Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week in the clubhouse, Stephen breaks the ice, Martha dreams of writing passwords, and Mark makes a Jurassic Park reference (@ us if you recognize it!). Our pal Abdiwak Yohannes is making Boji: Boji theme song on Soundcloud! - Abdiwak Yohannes Boji in action! - @heyglitch, Twitter Boji Animated! - @heyglitch, Twitter Regular news "Super Mario Maker 2 news dump"  - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica Mark "invented" the Semi-Automatic Mario level genre for the original Super Mario Maker! It did not catch on... We played the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for one of our Nice Plays video episodes. Martha hated it. Nice Plays: Super Mario Bros. 2 [Japan] (1986) Game Length 0:13:08 Stephen McGregor Game Design "Assassin’s Creed Odyssey really picks up after the first 15 hours"  - Ben Kuchera, Polygon "Length Matters"  - Ben Lindbergh, The Ringer Saving and Loading Systems 0:44:41 Martha Megarry Programming "Saved, But Not Forgotten: The evolution of saving in video games"  - Mark Christian, Tedium "In Dishonored, You're Either a Cheater or a Serial Killer"  - Chris Kohler and Chris Baker, Wired LOVE, a “challenging but fair platformer.” - Nintendo.com "How to Hack Your Game Saves: A Basic Guide to Hex Editing"  - Alex Wong, Null Byte We talked with Andy Korth about how he developed forward compatibility for the save system in Verdant Skies (among other topics) on an episode of Code Comment. Code Comment: "Verdant Skies" We talked with Andy Korth about how he developed forward compatibility for the save system in Verdant Skies (among other topics) on an episode of Code Comment. Code Comment: "Verdant Skies"

This week on Nice Games Club we rack up a ridiculous number of points while discussing scoring systems, lives and continues! We debate whether these systems are relics from the arcade past or are still relevant game mechanics. Martha makes up numbers, Mark quantifies the Star Trek Universe and Stephen gets the high score. Show notes: Meta Mega Minne Multi Indie Mini Arcade The Greatest Discovery podcast [0:15:10] Scoring Systems Clicker Heroes [0:38:52] Lives and Continues

This week on Nice Games Club we rack up a ridiculous number of points while discussing scoring systems, lives and continues! We debate whether these systems are relics from the arcade past or are still relevant game mechanics. Martha makes up numbers, Mark quantifies the Star Trek Universe and Stephen gets the high score. Mega Minne Multi Indie Mini Arcade The Greatest Discovery podcast - Podcast Scoring Systems 0:15:10 Mark LaCroix Game Design Clicker Heroes - Wikipedia Lives and Continues 0:38:52 Stephen McGregor Game Design

It's another dispatch of the Nice Games Bulletin! Your nice hosts talk E3, Star Trek, and weaponized nostalgia, then eventually get around to discussing the latest news and releases in video games, including important developments in workers rights, console certification mishaps, and the live-action debut of more than one ugly rodent. Meta “The Deep Space Nine Anniversary Documentary Is Hitting Theaters for One Day Only” - James Whitbrook, io9 [0:06:24] Recent and upcoming releases "Ronda Rousey Being In Mortal Kombat 11 Is Bullshit" - Heather Alexandra, Kotaku "Labo VR: how Mario and Zelda look and play in virtual reality" - Thomas Morgan, Eurogamer "Bubsy: Paws On Fire! Comes To Switch In May Whether You Want It To Or Not" - Ryan Craddock, NintendoLife "F. Gary Gray Is Working on a Saints Row Movie Adaptation" - Julie Muncy, Wired [0:28:15] News Just saw Avengers: Endgame and want to talk about America's Ass? Subscribe to "Felix Drags Dale Through the Marvel Universe" (available wherever you get your podcasts)! "Over 150 Riot Employees Walk Out To Protest Forced Arbitration And Sexist Culture [Updated]" - Cecilia D'Anastasio and Nathan Grayson, Kotaku "Riot Games employees walk out to protest forced arbitration in sexual harassment claims" - Sarah Min, CBS News "As Riot Games employees walk out, discontent swirls among video game industry workers" - Matthew Smith and Nicole Karlis, Salon "Epic buys Rocket League developer Psyonix, strongly hints it will stop selling the game on Steam" - Nick Statt, The Verge "Nintendo Removes Game From Switch Shop After Developer Reveals Secret Code Editor" - Nathan Grayson, Kotaku Play the web version of "A Dark Room" for free here. VR News! "Valve Index reveal: The best of VR’s first generation—but is it worth $999?" - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica "Oculus Quest review: 2019’s best new gaming system is wireless, affordable VR" - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica "Hands-on with the new $399 Oculus Rift S: More pixels, zero webcams, better fit" - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica "Pitchford promises no “free-to-play junk” for Borderlands 3" - Kyle Orland, Ars Technica "Speedrunner Smashes A Computer-Assisted Super Mario Bros. Record By A Single Frame" - Natalie Degraffinried, Kotaku "Xbox Has New Guidelines on How to Talk Trash Without Getting Banned" - Nicole Carpenter, Motherboard "God of War Director Weighs In On Sonic the Hedgehog Design Changes" - Tyler Fischer, Comicbook.com

