You're right to point out that this list is targeted towards game engine programmers and not people who want to make games in general, but really, "characteriza

You're right to point out that this list is targeted towards game engine programmers and not people who want to make games in general, but really, "characterization, storytelling, linguistics and spoken construction, cultural dynamics, psychology, sociology, history" are important skills for turning generic shootemups into generic Hollywood blockbusters, not interesting games. There are a lot of elements that come together in a good game, and I'd rank 'quality of writing' far at the bottom of an ordered list of them. Aspiring game developers should be playing through the NES canon long before reading that of Shakespeare, so that they can learn to produce interesting games with unique challenges and experiences, rather than slop to intersperse segments of their Hollywood-dropout fanfiction-quality storytelling. I sometimes rewatch movies for the sole reason that I like their soundtracks and think the visuals fit them well. I would never suggest that sound is the most important element of film, or respond to a novice looking for direction in their career as a film director by waxing lyrical about music theory. You can fit an excellent soundtrack into a terrible movie just as well as you can stick one into a terrible game (try Verytex[1] for the Sega Genesis sometime), and neither ceases to be a failure of a production when you do so. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KfPM8xJWgM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KfPM8xJWgM