Nice Games Club

It's Global Game Jam 2018! In this special jam episode you'll hear field interviews with gamedevs at the Minneapolis Gamecraft site mid-jam as they work on their games. Then your nice hosts talk all about how the weekend went for them and what they each got out of the experience. Martha is a stage manager, Mark can't help but make artistic developer art and Stephen is the GGJ MVP.Stephen’s GGJ game: ”Dicer and Clasp: Dungeon Skedaddle”. - Stephen's GGJ Team, GGJMark’s GGJ gam: ”CMYK”. - Mark's GGJ Team, GGJMarth's GGJ InterviewsAdia on Twitter. Adia’s game: “Jank Escape”Ellen on Twitter. Ellen worked with Stephen on “Dicer and Clasp.”“Intergalactic Transmissing”“Radwave”“Social Anxiety Simulator”“Space Pirate Radio”Charles’ wry tweet about the GGJ theme. Global Game Jam 2018 EventsIntergalactic Transmissing found the community at nesdev.com a great resource f…Mark used a very helpful open-source library called VRTK

It's been awhile since your nice hosts recorded in the clubhouse, and they have a lot to talk about, including news about Martha's now-in-development point-and-click game!This, plus the return of Mortho, an uncritical endorsement of capitalism, and Stephen admitting that Uncharted 4 maybe had some good things about it.That Nintendo Labo Robot Game Looks Awfully Familiar - Chris Kohler, KotakuThe Global Game Jam is this weekend! It’s not too late to sign up!An Overwatch Women's League isn't the answer - Ashley Oh, Polygon Steam 0:10:06 Stephen McGregorHardwareMarketingThe biggest issues with Steam in 2017, according to 230 developers - Lars Doucet, PC GamerVerdant Skies will be out on Steam real soon! We previously talked about Steam Direct in the clubhouse... "We joke here." .

This week, your nice hosts are introduced by Felix Foster, writer and narrative designer, to talk about character dialogue (or dialog, as was deemed also appropriate during the show). Character Dialogue Game DesignProductionFelix mentions The Prophet from The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, who is looking for… - xenmordoc, YouTubeHere’s examples of audio logs from Bioshock Infinite. - YouTubeFallout 4’s 'Full Dialogue' Mod Makes The Game Way Better  - Kirk Hamilton, KotakuBranching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 1: Introduction - Alexander Freed, Game DeveloperClementine Won't Remember That: The False Promises of Telltale's The Walking De… - Matthew Byrd, , Den of Geek We talked about character creation and motivations in a previous episode, "Shaniqua Shepard sounds cool."Felix FosterGuestFelix Foster is a writer and narrative designer.

Another year of great games! All "four" of your hosts gather in the freezing clubhouse to talk about some of the nicest games of 2017. They decided that they couldn't ALL talk about Zelda and Mario for the whole episode so each of them picked exactly two games to highlight. Mark is on brand, Stephen makes some ambitious resolutions and Martha totally didn't cheat the system.Listen to Sara’s Widget Satchel Soundtrack here! - Sara FerrartPlay the jam version of Widget Satchel - Ludem Dare Game Jam Martha’s/Mortho’s Nicest (2017) 0:08:19 Martha MegarryNicestThimbleweed Park - Terrible Toybox, IncSlime Rancher - Monomi ParkDestiny 2 - BungieCheck out #madewithblocks on Twitter to see/share amazing things made with Bloc… We talk a lot about Destiny 2 in our topic, Repetition, in our episode "Schrödinger’s Animal Crossing."

This week, your nice hosts get into it. Stephen is split on everything, Mark is the bad guy, and it's all Martha's fault.Stephen and Mark talked about their Ludum Dare 40 game, Widget Satchel, which Martha played on last week’s Nice Plays episode! Loot Systems 0:03:58 Stephen McGregorGame DesignZelda: Breath Of The Wild Players Are Tricking Amiibos To Grind For Rare Loot - Ethan Gach , KotakuNioh's latest patch fixes its most annoying flaw -  Jeffrey Matulef, Eurogamer Stephen brought up our recent episode on repetition in games, "Schrödinger’s Animal Crossing."NeuroVoider Chock-Full of Rogue-Like KillBot Twin-Stick Shooting - James Cunningham, Hardcore GamerBungie says it " betrayed" Destiny 2 fans over transparency - YouTube Loot Boxes 0:

