Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This week, it’s Game Maker’s Toolkit and Mind Over Magnet mechanics knower, explainer, and designer, Mark Brown! Cheers Mark! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Making Movies by the director Sidney Lumet. I’m currently on a marathon of Lumet’s films (12 Angry Men, Serpico, Network, and so on). The man was crazy prolific, making 44 movies across 50-odd years. It’s fascinating to follow one man’s career – all the highs and lows, and all the changes in technology and film making trends. And then by reading his 1995 book alongside the films, I’m getting a deeper appreciation of how these things came together.
What did you last read?
The Drowned World, by J. G. Ballard, which is a post apocalyptic novel about Earth being swallowed up by rising sea levels, caused by global warming. And it was written in the early 60s. Pretty prescient! I loved the vivid descriptions of this weird floating world of albino alligators and silty buildings. And how the last few people left alive, most of them living on the top floors of a few skyscrapers, are just slowly spiralling into madness.
What are you eyeing up next?
I want a good non-fiction book about AI, but it feels like anything will be hopelessly out of date by the time it’s written and published. Still, I’ve added Code Dependent, by Madhumita Murgia, to my Christmas list. Looks like an interesting look at how automation will impact us as individuals and a society.
What quote or scene from a book has stuck with you?
I loved Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir, which I listened to as an audiobook. The scene where Grace makes contact with another space ship, and another astronaut, just had me completely rapt. I was on a walk and almost back home but had to extend my route by about a mile because I couldn’t stop listening.
What book do you find yourself bothering friends to read?
Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari, which is about how so many aspects of the world have damaged our ability to really focus on stuff. Especially smartphones and social media, naturally. There’s a bit where he goes on a trip without any technology (a “digital detox”, I guess) and it sounded so delightful that it inspired me to massively reduce the amount of time I spend online, which has drastically improved my life.
What book would you like to see someone adapt to a game?
Actually, I kept thinking about this when reading The Drowned World. I kept imagining an open world game where there are a few outposts above the sea, but the bulk of the city is completely submerged. So take the post apocalyptic setting of Fallout, and then dump an ocean on it. You’d split your time between looking for treasures from the old world, and fighting off those albino alligators and loony survivors.
If you’re ravenous for more Mark (despite his failure to name every book ever written), he was kind enough to chat with us recently about designing his new game. Book for now!