It's another dispatch of the Nice Games Bulletin! Your nice hosts talk E3, Star Trek, and weaponized nostalgia, then eventually get around to discussing the latest news and releases in video games, including important developments in workers rights, console certification mishaps, and the live-action debut of more than one ugly rodent. The Deep Space Nine Anniversary Documentary Is Hitting Theaters for One Day Onl… - James Whitbrook, IO9 Bulletin topic (Recent releases) Timecode 0:06:24 Ronda Rousey Being In Mortal Kombat 11 Is Bullshit - Heather Alexandra, Kotaku Labo VR: how Mario and Zelda look and play in virtual reality - Thomas Morgan, Eurogamer Bubsy: Paws On Fire! Comes To Switch In May Whether You Want It To Or Not - Ryan Craddock, NintendoLife F. Gary Gray Is Working on a Saints Row Movie Adaptation  - Julie Muncy, Wired Bulletin topic (News) Timecode 0:28:15 Just saw Avengers: Endgame and want to talk about America's Ass? Subscribe to "Felix Drags Dale Through the Marvel Universe" (available wherever you get your podcasts)! Felix and Dale Podcast Over 150 Riot Employees Walk Out To Protest Forced Arbitration And Sexist Cultu… - Cecilia D'Anastasio and Nathan Grayson, Kotaku As Riot Games employees walk out, discontent swirls among video game industry w… - Matthew Smith and Nicole Karlis, Salon Epic buys Rocket League developer Psyonix, strongly hints it will stop selling … - Nick Statt, The Verge Nintendo Removes Game From Switch Shop After Developer Reveals Secret Code Edit… - Nathan Grayson, Kotaku Play the web version of "A Dark Room" for free here. VR News! Valve Index reveal: The best of VR’s first generation—but is it worth $999?  - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica Oculus Quest review: 2019’s best new gaming system is wireless, affordable VR - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica Hands-on with the new $399 Oculus Rift S: More pixels, zero webcams, better fit - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica More News! Pitchford promises no “free-to-play junk” for Borderlands 3 - Kyle Orland, Ars Technica Speedrunner Smashes A Computer-Assisted Super Mario Bros. Record By A Single Fr… - Natalie Degraffinried, Kotaku Xbox Has New Guidelines on How to Talk Trash Without Getting Banned - Nicole Carpenter, Motherboard God of War Director Weighs In On Sonic the Hedgehog Design Changes - Tyler Fischer, Comicbook.com

