Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Latest Episodes:

Accessibility (with Dave McKee) Aug 15, 2024

Show notes

We invite music producer and sound designer Dave McKee into the clubhouse to talk about accessibility in games this week.

Accessibility

Accessibility Game Design Control Accessibility Report - "Vivek Gohil, Ben Kendall", Family Gaming Database Inclusive Gaming: How Game Developers Can Make Video Games More Inclusive And A… - Accessibility.com

Visual impairment accessibility musts:
- High Contrast
  - User-set color schemes
- Big Icons! (more important even than large text, which is also important)
- Leverage Haptics (HD Rumble) paired with visual cues
- Toning the music down (Dave recommends, regretfully)
- Accessibility options should come up at a game’s first-launch

The next Forza will help blind players race by listening to ‘beeps and boops’ - Tom Warren, The Verge Ray Tracer - Wayverb How Next-Gen Audio Improvements in Snowdrop Could Mean Real-Time ‘Ray-Tracing A… - Youssef Maguid, Ubisoft Tekken 8 Accessibility Features Are Causing Controversy - Trumann Tu, GameRant The Importance of Audio Described Cutscenes - Dom Parker, LinkedIn Self-Voicing - Ren'Py

Additional Resources not talked about on the show

Xbox Accessibility Guidelines V3.2 - MIcrosoft Can I Play That? - Can I Play That?XR Access - XR Access

"Imagine it's running on a potato." Targeting Multiple Platforms; Spirit Island Spirits Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

We face complexity head-on this episode with two topics that will get your neurons firing. Mark walks through considerations involved with publishing a game to multiple platforms. It's not easy, but it's a lot easier if you plan for it from the start! If you've listened to recent episodes, you'll know that Stephen has been obsessed with the tabletop game Spirit Island. Today, he shares some of the work he's done in creating a new, customized spirit for the game. Also, Mark experiences glitches, and the hosts plan a visit.

Twin Cities Playtest from IGDA-TC - Eventbrite

0:06:56

Targeting Multiple Platforms

We talked about porting games in Episode 175.

"Kapow?"Git fork vs branchGreg FosterGraphiteSlayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the SlayerFandomAllow controls to be remapped, reconfiguredGame Accessibility GuidelinesA Brief History of the Playstation’s Confirm And Cancel ButtonsThe Wired Fish Network BlogA Brief History of A & BMatthew GallantThe Quixotic Engineer Blog0:46:49

Spirit Island Spirits

Spirit of Creation channelDiscordSpirit Design Deep DiveemilintleGoogle DocsSpirit IslandGreater Than GamesHow to Play: Spirit IslandGreater Than GamesYouTube

Physics 101 (with Scott Lembcke) Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

"Pillar of the community" and creator of Chipmunk2D Scott Lembcke visits the clubhouse to talk velocity, constraints, and rigidbodies. Ellen gets the music in her head, Stephen didn’t learn the opposite lesson, and Mark makes a pretty good joke about friction.

Physics 101

Programming Chipmunk2D - Scott Lembcke , GitHub Gopher (protocol)Building Excalibur.js - Erik Onarheim, YouTube

I'm pretty sure this was the song stuck in Ellen's head.

What is an AABB? - Michael Rubloff, Radiance Fields Veridian Expanse - Howling Moon Software, Steam Is pool actually just mathematics? - Stand-up Maths, YouTube What is up with the spherical cow? - Rhett Allain, Wired Advanced Character Physics - Thomas Jakobsen, Carnegie Mellon University Arc length of an ellipse - Ed Sandifer, The Euler Archive Box2D version 3.0 beta test has launched! - Erin Catto, Mastodon Ten Minute Physics - YouTube

"Gentlemen, is this where the fisticuffs occur?" Familiarity; Pacing Mechanics Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, Stephen gets excited about Summer Games Done Quick, reveals some Doctor Who spoilers, and then is shocked that Flappy Dragon has more dragons. Ellen ponders rituals, and why she comes back to some games and not others. And finally, Mark wonders if it is okay to get lost in a super-fun mini-game.

0:12:21

Familiarity

Ellen asks the internet: What are "casual Games"?https://www.perplexity.ai/search/What-are-casual-lDsnct7cTKiv.pJMXYef6wEllen asks the internet: What are "Cozy Games"?https://www.perplexity.ai/search/What-are-cozy-9nReq70iRU6wRyzD1TTSEA0:34:34

Pacing Mechanics

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Sets the Standard for Classic Game RemakesEric RavenscraftWired

Nice Games Jam: "The Bike Boom" Jul 18, 2024

Show notes

In the first Nice Games Jam in a few months (and we made it a long one!), your nice hosts explore the history of bicycles to develop a racing board game.