Your nice hosts interview Ben Burnes, sole developer of recently released Color Jumper, to discuss the process of finally releasing a game, and the lessons learned along the way. Releasing a Game MarketingProductionColor Jumper is available on Steam right now! You can try it out on the itch.io pageThe 20/60/20 Rule of Leadership” - Derrick Strand, Linked InBen had mixed results with Keymailer.Ben shared two years(!!) of in-development GIFs of Color Jumper.Facepunch.Steamworks is a C# Library for Steamworks. Will Tice was a previous guest who we talked to about solo development. Solo DevelopmentBen talked about how every last 10% of work is another 90% of work, and so on. But don’t worry, because 0.999... is equal to 1!The Agile Composer: Project Management for Game Audio -  Dan Hulsman, Video Game Music AcademyBen BurnesGuestBen Burnes is a game pr

This week is Stephen's first turn as roundtable host, Mark teaches us about film and Martha sells her soul for three Destiny 2 faction tokens.Mark and Stephen and friends made it through Ludum Dare! Check out their game called Widget Satchel. Influences 0:02:49 Mark LaCroixIRLProductionWhat Is Blackout Poetry? These Fascinating Poems Are Created From Existing Art -  E. Ce Miller, BustleThat action/puzzle game Stephen was trying to remember was Meteos. We talked about Star Wars Episode 1 Racing in our episode on racing games. "We joke here."The Secret of Mario's Jump (and other Versatile Verbs) - Game Maker's Toolkit, YouTubeThe Norwood Suite Is A Very Different Kind Of Music Game  - EThan Gach, Kotaku Repetition 0:46:44

This week, Martha hosts her first roundtable episode, Mark starts another argument, and Stephen gets sassy about his favorite game genre.Stephen did regret promising to have his talk notes up. They’ll be up ASAP!Martha had a blast at the My Brother, My Brother and Me show! Fighting Games 0:08:08 Stephen McGregorGamingGames N’ Go in Roseville, MN often has Friday fighting game nights.The Moon Fields, a Wisconsin fighting game by Lunar Signals.Terminology and glossary guide for fighting games - Event HubsThe White Belts Facebook group is helpful for those looking to start fighting g…In case you’re curious who the top characters are in Super Smash Bros. games, h…Sonic hurricane dot com is a great guide about footsies and the role it plays i… Character Roleplaying 0:40:09 Mark LaCroi

It’s a very special episode, as your nice hosts celebrate one year(!!!) of Nice Games Club by revising their favorite topics from the show’s first 50+ episodes. Also: Mark complains about Las Vegas, Martha repeatedly gets the last laugh, and Stephen doesn’t like talking about his problems. Imposter Syndrome (revisited) 0:03:06 Stephen McGregorIRLImpostor Syndrome Is Not Just a Confidence Problem - Alicia Liu, Medium Conferences / Gaming Events (revisited) 0:14:20 Mark LaCroixEventsGamingAdobe’s prototype AI tools let you instantly edit photos and videos -  James Vincent, The VergeSo Adobe XD CC is out, what now? -  Alexander Dimitrov, Prototypr VR Development (revisited) 0:24:50

A special episode, with a unique guest, who is also a fan of the show! Minneapolis-based Riddle Room creator and owner Art Allen enters the clubhouse to talk about making, designing, and operating puzzle/escape room games, and the ways in which its similar and different from creating digital games. Puzzle/Escape Rooms Physical GamesPeeking Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape Room Facilities - Scott NicholsonThe 10 Best VR Puzzle and Escape Room Games -  Andy O'Donnell, LifewireThe Stagecoach-themed children’s book we talked about is Nine for California, b…Escape Room Enthusiast Facebook groupEscape Room Owners Facebook groupArt AllenGuestArt Allen is the creator and owner of Minneapolsi-based Riddle Room. Riddle Room operates four separate Escape Room Games in the Twin-Cities, including 2017 Golden Lock In Winner for the Room Utopia, from Room Escape Artist. External link

