4 ms·

I would like a giant book about virtual worlds in games. Games that have a free-roaming element. So things like Zelda: OOT as well as full blown open world game

by Tycho 3y ago

I would like a giant book about virtual worlds in games. Games that have a free-roaming element. So things like Zelda: OOT as well as full blown open world games like GTA V. There's so much work that went into them, and also so much collective human memory of time spent immersed in those worlds. Wish someone would crowdfund that.

famahar 3y ago
It's not at the same scale but I recommend the zine called Heterotopias. https://heterotopias.itch.io/ https://heterotopias.itch.io/
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
krono 3y ago
If you're familiar with the sandbox mmo EVE Online you might like Empires of EVE. They're very well put together and very thorough historical accounts of some massive and long term player driven content/conflicts throughout the history of the game. It was so much fun to read about why my side's leadership made certain decisions and about the other sides' perspectives of some of the space wars I was part of when I still played. https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  Oh man, I'd really like a copy of that and I see they have a sale on ($40 for both hardcover volumes), but then... $50 for international shipping is a bit steep.
manuelmoreale 3y ago
I know this is definitely not what you’re talking about because it’s a website and not a book but it’s a link always worth sharing https://noclip.website/ https://noclip.website/
newaccount74 3y ago
My son has a 500 page book about Zelda BOTW. It's more of a guide book / walk through. It's incredible how much stuff there is in those games.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
There's a book called Designing Virtual Worlds from 2003 that might be interesting to you; since it's 2003 it predates World of Warcraft and some of the information is dated, but other elements are timeless. It was re-released under a Creative Commons license in 2021: https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2021/08/richard-bartle-designing-virtual-worlds-free-book.html https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2021/08/richard-bartle-designing-v... And another recommendation if you're interested in worldbuilding is the Encyclopedia Eorzea books from the Final Fantasy XIV game, three of them; they contain the full backstories, timelines, summarised in-game stories, locations, characters, races, etc etc etc. However, it's written "in-universe", not so much from a developer's point of view. That said, you didn't specify which part of said games you would like to read about, I can imagine more information about the design and build would be interesting too, a look behind the scenes. The video game resources I mentioned get you there partway though.

by Tycho 3y ago

famahar 3y ago

It's not at the same scale but I recommend the zine called Heterotopias. https://heterotopias.itch.io/ https://heterotopias.itch.io/

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

krono 3y ago

If you're familiar with the sandbox mmo EVE Online you might like Empires of EVE. They're very well put together and very thorough historical accounts of some massive and long term player driven content/conflicts throughout the history of the game. It was so much fun to read about why my side's leadership made certain decisions and about the other sides' perspectives of some of the space wars I was part of when I still played. https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/

Cthulhu_ 3y ago
Oh man, I'd really like a copy of that and I see they have a sale on ($40 for both hardcover volumes), but then... $50 for international shipping is a bit steep.

manuelmoreale 3y ago

I know this is definitely not what you’re talking about because it’s a website and not a book but it’s a link always worth sharing https://noclip.website/ https://noclip.website/

newaccount74 3y ago

My son has a 500 page book about Zelda BOTW. It's more of a guide book / walk through. It's incredible how much stuff there is in those games.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

There's a book called Designing Virtual Worlds from 2003 that might be interesting to you; since it's 2003 it predates World of Warcraft and some of the information is dated, but other elements are timeless. It was re-released under a Creative Commons license in 2021: https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2021/08/richard-bartle-designing-virtual-worlds-free-book.html https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2021/08/richard-bartle-designing-v... And another recommendation if you're interested in worldbuilding is the Encyclopedia Eorzea books from the Final Fantasy XIV game, three of them; they contain the full backstories, timelines, summarised in-game stories, locations, characters, races, etc etc etc. However, it's written "in-universe", not so much from a developer's point of view. That said, you didn't specify which part of said games you would like to read about, I can imagine more information about the design and build would be interesting too, a look behind the scenes. The video game resources I mentioned get you there partway though.