From ‘Welcome to Photography Week’ by Holly Green, Game Developer Community Editorial Coordinator
Photography has become one of the most popular ways we interact with video games. Through the simple act of taking a photo, photography games and photo modes implore us to notice our surroundings, document our experience, and take a moment to commit to memory the images and emotions that we felt along the way.
To better explore those connections and mechanics, Game Developer is publishing a series of new articles digging into the topic, and highlighting some classics as well. Come along with us as we take a look at the history of photography in video games and its popular uses within the genre and preview the new interviews, essays, and deep dives publishing in the days to come.
We’ll be highlighting reader-submitted articles throughout the week and there’s tons of great stuff to look forward to, like an essay from Beasts of Maravilla Island developer Michelle Olson about eschewing photographic critique, an interview with the developers of Texas Chainsaw Massacre on why they went with the free release of an idyllic photography minigame as a prequel to their horror title, and a poignant feature from our senior editor Bryant Francis on what basic photography tips can teach us about making better photo modes.
We’ll also be revisiting interviews, blogs and features from Game Developer’s recent past, unearthing postmortems from games like Pupperazzi and TOEM as well as interviews with indie developers about how they’re using photography in video games. Stay tuned for insight on how these games are put together and the features that developers find vital to the photography game experience.
If this topic fascinates you, there’s still time to submit an article to our blog section about photography games and photo modes in video games.
Take a peek at our blog submission guidelines and FAQ, head over to our blog submission page and send us your thoughts.