This week on the program is another Nice Games Jam, where we are given a prompt from Martha’s boyfriend (and Evil Games Club co-host) Dylan, which we have to use to create a playable game prototype by the end of the episode. The prompt was to create a paper prototype of a game that combines "hilarious movement" like in games like Gang Beasts or Octodad with a card game. You can play the prototype of our creation "Blob Ball" at home using the rules below. Maybe we'll actually make the video game version sometime! Rules for "Blob Ball!" Number of players: 3 players- 2 as game opponents and 1 as AI physics Materials for Paper Prototype 3 Decks of cards 2 decks for the two players Separate out the face cards Place on the starting line for each player Put all other cards aside 1 deck for AI physics Sort into suits Pull out Ace-4 and the face cards from the Hearts suit to make the blob movement Heart deck and set all other hearts aside Give one suite deck other than hearts to each player and keep one for physics. These suit decks will be used to play war to determine who has control of the ball. 1 Joker to be the blob ball placed in the center of the field Goal Move blob past opponent’s starting line Characters Jack, moves 3 spaces without the ball, 1 space with the ball Queen, moves 2 spaces with or without ball (ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it) King, moves 1 space with or without the ball Each player has three actions to do things on their turn Move a character (only can move an individual character once per turn) Lift blob (auto chance to lift blob if the player ends turn with three cards on it) Move blob (only once per turn- ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it) When picking up blob: Need at least 3 cards on blob to pick it up. Play “war” with AI physics player using the physics suit decks- higher card (plus any player bonus points) wins Numbers worth their number (Ace is worth 1) Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13 Bonus for each card on blob: King +2, Queen +1, Jack +0 If opponent is also on the blob, they get to play in the war hand as well to defend with their bonuses and prevent blob movement If blob falls out by Physics winning in “war”: Throw ace of hearts to determine direction. The end point of the heart is the direction it moves Draw from the Heart deck of Jack (worth 1), Queen (worth 1), King (worth 1), Ace (worth 1), 2, 3, and 4 to determine amount of movement.

This week on the program is another Nice Games Jam, where we are given a prompt from Martha’s boyfriend (and Evil Games Club co-host) Dylan, which we have to use to create a playable game prototype by the end of the episode. The prompt was to create a paper prototype of a game that combines "hilarious movement" like in games like Gang Beasts or Octodad with a card game. You can play the prototype of our creation "Blob Ball" at home using the rules below. Maybe we'll actually make the video game version sometime! Prompt create a paper prototype of a game that combines "hilarious movement" like in games like Gang Beasts or Octodad with a card game. Game type Paper prototype Player count 3 Materials 3 decks of cards 1 joker to be the blob ball Setup 2 decks of cards for the two players ( 1 Deck each) Separate out the face cards Place on the starting line for each player Put all other cards aside 1 deck of card for the for AI physics Sort into suits Pull out Ace-4 and the face cards from the Hearts suit to make the blob movement Heart deck and set all other hearts aside Give one suite deck other than hearts to each player and keep one for physics. These suit decks will be used to play war to determine who has control of the ball. 1 Joker to be the blob ball placed in the center of the field Rules Goal Move blob past opponent’s starting line Characters Jack, moves 3 spaces without the ball, 1 space with the ball Queen, moves 2 spaces with or without ball (ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it) King, moves 1 space with or without the ball Each player has three actions to do things on their turn Move a character (only can move an individual character once per turn) Lift blob (auto chance to lift blob if the player ends turn with three cards on it) Move blob (only once per turn- ball can only move as fast as the slowest character on it) When picking up blob: Need at least 3 cards on blob to pick it up. Play “war” with AI physics player using the physics suit decks- higher card (plus any player bonus points) wins Numbers worth their number (Ace is worth 1) Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13 Bonus for each card on blob: King +2, Queen +1, Jack +0 If opponent is also on the blob, they get to play in the war hand as well to defend with their bonuses and prevent blob movement If blob falls out by Physics winning in “war”: Throw ace of hearts to determine direction. The end point of the heart is the direction it moves Draw from the Heart deck of Jack (worth 1), Queen (worth 1), King (worth 1), Ace (worth 1), 2, 3, and 4 to determine amount of movement.

