Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Latest Episodes:

"Will you be the best with me?" Gaming Mastery; Strategy Guides and Wikis; Designing Party Games [Nice Replay] Nov 20, 2018

Show notes

#8"Will you be the best with me?"Roundtable2017.01.23

Some firsts in this episode: Our first iTunes review (thanks, Abdiwak!), our first episode of interconnected topics, and our first big ideological disagreement (ooo, drama!).

Gaming Mastery

0:01:33Gamer Motivation Profile quiz - Quantic Foundry

Strategy Guides and Wikis

0:20:45Martha Megarry Gaming Tools (Martha) Pokemon Crystal guide - Nintendo Power (Stephen) Donkey Kong Country 2 guide Nintendo Power's Dragon Warrior giveaway - Press the Buttons

Designing Party Games

0:38:30Mark LaCroix Game Design Ultimate Chicken Horse We Didn’t Playtest This At All!Spaceteam Jackbox Party Pack Save the Whales Sushi Go!Overcooked

Spinning 3D lizzard Gif — **"How would I know that?" Optimization; Pokémon** Nov 15, 2018
Show notes

In this week's episode, Mark tackles optimization and Martha attempts to Catch 'em all.
Widget Satchel is coming to PC and consoles!
TASCAM stands for "TeacAudioSystemsCorporationAmerica."
0:04:53
Optimization
Avoiding Unity Update LoopsBrad KeysMark put his Timer class on GitHubGitHubUnity editor Extensions -The power of OnValidateCJF incStatic Constructors (C# Programming Guide)We talked about the Widget Satchel in a Code Comment EpisodeCode Comment: "Widget Satchel"McDonalds! McDonalds! McDonalds!@mcclure111TwitterVerdent Skies Code CommentCode Comment: "Verdant Skies"ExecuteInEditMode will run your script in edit modeThe Knights of UnityMark was able to quickly find this animated GIF in his archives. He made this 3D model of a lizard creature in the Summer of 1998 (it pre-dates Pokémon's arrival in the US!) using a Windows 95 program called Micrografx Simply 3D.Renaming Serialized FieldsLeonardo CarneiroUnityTexturePacker - Code + Web SoftwareCode and Web0:54:18
Pokémon
Pokémon dual-type charts.Pokémon Y Nuzlocke Challenge PolygonYouTubePokémon Snap was ahead of its timeJenna StoeberPolygonDr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean MachineWikipedia23 Of The Weirdest Pokémon Kyle HilliardGame Informer

"Game workers unite!" Game Dev as a Day Job; Unions Nov 06, 2018

Show notes

This week on Nice Games Club we talk all about the labor of love that is making games for a living: how it can be great, how it can be not-so-great and how it could get better. Mark reports back from a conference, Martha gets on her soap box and Stephen realizes this podcast has been about documenting his career journey this entire time.

Joggernauts by local developer Space Mace is on Steam and Switch!
Joggernauts soundtrack by Robert Frost III
Adobe MAX

0:11:44

Game Dev as a Day Job

Stephen works at Gamesmart!Glitch Jobs Board Gamasutra Jobs BoardGame Developer0:38:53

Unions

Twin Cities Labor Chorus Telltale hit with class-action lawsuit for breaking labor lawsSamit SarkarPolygonInside Rockstar Games' Culture Of CrunchJason SchreierKotakuVox Union Game Workers Unite It's Time For Game Developers To UnionizeJason SchreierKotakuOpinion: Now is the time to unionize the game industryKatherine CrossGame DeveloperMyles Horton - 20th Century Union OrganizerWikipediaUnions Must Address RacismIan Haney LopezAFL-CIO Blog

Self-education, et al. (with Freya Holmer) Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

Freya Holmér, co-founder of Neat Corporation (makers of VR stealth game Budget Cuts) and creator of Shader Forge, joins the clubhouse remotely from Sweden, while your nice hosts join Freya on her regular gamedev Twitch stream.

Freya outlines her theory of gamedev self-education, touching on themes from her Glitchcon 2018 keynote presentation, but wait, there's more! It's an episode that ends half-way though its running time but keeps going anyway, as we branch off into a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to): the social habits of American vs. Swedish game developers, the difference between "duck" and "crouch," accidentally building a LGBT community, and the evolutionary advantage of believing in ghosts.

