august highlights
The Polyglot Gamedev Project project looks like a useful resource for basic game localization. Tuomas Karmakallio also wrote a brief overview of the project.
Andrew Doull has released a new version of Unangband. Though the development blog isn't updated as frequently these days, his articles on the design issues for Unangband are among the best I've read for roguelike (and other game) development.
I've been reading through the archives of The Digital Antiquarian recently. Yes, it has a huge number of lengthy articles, but just start try reading at the beginning if you're interested in the history of CRPGs, interactive fiction, and adventure games. I'd love to find more sites with similar depth.
Speaking of history, David Craddock wrote a book on the history of Roguelikes and a companion volume on the 2013 7DRL challenge. Gamasutra has a free sample chapter that I enjoyed, but I haven't read either main volume yet. Roguelike Radio also did an interview with Craddock about the book.
Roguelike Radio's episode on procedural narrative design was also well done, with guests Tanya Short (Shattered Planet, Moon Hunters) and David Dunham (King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages).
David Sirlin released a free episode of his podcast Raw Game Design describing the process of adding a new command input button to his forthcoming digital fighting game.
And three talks that were thought provoking to juxtapose: Kornel Kisielewicz's Roguelike Lessons in Design, Dan Cook's Narrative Lessons from The Road Not Taken, and Naomi Clark's Broken Games.