing tech of Minecraft RTX (PC) is super-impressive - the engineers behind it explain how they did it.📽 (BONUS: a more detailed deep-dive.📽)

• Industries Of Titan is out on Early Access (PC, on Epic Store) & is “a sci-fi Sim City” with a surprising two-level playfield.📰

• Out next week, Fancade (iOS, Android) is a really endearing-looking ‘make your own game’ game - one to watch.📰

The Culture: Game Culture & Deep Dives

• Meet the storm chasers of Red Dead Redemption 2, streaking across the map in search of lightning strikes.📰

• Going deep on the design of Peggle-like dungeon crawler Roundguard (pictured).📰 [Interview by me!]

• Visiting the offices of Serious Sam creator Croteam, ‘Croatia’s game dev pioneers’.📽

• The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike's divisive and hugely popular custom map.📰

• Animal Crossing’s Nook Miles Tickets have become a weird trading currency. 📰

• Itch’s ‘games that help you stay inside’ free (but PWYW!) sale has ended up being a big hit with those stuck in the house. 📰

The Past: Game History

• The history of the bizarre Bungie ‘game’ (OK, in-joke) Pimps At Sea, pictured. 🎧

• Deconstructing 8-bit arcade fonts with type designer Toshi Omagari. 📽

• The making of spectacularly ahead-of-its-time sandbox game Stunt Island. 📰

• Auto Museum 64 is a virtual museum featuring cars, boats, and other vehicles from 20 racing games in the Nintendo 64 library.🎮

• Somebody unearthed an English cartridge of a Pokemon Sapphire bootleg - with ‘unconventional’ bootleg text - translated between the JP & EN release dates. 📰

The Other Goodness

• Why Fortnite might surreptitiously be the first step towards the Metaverse. 📰 (Related: the Travis Scott x Fortnite in-game concert - pictured - was/is just amazing📽. Go check it live before it disappears.)

• How animal sounds are made in games, “from kazoos to trashcans”. 📰

• Behind the concept of ‘juiciness’ in games with the creator of Holedown.🎧

• The strange ways that Fallout 76 players are reacting to COVID-19. 📰

• Blizzard’s virtual Take Your Child To Work Day 📰included Samwise Didier’s super-cute ‘How To Draw An Orc’ video.📽(BONUS: how Blizzard & other studios went remote during COVID-19.📰)

• Discussing the game Occupy White Walls, a modern-art themed sandbox construction space with “luxe minimalism”. 📰(Also see, in VR: the Museum of Other Realities.)

There’s so much out there - this is just a chunk! See you next week, folks…
Simon.