In our first (and likely only ever) Halloween episode, Martha haunts the clubhouse, Mark delivers some bad Zelda-related news to Stephen, and from Stephen’s topic a thousand flowers bloom.Mark gave a talk on object-oriented programming at the first annual M+DEV confe… Upcoming Games 0:04:41 Mark LaCroixGamingTech Interview: Destiny 2 and Bungie's return to PC gaming - Richard Leadbetter, Eurogamer18 new Nintendo Switch games are out this week — the most ever - Allegra Frank, PolygonPokemon Stars: all the latest leaks from the confirmed Nintendo Switch game - Emma Boyle, TechRadar[Your Name] the Hedgehog - Know Your Meme Release Dates 0:20:58 Mark LaCroixMarketingThe Dark Night Rises had No Competition at the Box Office - Jim Pagels, SlateThe Weird Reason Why Video Games Are Releas

This week, we talk to Ben Franks, Dreamcast aficionado, and discuss the various ways its preservation has taken form. Your nice hosts also take a short trip down memory lane as we reminisce about our favorite video game hardware.Here's a video Martha captured while we were recording the episode, as Ben open… - Nice Games Club with Ben Franks, YouTube Preserving the Dreamcast HardwarePreserving the Art of Play - Jacob Brogan, SlateHere are the Xbox 360 and PS3 emulators Stephen mentioned. Less than 20% of their game libraries are fully playable.This Facebook group wants Dreamcast GD ROM Drive Emulation to happen.Clean room engineering uses formal methods and iteration in software developmen… - WikipediaThe Dreamcast’s SH4 processor has an open source version called J-core.Remember Game Gear? - Levi Buchanan, IGN Elysian Shadows is being developed for Dreamcast, PC and...Ouya? Here are the tidy insides of a Dreamcast:

In this episode, Stephen fights his demons, Martha likes sports now, and Mark learns a lot about both. Scope Creep 0:02:41 Stephen McGregorProductionMartha took a blacksmithing class! Also, her instructor told her this was a perfect forge weld. Martha brought up fighting scope creep on our GDC 2017 Special. GDC 2017 Special (Part 1) Project management is a way to combat scope creep that we’ve covered before, in the episode "We joke here." A core concept for your game can help focus ideas as well. We go over this in our Game Design Primer topic in our episode "That makes me retroactively nervous." Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making - Sam KanerOur post on the r/

This week, Stephen finally gets a theme song, Mark plays devil's advocate, and Martha gets dangerously close to a topic your nice hosts swore to never talk about on the show. DLC and Expansions 0:02:40 Martha MegarryGamingProductionWhen Mark was young, he bought unofficial Quake mods on CD-ROM.Turns out, Electronics Boutique and EB Games are the same thing.Day-One DLC Isn’t Always Evil, Says Borderlands 2 Guy - Tina Amini, KotakuPatch The Process - Rami IshmailStreet Fighter V is a Barebones Game That’s a Sign of the Times - Paul Tamburro, CraveCode analysis of No Man's Sky praises engine, criticises "unfinished" game  - Andy Chalk, PC GamerIt turns out Sony won’t be charging PS4 Pro players for 4K upgrade patches - Danny Cowan, Digital TrendsMario Party 2: Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing - KlydeStrom, YouTubeTurns out, Dungeons & Dragons does use software-style versioning for their “patch

Uh oh… they're back… it's EVIL GAMES CLUB!Snide laugh! Malicious gafaw! In this, our second evil episode, your evil hosts revisit some of the dumb topics Nice Games Club covered in previous episodes, and correct the record where required. We're at it again, being evil, that is!Dale posts bugs on Instagram now. - InstragramThis is the spider Dale was talking about in the intro. - Instagram Crafting Systems 0:02:46 Adia AldersonGame Design This topic is a followup to the episode "It's against the law to stop."5 Approaches to Crafting Systems in Games (and Where to Use Them) - Alexander King, Envato Tuts+The absolute best video game crafting systems - Ty Arthur, Game SkinnyHow The Witcher 3 succeeds where Mass Effect: Andromeda falls short - Jody Macgregor, PC GamerMass Effect: Andromeda's Menus Are A Mess - Alex Wal

