Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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Nice Plays: "Newt One" (2018) Feb 27, 2018

Show notes

This week on Nice Plays, the show where the Nice Games Club gamedevs play nice games, we played two just-released local indie games.

Martha played the life-simulation game Verdant Skies, and Stephen played the non-violent 3D platformer Newt One. We had a lot to say about both, which we loved, and not just because the developers are friends of the show.

You can watch both episodes on YouTube by using the links below, or by visiting this episode's page on https://nicegames.club

Video

"Idea! Idea! Idea! Idea!" Achievements; Puzzle Design Feb 21, 2018

Show notes

This week, your nice hosts talk about Star Trek for longer than usual, and Mortho returns with an NGC Sports Update. Also: Stephen executes a delicious self-own in a discussion on Achievements, Mark sings a song about cities, and Martha hopes to design puzzles that even Stephen will appreciate.

0:08:10

Achievements

Portal 2’s best achievement: This is the Part Where He Kills YouBuddytheRatYouTubeAchievement Unlocked is a parody game about achievements HUDdled Ludum Dare Nice Plays special The Simpsons GameAchievementBrosYouTubeAlexander Hamilton, a Federalist, probably wouldn’t have liked Achievements eit…0:39:46

Puzzle Design

Level Design Workshop: Solving Puzzle DesignJolie MenzelGDCAnalysis: Puzzle Design in the Myst SeriesGregory WeirGame DeveloperTim Schafer on Day of the Tentacle’s awful car wash puzzle: “[It] seemed a lot …Bob MackeyUSgamerThis Might Be Persona 5's Biggest Localization FailChris KohlerKotakuGrumpy Gamer on Puzzle Dependency ChartsYe Olde Grumpy Gamer BlogOur pal Martin’s company Abstract Puzzle makes games including Puzzle Prison VR Visual Understanding Environment is an Open Source project for managing digital…Embedded Puzzle ManifestoJoey JonesFar Far Future

Three Kirby Plushies hang out on Stephen's desk — **"Martha's philosophy on life." Merch; Starting a Game** Feb 13, 2018
Show notes

This week, Martha goes into more detail about her game, Stephen gushes about all the plushies he wants and Mark reminisces about the good old days of Super Mario Bros. 3.
0:07:49
Merch
Stephen's Kirby CornerThe Nintendo World Store is an awesome place for sweet Nintendo swag."Blown Up Game Boy From The Gulf War" Vince VenezianiTechCrunchMark's pikman plushie watches over his demo setupMark’s “Tails” aka Miles Prower plush!TopataCo is a nice place to host your merch at.The Space Junk team made stickers of their garbage!Don’t you just want to hug a Sprocket of your own?Here’s an older gif of Fingeance’s enemies.Metro Nexus maps would make great posters, right?The Joggernauts team has been selling their pins everywhere you can find them!The Coleslaw Council’s official pin design.0:39:18
Starting a Game
Martha started working on her point and click gameRon Gilbert’s blog Thimbleweed Park devWe’ve talked a bit about Programmer Art in a previous episode"Bananas, from here to eternity."Martha realized during the show that the Usborne puzzle adventures were influen…

**"Martha's philosophy on life." Merch; Starting a Game** Feb 13, 2018
Show notes

This week, Martha goes into more detail about her game, Stephen gushes about all the plushies he wants and Mark reminisces about the good old days of Super Mario Bros. 3.
0:07:49
Merch
Stephen's Kirby CornerThe Nintendo World Store is an awesome place for sweet Nintendo swag."Blown Up Game Boy From The Gulf War" Vince VenezianiTechCrunchMark's pikman plushie watches over his demo setupMark’s “Tails” aka Miles Prower plush!TopataCo is a nice place to host your merch at.The Space Junk team made stickers of their garbage!Don’t you just want to hug a Sprocket of your own?Here’s an older gif of Fingeance’s enemies.Metro Nexus maps would make great posters, right?The Joggernauts team has been selling their pins everywhere you can find them!The Coleslaw Council’s official pin design.0:39:18
Starting a Game
Martha started working on her point and click gameRon Gilbert’s blog Thimbleweed Park devWe’ve talked a bit about Programmer Art in a previous episode"Bananas, from here to eternity."Martha realized during the show that the Usborne puzzle adventures were influen…

Global Game Jam 2018 Special Feb 07, 2018

Show notes

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, GGJ
Mark’s GGJ gam: ”CMYK”. - Mark's GGJ Team, GGJ
Marth's GGJ Interviews
Adia 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

Intergalactic Transmissing found the community at nesdev.com a great resource f…Mark used a very helpful open-source library called VRTK for his GGJ game.Mark used AssetForge to create 3D assets for his GGJ game.Rachel Peterson was a guest on a previous episode.Games Education

Nice Plays: Lethal League (2014) Jan 30, 2018

Show notes

(Watch this and other Nice Plays on YouTube in HD-quality.)