This week, Martha fills the clubhouse with tales of her trip to the League of Legends Spring Split event in St. Loius, Mark gets to talk about another of his wonky "nonsense topics," and Stephen can't quite explain what he doesn't like about a thing. Meta “Long Lost ‘Zork’ Source Code Uploaded to GitHub, But Few People Understand It” - Nicole Carpenter, Motherboard Play The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy - 30th Anniversary Edition for free in your browser. [0:09:21] Video Game Events “Out of traffic, into a ditch” - Rachel Kraus, Mashable City Museum on Wikipedia “The Overprotected Kid” - Hanna Rosen, The Atlantic Martha took pictures at the 2019 League Championship Series event she attended in St. Louis: “My Hunt For The Mysterious Man Or Machine Controlling The Blizzard Arena's Light-Up Halo” - Maddy Myers, Compete [0:32:58] Color Theory “A Bullet Hell Set In Hell That's Heaven To Play” - Ethan Gach, Kotaku “Color Harmony: Why Hulk Wears Purple Pants” - Rikard, Zeven Design “Stop This Absurd War on the Color Pink” - Michael Moyer, Scientific American Adobe Color is a free tool to help you create color palettes for your projects. Widget Satchel UI (many colors, lower contrast): Metro Nexus UI (fewer colors, higher contrast): Check out our recent episode where we discuss accessibility, including designing for color blindness.

This week, Martha fills the clubhouse with tales of her trip to the League of Legends Spring Split event in St. Louis, Mark gets to talk about another of his wonky "nonsense topics," and Stephen can't quite explain what he doesn't like about a thing. “Long Lost ‘Zork’ Source Code Uploaded to GitHub, But Few People Understand It”  - Nicole Carpenter, Motherboard The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy - 30th Anniversary Edition for free Video Game Events 0:09:21 Martha Megarry Events “Out of traffic, into a ditch”  - Rachel Kraus, Mashable City Museum  - Wikipedia “The Overprotected Kid” - Hanna Rosen, The Atlantic Martha took pictures at the 2019 League Championship Series event she attended in St. Louis “My Hunt For The Mysterious Man Or Machine Controlling The Blizzard Arena's Lig… - Maddy Myers, Kotaku Color Theory 0:32:58 Mark LaCroix Art “A Bullet Hell Set In Hell That's Heaven To Play”  - EThan Gach, Kotaku “Color Harmony: Why Hulk Wears Purple Pants”  - Rikard, Zeven Design “Stop This Absurd War on the Color Pink”  - Michael Moyer, Scientific American Adobe Color is a free tool to help you create color palettes for your projects. Widget Satchel UI (many colors, lower contrast) Metro Nexus UI (fewer colors, higher contrast) Check out our recent episode where we discuss accessibility, including designing for color blindness. "I definitely thought of that ahead of time."

This week on Nice Games Club we talk all about Resource Management in Games and Boss Battles! Join us as we discuss mana, cooldowns, super meters and how to make boss battles unique but not frustrating. Martha takes the train, Stephen takes a test and Mark wonders what the appeal is. [0:07:58] Resource Management in Games [0:35:12] Boss Battles Shadow of the Colossus speed run The Phantom Train    

This week on Nice Games Club we talk all about Resource Management in Games and Boss Battles! Join us as we discuss mana, cooldowns, super meters and how to make boss battles unique but not frustrating. Martha takes the train, Stephen takes a test and Mark wonders what the appeal is. Resource Management in Games 0:07:58 Stephen McGregor Programming Boss Battles 0:35:12 Martha Megarry Game Design Shadow of the Colossus speed run - Games Done Quick, YouTube The Phatom Train (Final Fantasy VI boss) - Fandom

