A published Selection

The stories behind famous games

10 videos, 5 h 12

10 videos on what went wrong, what got cut and what nearly sank the game before release. Told mostly by the people who were there.

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01
How Crash Bandicoot Hacked The Original Playstation | War Stories | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
The best single example of shipping a game by breaking the machine's rules.
02
How Alan Wake Was Rebuilt 3 Years Into Development | War Stories | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
What it takes to throw away 3 years of work and start the design again.
03
How One Gameplay Decision Changed Diablo Forever | War Stories | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
One late change turned a turn-based game into the click-heavy genre we know.
04
How Prince of Persia Defeated Apple II's Memory Limitations | War Stories | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Jordan Mechner on fitting smooth animation into almost no memory.
05
How Thief's Stealth System Almost Didn't Work | War Stories | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
How the first proper stealth game found its rules by nearly failing.
06
The Making of PREY - Documentary
/noclip
A studio inheriting someone else's title and making something else entirely.
07
The Story of Thief & Looking Glass Studios | Noclip Greatest Hits
/noclip
The studio that invented several genres and then closed. Worth knowing about.
08
How Supergiant Secretly Launched Hades - Developing Hell #01
/noclip
Early access done deliberately, filmed while it was still uncertain.
09
How Game Publishers Buy Crunch Overseas
People Make Games
Reported work on the outsourced labour behind games you have played.
10
How Balatro Was Made and Why The Creator Expected to Sell Only 6 Copies
ThatGuyGlen
One anonymous developer, a card game, and a launch nobody planned for.