People are astonishing

Two amazing examples of how videogames allow creativity to flourish surfaced recently. They're also examples of just how insane people can be.

First is a recreation of the city of King's Landing from Game of Thrones. @Polygon reports that 100 builders worked for 4 months to hand-build the city in Minecraft. 


The results are beautiful. 

source: Polygon.com

And a few days ago, news emerged of a battle that erupted in Eve Online when a ship accidentally jumped into enemy territory. @testedcom reported losses of $17,000 in real-world money as a result of the miss-step. The first couple of minutes of this video, showing the 3000 player battle, is worth a look.

Read it: Ken Levine Article on Polygon

Bioshock Infinite Artwork
Source: Polygon.com

Ken Levine is an interesting man to listen to. And he makes great games. 

Chris Plante at Polygon has written an excellent longform article on Levine's past, his motivations, and his methods when approaching game design. And I think you should read it.

"BioShock games are the hardest kind of games to make that I've ever worked on. I think sometimes people on the team look at the old timers and wonder, 'Do these guys have any idea what they're doing?' Because we know part of the process is not knowing, but discovering. But that's hard for people who haven't been through it before to always understand." - Ken Levine

The piece weaves together an interview with the history of the development of Irrational Games. Also, Polygon's feature layouts are incredible.

Read more at Polygon.com