Coffee with Butterscotch: A Game Dev Comedy Podcast

In this episode, we discuss perceived problems, invisible hand-holding, and playtesting hijinks. The most sensitive part of the game experience is onboarding, so testing that onboarding is important! To get the most out of it, you need to understand the context your testers bring along with them. Otherwise, it’ll be impossible to analyze the results. Even if the rest of your game is spectacular, a bad onboarding experience can be a dealbreaker.

This week, we talk about flying spoons, spooky season, and handy checklists. Before adding an ingredient to a recipe, you need to know what you’re making and what that ingredient does. Similarly, adding a new enemy to a game requires understanding what kind of game you’re making and how the addition will change the player experience. As we always say, context is everything! (But having some checklists doesn’t hurt.)

n this episode, we discuss memoizing, robomancing, and master-minding. The emotional roller coaster of excitement, frustration, annoyance, relief, and joy is part and parcel of running a game studio. From a game’s concept to its release, you have to manage So. Many. Logistics. Mastering that art is how the battle is won… or lost.

This week, we talk about sleep science, meaningful death, and cultivating self-compassion. It’s common to doubt your abilities and feel like a fraud in your work life. But thinking “It’s only a matter of time before people realize I’m not that good at what I do” will only make you doubt every action you take. Being honest about what you know and don’t know is crucial for clarity, but should come along with heaps of self-compassion to keep you going. After all, it’s doing the work that’s important, not the perception of what you’re doing!

In this episode, we discuss Thor’s Bifrost, gravity indifferent walls, and designed experiences. How do you construct a unique player experience and actually deliver that intended experience using the tools you have? Do you create a procedurally generated world or intervene and do it yourself? Well, that depends on the scale of the game and what kinds of story moments you want the player to have!

This week, we talk about captive audiences, synchronized teams, and the no code revolution. As tools get better and require less expertise to use, a whole new world is opening up to people who didn't have access before. The problem is when you run into the limitations of the tool you're using -- anything the tool can't do, you can't do. You want the shortest learning curve with the most design expressivity. There's always a trade-off, so you gotta know where it is!

In this episode, we discuss layers on layers on layers. It’s more useful to think of most things in terms of levels – of accessibility, of interaction, of knowledge. When you’re designing, design with those things in mind so that you can engage different people in different ways. That’s how you move beyond one note sweets to more satisfying desserts. (Though we still wouldn’t necessarily say no to the former.) Questions answered (abbreviated): - TimConceivable: When you developed Crashlands, did you tailor the gameplay experience to favor a specific platform? Have you considered this with Crashlands 2? - Beekie Boppaboop: Do you have plans for how you’ll build a community around a game that doesn’t feature community content? To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about DVD choices, inkblot movies, and shutting out the world. When you’re exploring a paradigm shift, a big part of that upfront investment is learning and creating new processes. Skills and concepts might be transferable, and the mechanical parts can be reproduced, but the thing that’s going to take time is developing context fluency. Remember though, if you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else is going to. Questions answered (abbreviated): - RoninGameDev: Given infinite resources, do you still feel like you would switch to 3D, and how will all the time spent on the Game Changer affect this decision? Things mentioned: - Everything Everywhere All at Once - Bose QuietComfort Earbuds To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss secrets, knowledge mastery, and buffing pawns. Gameplay loops keep players engaged, but it’s all too easy to only think about mechanical loops. Providing various levels of engagement allows players to meet the game at different breadths and depths. And when things change, make sure they can cascade. Questions answered (abbreviated): - Mimmabip Gourkee: How do you balance your games? Things mentioned: - Tunic - Adam Millard, Why Tunic Hides Its Tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzqv0bKLz2o) To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about hidden information, player choice, and doing less. Things are often different than what you think they’re going to be, and that’s okay! But if you mistake activity for progress, you’ve fallen into a guaranteed trap. The discovery of the things you shouldn’t do might just be the most valuable discovery of all. Questions answered (abbreviated): - RoninGameDev: Is LevelHead's full screen fake? - RoninGameDev: Does Adam being CEO change the pressure at all? In those moments of panic or doubt, does the fact that Adam is driving the direction of the studio help you not worry? Things mentioned: - Elden Ring - Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss more fan poking, feeding the beast, and reframing productivity. We had our quarterly review, and it was, as usual, illuminating! Productivity isn’t just about making stuff, and having more stuff isn’t always better. Sure, you could walk from NY to LA and feel like you’re making progress the entire time, but is that the best way to get to LA? No questions this week, but we'll hit some up next time! To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about the nightmare of incentives, design arms race, and price. Despite what economists tell you, you can’t assume a can opener. Or a spherical cow for that matter. And certainly not a can opener that can open a spherical cow. Pricing signals much more than just the price to the consumer, and supply/demand curves are more shapes than you think. Questions answered (abbreviated): - Suavignon: How do you set the price of a game? To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss opinion bludgeons, resource allocation, and quality time. By now, you know that we like to answer questions with questions. Context is important and you should always know why! In the long term, reducing cognitive load is the name of the game – everything else is a trap. Questions answered (abbreviated): - JohnFlavin: Do you track your time? If so, how do you do it (tools, workflow, etc.)? If you don't, have you tried it and how did it go? Things mentioned: - Register to watch our live interview on the Favro Learn From Leaders podcast on March 31! Check the registration page for the time! https://tinyurl.com/bscotch-favro - https://toggl.com/track/ - https://www.rescuetime.com/ To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about beach funerals, clock shenanigans, and evaluating feedback. If you don’t understand why you’re doing something, you’re not engaging in best practices. In relationships, in the perception of time, and in understanding details. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Context is EVERYTHING. Questions answered (abbreviated): - Jumpylumpa Leapylow: On average how many takes do you have for the podcast? Have you ever talked about something that had to be removed? How much time goes into editing? - Mimmabip Gourkee: When receiving feedback on a change players want to your game, how do you determine whether it's a change that a vocal minority want or something that the majority of players would enjoy? Things mentioned: - Register to watch our live interview on the Favro Learn From Leaders podcast on March 31! https://tinyurl.com/bscotch-favro - That podcast episode from NPR: https://tinyurl.com/daylight-savings To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss That One Game, invisible walls, and 30-dimensional space. When you’re trying to navigate unfamiliar territory, it’s useful to have a map. But you have to remember that the map is not the world; it’s a representation of multiple dimensions collapsed down to only two. Not only should you try to understand the thing you’re looking at, but you also need to understand HOW you’re looking at the thing. Questions answered (abbreviated): - QuantumAnomaly: Do you believe you still follow your core values, are they brought up often, or have any of them changed recently? Things mentioned: - Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.