Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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Serious Play Conference 2023 Nov 10, 2023

Show notes

Earlier this autumn, Ellen visited Toronto to attend the Serious Play Conference. It's an event for people who design, develop, and study so-called "serious games" — that is, games used for education, training, therapy, and more. Ellen reports on her experiences in the city and at the conference, and shares some clips from conversations she had with some speakers at Serious Play. Also, Stephen and Mark talk about the weather.

(Note: There were some audio issues with the recordings taken on-site at the conference. We've done our best, but it's not great. Our apologies!)

0:28:07

Excerpt from a conversation with Dr. David Chandross

Dr. David Chandross at TMU Maslow's Hierarchy of NeedsWikipediaJohn Dewey (educational psychologist)Kurt Vonnegut on the 8 “shapes” of storiesBig ThinkBloom's Cognitive TaxonomyUniversity of Central Florida0:45:07

Excerpt from a conversation with Roz Hussin

Roz HussinLinkedInAbout MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)edXRoutineFlow App Walkr App

Megagames (with Trenton Greyoak) Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

We welcome Trenton Greyoak into the clubhouse to talk about the vast topic of megagames! Trenton provides a huge amount of insight into the development and play of these games in this slightly more mega-sized than normal episode.

Megagames

Game Design Gaming Physical Games Megagame - Wikipedia Model United Nations - United Nations Watch the Skies! - South West Megagames Origins of Megagames - Jim Wallman, No Game Survives Megagame Makers - Megagame Makers UK SU&SD PLAY… A GODDAMN MEGAGAME - Shut Up & Sit Down Very Large Huge Games - Very Large Huge Games Can Horses Climb Stairs? Can Horses Go Up & Down Stairs? - Katie Plakson, Horse Bonding Success Dread - Erik Schmidt, Unpossible Journeys Den of Wolves - South West Megagames Mansa Musa - Wikipedia The National Security Decision Making Game - Rex Brynen, PAXsims Megagame Coalition - Megagame Coalition Megagame Assembly - Megagame Assembly Assets and Images of Deephaven and other megagames

"Smarter, more evolved." Polymorphism; Save Scumming Oct 27, 2023

Show notes

In this week's episode, Mark teaches us to cast polymorph, a 4th level transmutation spell. Just kidding! But Mark does put his high INT score to work helping us understand polymorphism, a useful feature of object-oriented programming. Later on, Stephen talks about the pattern of "save scumming" and considers how it might influence how designers create games. Ellen noodles on things.

Noodle demo game - Ellen Burns-Johnson, The Training Arcade

0:04:48

Polymorphism

31:57:0

Save Scumming

Shepard. Wrex. Grunt.YouTube

Horror Games 201 (with multiple guests) Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

Nice Games Club continues to celebrate the Spooky Season with the second-ever “Nice Games Panel”. Our panelists include creators known for their work on horror games: James Pratt, TorpalDork, and Max Kunze. We discuss the using humor and using nostalgia in horror games and if clowns have ever not been scary.

Horror Games 201

Game Design

Amtrak train, electric bicycle, and helmet — **"The opposing metric of jank." Composition over Inheritance; Elegance** Oct 12, 2023
Show notes

In this episode, the team gets back to all the regular reasons to complain about Unity. Stephen makes a pun, and Ellen searches for elegance through the power of internet research.
Noodle - The Training Arcade
Mark and his bike took a train to Chicago.
0:07:41
Composition over Inheritance
Composition over inheritanceWikipedia0:33:00
Elegance
Elegant ProgramPC Mag10 Things Elegant Woman Wear - How to dress classy and elegantAustralian Finishing SchoolTerms of Art #30: Elegance (and Aesthetic Concepts)Aesthetics for BirdsWhat makes a game system elegant?Leo LesetreMediumElegant Game DesigngabahulkRedditStephen loves jank, and talked about it in"All of this mess that I'm throwing at you."

Horror Games 101 (with multiple guests) Oct 07, 2023

Show notes

It's the first-ever "Nice Games Panel," in which we invite multiple guests on the show to discuss something interesting! Our panelists today include multiple creators who are known for their work on horror games: Schera Wyss, Conner Rush, Henry Hoare, Samuel Guglielmo, and Nick F. We discuss the fundamental nature of horror as a genre (or maybe a theme or an "orientation"), and what devs should consider if they're looking to make horror games that haunt players long after the end credits roll.

