Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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 th...

"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 pre...

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.perp...

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 Prompt Design a racing game in a historical setting. Game type Tabletop game Player count 2 - 4 Materials Map book 4-sided dice Meeple to represe...

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 suggestion...

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...

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 comments Ellen Spertus Stack Overflow Blog Declare namespaces to organi...

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 Bette...

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...

As MEMODEMO, Kobe Anthony creates music for video games and inspired by video games. In this episode, we learn about Kobe's creative process for composing music. He also shares a bit about how he uses his DAW (digital audio workstation) to capture sounds and convert them into melody and beats. Also featured in this episode: memes, rhythm games, and three seconds of terrible beatboxing. Creative Pr...

Stephen brings a half-baked thought into the clubhouse for this Nice Thinking episode: how can we improve dialogue systems? He's got some opinions, which Mark and Ellen immediately debunk, but it leads to some engaging conversation. Dialogue Through Goals

Last month, Mark gave a talk at the IGDATC Gamedev Meeting about what it might mean to take game development seriously as an artistic practice, theorizing that video games are still a very young and immature medium by that standard. It's "sorta-Socratic" seminar, a set of three case studies, and a string of stone cold bummers that ends on a hopeful note. Your game has a message... did you write it...

In the episode, Mark, Ellen, and Stephen talk local events, including (don’t worry everyone’s fine) a fire in the clubhouse’s building, construction, and the games they are playing, so if you are just here for the topics, go ahead and skip to minute 23. Ellen learns about King Making, Stephen humble brags about being good at Smash Brothers, and Dale plays kingmaker in naming the second topic! News...

Most of our favorite games aren't created by solo devs; they're created by groups of people. And, when you get a bunch of people together in a group, culture happens . So, what makes for a good working culture in a game development team? How do you establish such a thing and maintain it? When we say someone doesn't "fit the culture" of a team, what does that mean—and what should the team do about...

In this more games-adjacent episode, Mark recounts his experiences at the South by Southwest conference this year! Many fascinating discoveries to be found within that topic, in addition to Stephen's continued obsession with Dragon's Dogma 2 and Ellen's experience with the podcast as a listener. Stagg EKG Pro Electric Kettle  -  Fellow Stephen's used this for a couple of weeks now (in fact as he's...

In this Episode Seth Fulkerson joins us in the clubhouse to talk the game engine, GameMaker. Seth is a long time user of GameMaker who's latest project is "Arzette: the Jewel of Faramore." The clubhouse discusses the history of GameMaker, the scripting language GML, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system. And Stephen learns a bunch of the stuff he wished he knew when he actively using...

We’re joined this week by Laura Onderwater, friend of the show! Laura is an experienced concept artist currently working with Greensky Games. In this interview, she shares a bit about her workflow and how she thinks about worldbuilding from an artistic perspective. Plus, your hosts learn when to cry into a pillow, and Stephen repeatedly asks for THE limit. Greensky Games SWARM - "The Epic Arcade S...

Your nice hosts conclude their GDC 2024 coverage with a pair of interviews they conducted at the show. Mark catches a post-show cold, Stephen gets over his, and Ellen thought everything sounded great. Midwest Games / Carbon Engine Midwest Games Midwest Games Chris Klimecky  -  LinkedIn Midwest Games - Work with us Carbon Engine Carbon Engine  -  Limited Run Shantae Advance  -  Shantae Wiki Arzette...

And now, the conclusion (sorta!), as tour nice hosts recount the back half of the week at this year's GDC. It's a long one, but there's somehow even more on our Patreon . GDC 2024 Special (Part 2) ReSpec: Accountability Support How Nintendo made Super Mario Bros. Wonder so weird Andrew Webster The Verge Jack Foley (sound effects artist) Wikipedia The return of 1ReasonToBe and why we still need it...

Some of your nice hosts, plus some nice guest hosts, traveled to San Fransisco last week for the 2024 Game Developers Conference. There was so much to see and do and it ended up being too much for just one episode... actually, it was too much for just two episodes! So, how much GDC 2024 content is there exactly? Well, plans changed and it's too complex to summarize here, so be nice and have a list...

It's our first roundtable of the year! And did you know that Minneapolis is "partnered up" with Saint Paul? Stephen's not sure what either of these topics have to do with game development, but don't worry—we get there. Ellen kicks off a conversation about how the people we work with have a huge influence on what we create, and the experience of creating it. Mark tries to explain "control flow" in...

The clubhouse is caffeinated and ready to jam, game jam that is. The clubhouse is giving a prompt where air movement is the main mechanism of action and they create a physical game for a tabletop (in the style of 'Hungry Hungry Hippos'). The notoriously unpredictable 'Eddies' of air movement gives this game it's name. The main challenge for the team - a more sanitary air blower mechanism than drin...

We're all back in the clubhouse for the first episode of 2024! There's some news about the show up top, but in terms of your nice hosts: Ellen has important job happenings, Mark establishes important business for IGDATC and Stephen remembers he's good at game design, but not much else. What We Did On Our Winter Break (2023-24) 2024 GDC Public Events Grace Zhou South By Southwest Charles Mingus - M...

#319 Getting Things Going Interview 2023.08.24 In this episode your nice hosts welcome Rick Stemm of PikPok to the clubhouse to talk about what happens after a game gets greenlit. Turns out the answer involves building your team and trust. Rick touts the idea of a sh*tty first draft - faster and worse. Coaching feedback givers for what you are looking for, and the importance of building a trust in...

#296 "Metroid is very serious." Roundtable 2023.03.16 In this episode, Mark makes up a reason to take a road trip, Ellen outwits everyone, and Stephen was also there. Zachtronics Solitaire Collection LACMA A Better Route Planner Secrets & Easter Eggs 0:24:43 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design The Super Mario 64 Coin that Took 18 Years To Collect  -  Patricia Hernandez ,  Kotaku PC Cheat Codes  -  IGN...