Wireframe Magazine

Wireframe looks at how games are made and who makes them, and even guides you through making your own.

Ray tracing doesn’t make beautiful games; great art direction does

WELCOME

WALKABOUT • Keeping an eye on the horizon in Stray Fawn Studio’s The Wandering Village

Capturing the apocalypse • Writer Kevin Sullivan chats to us about his studio’s upcoming adventure, Season

Wizordum • Wiz-a-dor-ah, we adore her

A new space • It’s one small step from Kerbal to Balsa Model Flight Simulator

That was the month that was

Post Apocalypse • The price of Nintendo games, and your memories of the ZX Spectrum. It’s this month’s letters

Shortcuts • We’ve been paying tribute to the ZX Spectrum this month, so we scrambled our followers on Twitter to give us their memories of Sir Clive’s computer and its games

Incoming

Uncle Clive’s Greatest Hit: THE ZX SPECTRUM • We pay tribute to the computer that created an entire ecosystem of programmers, publishers, hardware makers, and gamers

A restless farewell

MAKE A RICHCAST COMPETITION • Wireframe is teaming up with Panivox to invite you to make your very own awesome RichCast experience

The lost art of HANDHELD DEMAKES • As the lines blur between consoles and portable systems, we remember the conversions that pushed handheld hardware to its limits

Designing Bloodhunt’s battle royale city • Sharkmob’s game director talks us through the design decisions that shaped Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt’s Prague

The principles of game design • How did the leap to 3D affect the games industry? Profoundly, Howard writes

Source Code DX: make a Boulder Dash level editor in Python • In a Source Code special, Mark shows you how to create an entire Boulder Dash construction kit from scratch

Boulder Builder • Here’s Mark’s code for a full-featured Boulder Dash construction kit. To get it running on your system, you’ll need to install Pygame Zero. Full instructions are available at wfmag.cc/pgzero.

Zero-sum gameplay and loss aversion • Tapping into player psychology can enhance the tension, drama, and impact of your games, but these powerful techniques need handling with care

The three pillars of investigative gameplay • Ever wanted a player to more deeply engage with the details of your story? Here’s how

Source Code Code an homage to Bubble Bobble • Blow bubbles and burst them in our tribute to an arcade classic

Blowing bubbles in Python • Here’s Mark’s code, which re-creates Bubble Bobble’s blowing-and-bursting mechanics in Python. To get it working on your machine, you’ll first need to install Pygame Zero. You can find full instructions at wfmag.cc/pgzero.

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ENHANCED MODE • With true PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series exclusives still few and far between, we speak to the studios updating their titles for the next-gen era

Interactive / Death Drives A Bus • Developer Ben Burnes tells us about the process of making a 2D puzzle game with a deathly twist

beyond rhythm • How experimental developers are remixing rhythm and gameplay to create unique experiences

Online Diary GITTIN’ GUD • Another delve into the jungle of licensed tie-ins – it’s Predator: Hunting Grounds

System Profile Nintendo GameCube • How Nintendo’s dinky console won over the gaming public’s hearts and minds

Fortnite, everynite

Hoa • Sunny delight

Road 96 • Warning: contains mild peril and travel board games

Hot Wheels Unleashed • Die-cast and Furious: Toybox Drift

JETT: The Far Shore • A tale of star pilgrims that’s more ‘grim’ than, er, ‘pil’

Boyfriend Dungeon • Time to sharpen those...