All three of your nice hosts play ball in this episode, taking each other to task in the super-playful party fighter Lethal League. Martha almost beats Stephen, Stephen patiently tries to explain it to Mark, and Mark doesn't understand what's happening even when he's winning.

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Nice Plays: Nioh (2017) Jan 30, 2018

Show notes

(Watch this and other Nice Plays on YouTube in HD-quality.)

In this episode, Mark dies a lot in Nioh, but his complaining has nothing to do with that.

We're trying something new with Nice Plays, where we pick up our episode a little ways into a game rather that starting from the beginning. We'll also be talking about a particular mechanic or feature in the game which relates to a topic we had discussed in detail on a previous episode of the podcast.

We're taking baby steps in this direction with this episode, where we pick up about an hour into the game, and focus a bit on the loot system. Your nice hosts discussed loot systems (and loot boxes) a few weeks ago in the episode "I have so much feelings." (https://nicegames.club/2018/01/i-have-so-much-feelings-loot-systems-loot-boxes/)

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"Videogame turducken." Steam; Games in Games Jan 23, 2018

Show notes

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.

0:10:06

Steam

The biggest issues with Steam in 2017, according to 230 developersLars DoucetPC GamerVerdant Skies will be out on Steam real soon!We previously talked about Steam Direct in the clubhouse..."We joke here."...and had Andy, Beth and Gabe Korth in to discuss Steam Greenlight.Steam Greenlight

A few alternatives to Steam: Itch.io, Good Old Games, Humble Bundle, Robot Cache.

So You Want To Compete With SteamLars DoucetGame Developer0:43:35

Games in Games

TV Tropes has a great list of games within games.The secret world of hidden gamesK. Thor JensenGeek.com

Microsoft Excel ‘95 contained Hall of Tortured Souls and Excel ‘97 had a space simulator!

Long Lost Emulation Easter Egg Discovered in GoldenEyeKate CoxKotakuInside the Development of Gaming's Biggest Mystery, 'Frog Fractions 2'Patrick KlepekWaypointUncharted 4 Has The Perfect Video Game EndingLuke PlunkettKotakuWolfenstein 3D returns with a twist in Wolfenstein 2Patrick GillPolygonOne of Martha’s favorite games, Spy Fox in Dry Cereal, contains a small game ca…

Character Dialogue (with Felix Foster) Jan 16, 2018

Show notes

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 Design Production Felix mentions The Prophet from The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, who is looking for… - xenmordoc, YouTube Here’s examples of audio logs from Bioshock Infinite. - YouTube Fallout 4’s 'Full Dialogue' Mod Makes The Game Way Better - Kirk Hamilton, Kotaku Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 1: Introduction - Alexander Freed, Game Developer Clementine Won't Remember That: The False Promises of Telltale's The Walking De… - Matthew Byrd, , Den of GeekWe talked about character creation and motivations in a previous episode,"Shaniqua Shepard sounds cool."

Nicest of 2017 Jan 09, 2018

Show notes

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.

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Martha’s/Mortho’s Nicest (2017)

Thimbleweed ParkTerrible Toybox, IncSlime RancherMonomi ParkDestiny 2BungieCheck 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."0:22:09

Mark’s Nicest (2017)

Star Trek: Bridge CrewUbisoftGorogoaBuried Signal & Annapurna InteractiveThe old school Star Trek game we reminisced about is probably Star Trek: The Ne…Spectrum HolobyteWe talked about VR immersion in a past episode"You can see the cabbage in it."If you are local stop by Glitch’s VR Night run by Mark!The Puzzle Of A Lifetime Chris Kohler Kotaku0:32:33

Stephen’s Nicest (2017)

ArmsNintendoNeurovoiderFlying Oak GamesHear more about Stephen’s love for fighting games on our Fighting game topci in episode, "Shaniqua Shepard sounds cool."0:38:35