Our last Nice Games Club episode:Eddies
Two Wheels Good - Jody Rosen
Safety Bicycle - Wikipedia

PromptDesign a racing game in a historical setting.Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count2 - 4Materials

Map book

4-sided dice

Meeple to represent racers

Setup

Choose a map to race on in the map book (only one made right now)
Choose a starting point and an ending point on the map
Draw a conditions card from the conditions deck (not made yet! We just used rain, where you have to make a Stability check each time you make a turn)

Rules

Same area through time
You choose your rider and bike (each with different stats) based on how the map looks
You spend your resources to get new bikes or upgrade a bike
We started with penny farthings (bad stats), you can buy better ones later.
At the start of the race you draw a “condition”, affects the course to make more stability checks
You also randomly get a start and end place (we just set it as corner to corner for testing)
Types of stats:
- Speed: how far you can go
- Weight: how heavy your bike is, how hard uphill is and how fast downhill is
- Capacity: how much you can hold on your bike
- Stability: how easy it is to get past stability checks
- Durability: how much failing a stability check affects you

"Ellen's going to be so mad!" Creative Direction; Time Management Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

Time is money, friend! Okay, not always. Sometimes time is a puzzle involving many interlocking responsibilities. That’s Beth’s situation, and she asks Mark and Stephen for advice on time management in the second half of this roundtable episode. During the first half, Stephen shares some BIG NEWS that will soon place some additional responsibilities on his shoulders. Beth and Mark offer suggestions.

0:4:40

Creative Direction

A previous episode relating to Stephen's big news!

Nice Thinking: "Sledgehammer Bride"0:31:35

Time Management

Pomodoro Technique What is a sprint?Scrum.orgThe Eisenhower Matrix (important vs urgent)Wikipedia

The Intersection of Puzzle and Story (with Ron Gilbert) Jul 05, 2024

Show notes

Your nice hosts welcome famed designer Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Thimbleweed Park) into the clubhouse to discuss the virtues of inexperience, friction for its own sake, how it's all about story, and it's puzzles all the way down.

The Intersection of Puzzle and Story

Game Design Narrative Production Return to Monkey Island will have a hint system because the internet exists now - Joshua Rivera, Polygon Verdant Skies - Steam Classic Game Postmortem: Maniac Mansion - GDC, YouTube

The phrase "confederacy of dunces" derives from a Jonathan Swift quote.

Examples of movies that feature a poorly-received genre twist include Serenity (2019), Remember Me (2010), and Safe Haven (2013).

"The super-powerful beam or whatever." Code Libraries; Game Overs Jun 27, 2024

Show notes

This week, your nice hosts talk about code that isn't yours and ask about the natural conclusion of the narrative. Mark is handy, Ellen kinda wants to add a note, and Stephen is grounded.

It looked so easy in the brochure, but the brochure lied - Antony Ingram, Hagerty

0:07:41

Code Libraries

Best practices for writing code commentsEllen SpertusStack Overflow BlogDeclare namespaces to organize typesMicrosoft LearnYour nice hosts discussed licensing in a previous episode:"What's a little grand larceny?"

Game Overs

Alternatives to the Game Over screenGame Developer

We didn't mention it in the episode for some reason, but our "Metroidvania-lite" game Widget Satchel had no deaths, game overs, or failure states.

Game Production (with Ryan Adams) Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

This week we invite Ryan Adams, of Corgi Art House fame, to discuss his expertise in game production. Ryan shows us how production is more than just moving tickets around, and how valuable it is to have someone on the team organizing tasks for everyone. But also, there's plenty of moving tickets around!

Game Production

Production Corgi Art House Blood On The Thames - Steam ClickUp Building Better Games - Benjamin Carcich and Aaron Smith Becoming a Game Producer - Pauline Gepilano How to prepare yourself for Game Production - Creative Assembly, YouTube Five Traits In A Good Producer - Timothy Cain, YouTube

"One thing cannot hold all the passion I have." Pivoting; Working on Multiple Projects Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

This episode recounts each guests' recent project - Stephen is developing a new spirit for Spirit Island, Ellen is getting into music, and Mark talks at length about his car. The club helps Ellen process a recent pivot her company had to make. And Mark reveals some simple insights from his life: urgent vs. high priority, he has an irritating existence, that he's very restless, that he's skeptical of his satisfaction, somethings that I know very well, being married to him. The episode ends with a pitch build an emotional support group on nicegames.club/discord, by asking everyone to share how they structure their time.