Self-education, et al.

IRL Misc.You can also find the livestream of the podcast on Freya’s Twitch here!

VR Workflows (with Krista McCullough) Oct 23, 2018

Show notes

On this week’s episode, your nice hosts talk with local artist/developer and VR Creative at Pixel Farm, Krista McCullough, about VR workflows and a lot more!

VR Workflows

Production VR / AR / XR Pixel Farm VR Joyce Minions on Twitter - @minionsart, Twitter Sculptris (free 3D sculpting software)Mike Blackney's exploration of spline-based modelling - Twitter

"All that and a bag of chips." 90s Consoles; Video Game Soundtracks Oct 17, 2018

Show notes

This week your Nice Hosts turn the Club House into a time machine to discuss 90s consoles and listen to some wicked video game soundtracks. Mark teaches us about LaserDisc, Martha is an 8-bit jukebox and Stephen ignores sick burns on jazz. Radical!

90s Slang - Bustle

0:06:35

90s Consoles

Solving the Zelda Timeline in 15 MinutesPolygonYouTubeBBC Domesday projectWikipedia0:38:30

Video Game Soundtracks

Kingdom Hearts Insider Portal (jump pad song) VideoYouTubeLouie Zhong’s Bandcamp Polygon Sims jazz piano videoClayton AshleyPolygon

Code Comment: "Adjacency" Oct 10, 2018

Show notes

This week’s episode is another edition of Code Comment, where your nice hosts look at the project, code, assets, and design of an indie game to see how it’s made.

This week we are joined by Farzan Fatemi of Sleepy Macaw to show us behind the scenes of his abstract puzzle game Adjacency, which is available now on Steam and Itch! Martha steals Mark's line, Stephen and Mark discuss the idiosyncrasies of Unity and at the end of the episode Farzan reveals some surprising opinions about puzzle games.

Buy Adjacency now on Steam and Itch!

Video

"They don't call it 'full.'" Space Exploration games; Gaming Habits Oct 02, 2018

Show notes

This week, Stephen promises he can stop whenever he wants, Martha gets there eventually, and Mark earns 100%.

If you like The Good Place, check out The Good Place: The Podcast! - Podcast

0:06:18

Space Exploration games

"Elite: the game that changed the world" Adam LusherThe Telegraph"BBC releases computer history archive" BBChttps://www.polygon.com/2017/12/25/16817700/elite-dangerous-fuel-rats-rescue-cm…Owen S. GoodPolygon"New Book Chronicles The Continuing History Of EVE Online" Lee YancyKotaku"Warring EVE Online Factions Declare Peace, For Money" Lee YancyKotaku"Star Citizen’s $27,000 bundle raises eyebrows" Charlie HallPolygon0:46:05

Gaming Habits

The Surrounding Game, a recent documentary about American players of Go."Develop 2015 Highlights Rami Ismail, Indie Keynote"Develop Conference and Rami IsmailYouTube

Nice Games Jam: "Ha-Ha!" Sep 25, 2018

Show notes

This week on Nice Games Club we are trying out a new type of episode: Nice Games Jam! We get a topic from Martha’s boyfriend Dylan and then attempt to create a playable game by the end of the episode. We then include the rules here in the show notes for you to play at home!

Let us know what you think of this episode format on the feedback from!

Prompta realtime card game [for PC]Game typeCard gameMaterials

52 Card deck + two jokers

Six sided die (One per Player)

A stuffed trophy - we used a plush Toad! but a jesther hat would be the most appropriate

Setup

Each player starts with seven cards.

Rules

This game happens in real time. No turns!
Roll for six with the dice, if so draw a card then pass it or another card in your hand to someone
If you’re passed a card, you have to discard a card that was not passed to you.
Having a joker allows you to pick up the TROPHY (Toad) on a roll of six.
If you pick up the TROPHY (Toad), the game stops, you announce you have a joker and are looking for another, if someone has it they have to give it to you, the person losing a joker draws a card, the person gaining the joker discards a card.
If you have two jokers, you can end the game early by saying “haha!” at any point.
If you gain a joker you cannot discard it.
The game ends if someone says “haha!” or as soon as the deck runs out (and all card passes are resolved.)
If you have the highest poker hand, you win!