Link Post, December 2013

X-Manatees... why?  Why not?

Hi there, everyone, I'm looking to fill some space between postings, so here's a series of unrelated links that I've accumulated over the months and years.  Mostly game related, though some are just nerdy.  Like for example, above you see the Manatee version of Phoenix of X-men fame.  This is one in a series of X-manatees by jharris.deviantart.com - original, to say the least, and well-designed.  

Another fun thing I saw once was a blurb entitled 'if Super Mario Bros were released today' - it's a series of design jokes, with special attention to tutorials, achievements and DLC.  Pretty funny, I think, and such a early, fundamental game like Mario is a great place to make points and jokes about game design.  

Speaking of fundamental games, I learned the term 'mother dough' from an article over at the Brainy Gamer.  He's borrowing the term from the world of baking, and I think the concept translates well.  The idea being that a game like Mario is the 'mother dough' for many platformers to follow -- but if you dig deeper, then you might see it was Donkey Kong that lay the groundwork for Mario.  Anyway, go ahead and read the article for more details.  Love that Brainy Gamer.  

And, trailing off from the Brainy Gamer subject, there's a cool little article by Scott Juster at Experience Points about the overworld theme of Final Fantasy VII.  He says that he doesn't know much about music, but I enjoy his analysis.  And it was a nice way to revisit Final Fantasy VII without having to play through the game again.  I give that game a lot of shit, but that overworld theme is pretty darn good.  (BTW, Scotts youtube link is outdated, so here's a new one:  FFVII Overworld Theme)

  
Alright, well, I guess I'll cap this off by mentioning the Game Music Bundle.  It's a new bundle I found out about.  Of course, the bundle is over now, so it's ... well, it doesn't seem like it has a purpose.  But anyway.  I think it's a cool idea, and given this last one was Game Music Bundle 6, I can imagine there will be another.    


Okay, okay, alright, alright.  I am not out of links to post, but I think this is enough for now.  Enjoy!

-D