Well, it finally happened. Dale LaCroix, (aka: "#1 Playtester," one-third of Evil Games Club, and Mark's wife) joins your nice hosts in the clubhouse to talk about playtesting!Stephen writes down everything Dale says about what it takes to be a good playtester, Martha laughs at all of Dale's jokes, and Mark deals with the fact that his wife doesn't really like his game. We also talked about the recent solar eclipse. Check out Martha's photo, taken at the moment of totality Playtesting Production This isn't the first time we've talked about playtesting on the show. We talked about it on the Interview with Nic VanMeerten Games User Research and Analytics This is what Martha looks like when she is demoing Claw Breaker

This week, Martha has so much to talk about that she runs out of time, Stephen espouses the virtues of building your own gamedev tools, and Mark names the episode after a Star Trek thing because it's his birthday today so he gets to.Discuss this episode on Reddit using this thread in r/gamedev. Intro to Linguistics for Game Developers 0:03:31 Martha MegarryAudioGame DesignThe Legend of Zelda’s Hylian Language - FandomThe Language Creation SocietyA list of constructed languages in video games. - WikipediaMyst’s created language, D’ni. - FandomUK Professors Go Primal With 'Far Cry' - Gail Hairston, University of KentuckySIL’s Glossary of Linguistics article on sonority scale - SILSkyrim’s Dragon Shouts - Matt Miller, Game InformerOmniglot is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languages - OmniglotThe Conlangers Library game list - Conlangers LibraryNo Man’s Sky guide: alien races, languages and

It's a slightly experimental show this week, as we try to see what a two-topic episode looks like. Also, Martha defends her love of coleslaw, Stephen still doesn't really like VR, and Mark has almost completely lost his voice.Discuss this week's episode on Reddit in r/gamedev here. Video Game Immersion 0:05:54 Stephen McGregorGamingOur pal and VR innovator Andrew Fladeboe.Representation and Embodiment in Virtual Reality - Jorge Albor, PopMattersWould You Kindly Read This Article on Gaming’s Greatest Plot Twist? - Mike Diver, ViceOur recent episode of Nice Plays: OneShot - Nice Games Club, YouTubeEnhancing VR Immersion with the CPU in Star Trek: Bridge Crew - Cristiano F, Intel DevelopersCognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design - Sean Baron, Game DeveloperWhy Sonic the Hedgehog is awful, and always has been - Ryan Brown, MIrrorRequiem, a “roleplaying” mod for The Elder Scrolls: SkyrimMa

This week, your nice hosts are still relaxing in Mark's dining room for an episode that has it all: a disagreement about Bluetooth, some good ClawTalk™, and the shortest conversation ever had on the subject of tabs vs. spaces. All this, plus a slightly higher than usual number of wild digressions.Discuss this episode on Reddit in this thread on r/gamedev! Input Methods and Controls 0:01:29 Stephen McGregorHardwareStephen’s controller of choice, Power A FUSION.New Windows 10 Xbox wireless controller adapter delayed into 2018 - Gabe Gurwin, Digital TrendsMetro Nexus’ tutorial in action - Mark LaCroix, TwitterBehold, the unintuitive enjoyment of Claw Breaker. - Martha Megarry, YouTube“How to Claw Effectively” - Ture Vangaurd, YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-o0zYxjyE - Game Maker's Toolkit, YouTube“You say jump, I say how high?”  - Martin FasterholdtMartha’s favorite Fingeance fighter, Spar

This week, the clubhouse is being occupied by Glitch's Summer 2017 Immersion Program cohort, so your nice hosts relocate to Mark's kitchen and talk over tea with the astoundingly insightful and utterly charming Holly Harrison, professional social media and community manager, to talk about building and engaging with an audience online. Community Managment MarketingTide tries and fails to act cool in response to Mr. Clean... - @tide, Twitter...while Sonic the Hedgehog succeeds. - @sonic_hedgehog, TwitterArby’s does some cool video game things on Twitter. - @arbys, TwitterThe true owner of @Velveeta - @Velveeta, TwitterYou Know An Internet Joke Is Kinda Over Once Nintendo's Had A Turn - EThan Gach, KotakuBuilding audience early with visuals-first development in Ooblets - Chris Priestman, Game DeveloperConsumers Aren’t Looking to Buy From Brands That Are ‘Cool’ on Social - SproutSocialThe Simple Facebook Posting Strate