The (jazzy) making of Thirty Flights Of Loving
One of the best short games ever made
Thirty Flights Of Loving [official site], a needle full of adrenaline pumped straight into the brain, is an enduring slice of Only Videogames Can Do This. A cut-up of all the best bits of spy movies with none of the context - you have to bring that yourself, which is the best part of it - and a delirious barrage of high-speed exploration, super-cool action and implied maxi-emotion. It is, I would venture without hesitation, unforgettable. In the absence of more Thirty Flights, here's the next best thing: timelapse videos of its creation, with a lovely jazzy soundtrack throughout.
Blendo Games' series of making-of videos are both mesmerising, as a whole world gets built before your eyes (and some of it really does look like assembling a model kit) and startling, in terms of how much work went into what seemed like fairly simple things.
A cuboid cat, for instance, or an exploding glass effect. 30 Flights' aesthetic may be comparatively simple, but it's an unbelievably meticulous construction - as we also found out when we chatted to the dev about all the secret cinematic homages it contains.
The below embed should kick off a playlist for you, but to pick specific scenes a la carte, have a look-see here:
Oh - we also consider 30 Flights Of Loving to be one of the best short games around. Dig in if you're as time-starved as I am.