Photo credit - Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels

Horror Games 101

Game Design DreadXP SCP Foundation: Secure, Contain, Protect - collaborative fiction, Wikidot

"Sweet, sweet Toronto sounds." Completionism; Educating Intuition Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

Mark is back from Toronto, and guest host Holly Harrison is back in the clubhouse! Holly completes a topic, Stephen likes that part, and Ellen reads half a book.

0:09:09

Completionism

Confessions of a Semi-Reformed Video Game CompletionistMatthew GaultViceResearch on the Effects of MediaDouglas GentileComposition with Red Blue and Yellow (Piet Mondrian)WikipediaHieronymus Bosch painted sheet music on a man's butt and now you can hear itSarah DoughertyThe World0:52:56

Educating Intuition

Educating IntuitionRobin M. HogarthThe University of Chicago PressDoorway effectWikipedia

Much Ado About Unity (with Freya Holmér) Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

Earlier today, Unity issued an update to their controversial "runtime fee" policy introduced last week. What changed? What didn't? How could this have even happened? What does it mean going forward? Can we ever trust Unity again?

We get into all of it, from the original announcement on September 12th, to the "open letter" update and "fireside chat" on September 22nd. Your nice hosts are joined by special guest and "Unity Insider" Freya Holmér, who offers some additional context and much-needed clarity about the events of the last 10 days.

Unity Runtime Fee and Subsequent Policy Correction

The original policy: "Unity plan pricing and packaging updates"UnityThe current policy: "An open letter to our community"UnityUnity's Marc Whitten - Answers Unity Price Policy Jason WeimannYouTube'Flappy Bird' Guy Gets $12 Million Bill From UnityMark RoebuckHard Drive

An example of tubing between two different rain water barrels. — **Working on a Bigger Team (with Julia Keren-Detar)** Sep 14, 2023
Show notes

We continue the recent production talks this week as we welcome Julia Keren-Detar into the clubhouse! The discussion topic is "working on a bigger team" but we also somehow talk about rain water barrels at some point? It's relevant, I swear.
Mushroom 11 - Untame, Steam
Working on a Bigger Team
Production Work: A deep history, from the stone age to the age of robots - James Suzman, Penguin Random House An example of what Ellen brings up during the episode, probably.

Nice Games Jam: "Cat Time" Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

It's been a while but your nice hosts come up with a game in roughly an hour, this one for the cat owners out there! After a fairly long meta, we get into the mind of a cat and design a competitive game for them to play.

PromptCreate a game my mother can (and wants to) play with her cats, with the supply list below. Bonus points if this can be played a single cat or multiple cats at the same time, for optimum usefulness in listener households with single catsGame typeDesign documentPlayer count2Materials

At least two cats

A cat toy shaped like a die with a treat inside

List of activities the die points to

Setup

Pick an end date for when the game stops (can be arbitrary).

Rules

Give the cats the cat toy shaped like a die, they will roll the die and leave it eventually, and this determines the next activity for the human to set up. Once the die decides what the next activity is, the human sets it up based on a chart. Once the task is completed and cats are awarded points, repeat the die roll and do the next activity until the end date (since remember, you're on Cat Time so the amount of activities you do depends on your cats). The winner is the cat with the most points by the end!

Examples of tasks (there would be at least 20):

Cat task: One cat at a time for this challenge. Put something on top of the cat’s head and start the stopwatch. Whichever cat keeps the object on their head the longest gets X points.
Cat task: Make a loud meowing sound. Whichever cat looks at you first gets X points.
Human task: Award the cat who has been the best sport X points.
Cat task: Hold both cats in your hands. Whichever cat jumps off first LOSES. Winner gets X points.
Cat task: Place a ring of non-breakable objects (probably cat toys) around the edge of a table so that the tabletop is fully circled by objects. Place both cats, the task ends when both cats are off the table. Each cat gets a number of points equal to a multiplier of the number of objects that were knocked off the table.
Cat task: Put the same number of treats in each hand. Call both cats over for them to snack from your hands. Whichever cat finishes their treats first is the winner and gets X points.
Human task: Pick the cat that you feel the most sorry for and award them X points.
Human task: Pick the cat that currently looks the sleepiest and sit them out for the next challenge.