Extra! Extra! Hear all about it! It's another Nice Games Bulletin... Join us in the Nice Games Clubhouse/Newsroom to hear the latest and greatest news from the video game world. Mortho makes a return (and another and another), Stephen doesn't want to say "git gud," (but...), Mark wants to press all the buttons, and (STOP THE PRESSES!) Martha likes board games now. Recent releases "Risk Of Rain 2’s real monster is capitalism, not the ravenous alien horde" - William Hughes, AV Club Games “Needle Felting Gives Us All the Feels” - Ashley Little, Bluprint “Islanders is a bite-sized palate cleanser of a civilization builder” -  Cass Marshall, Polygon “‘Super Mario Odyssey’ and ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ are both getting VR support” - Jacob Siegal, BGR Labo VR kit launches April 12th, Mario/Zelda support coming April 25th. “The Division 2 has a lot to say, but it’s very hard to hear over all the gunfire” - Charlie Hall and Cass Marshall, Polygon Martha mentioned a GDC talk about the UI in the first Division game. That talk is available for free on the GDC vault, here. In related news, this week a lot of new free content from GDC 2019 became available on the GDC vault: https://www.gdcvault.com/free/ [0:10:02] News “She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off.” - Siobhan Roberts, The New York Times “Wingspan review: A gorgeous birding board game takes flight” - Aaron Zimmerman, Ars Technica Speaking of board games, Minnesota developer Leder Games just made 1.7 million dollars(!!!) on Kickstarter for “Root: The Underworld Expansion.” “EA Lays Off 350 People In Marketing, Publishing, And More” - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong” - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “BioWare Boss Addresses Studio Issues, Vows To 'Continue Working To Solve Them'” - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “All the latest details on the new Borderlands game” - Harry Shepherd, PCGamesN “Borderlands 3 On PC Is Exclusive To Epic Games Store Until Early 2020” - Tamoor Hussain, Gamespot “Review-bombed Borderlands 2 is the first to have user scores thrown out by Steam” -  Owen S. Good, Polygon “Lawsuit alleges Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford improperly siphoned $12M for personal gain” - Charlie Hall, Polygon “Google Stadia has a lot of ‘last mile’ challenges” - Jeff Grubb, Venture Beat “The Nintendo Switch in Japan offers a peek at the cloud gaming future” - Sam Byford, Polygon “'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' and the debate over difficulty vs. accessibility” - Adam Rosenberg, Mashable “An Easy Mode Has Never Ruined A Game” - Joshua Rivera, Kotaku

Join us in the Nice Games Clubhouse/Newsroom to hear the latest and greatest news from the video game world. Mortho makes a return (and another and another), Stephen doesn't want to say "git gud," (but...), Mark wants to press all the buttons, and (STOP THE PRESSES!) Martha likes board games now. Bulletin topic (Recent releases) Timecode 0:01:15 “Needle Felting Gives Us All the Feels”  - Ashley Little, Bluprint “Islanders is a bite-sized palate cleanser of a civilization builder” - - Cass Marshall, Polygon “‘Super Mario Odyssey’ and ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ are both getting VR supp… - Jacob Siegal, BGR Labo VR kit launches April 12th, Mario/Zelda support coming April 25th. “The Division 2 has a lot to say, but it’s very hard to hear over all the gunfi… - Charlie Hall and Cass Marshall, Polygon Lessons learned creating UI for the Division - Christian Savoie, GDC In related news, this week a lot of new free content from GDC 2019 became available on the GDC vault: https://www.gdcvault.com/free/. Bulletin topic (News) Timecode 0:10:02 “She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off.”  - Siobhan Roberts, The New York Times “Wingspan review: A gorgeous birding board game takes flight”  - Aaron Zimmerman, Ars Technica Speaking of board games, Minnesota developer Leder Games just made 1.7 million dollars(!!!) on Kickstarter for “Root: The Underworld Expansion.” “EA Lays Off 350 People In Marketing, Publishing, And More”  - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong”  - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “BioWare Boss Addresses Studio Issues, Vows To 'Continue Working To Solve Them'… - Jason Schreier, Kotaku “All the latest details on the new Borderlands game”  - Harry Shepherd, PCGamesN “Borderlands 3 On PC Is Exclusive To Epic Games Store Until Early 2020”  - Tamoor Hussain, GameSpot “Review-bombed Borderlands 2 is the first to have user scores thrown out by Ste… - Owen S. Good, Polygon “Lawsuit alleges Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford improperly siphoned $12M for perso… - Charlie Hall, Polygon “Google Stadia has a lot of ‘last mile’ challenges”  - Jeff Grubb, VentureBeat “The Nintendo Switch in Japan offers a peek at the cloud gaming future”  - Sam Byford, Polygon “'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' and the debate over difficulty vs. accessibility”  - Adam Rosenberg, Mashable “An Easy Mode Has Never Ruined A Game”  - Joshua Rivera, Kotaku

Mark and Dale are at GDC so Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us to talk all about Team Building and Game Identities! Join us for this chill evening recording session and discuss the more existential side of game development. If you change a game completely is it still the same game you started with? Stephen builds a house, Ellen is a game feedback therapist and Martha gets lost in the waveform. Meta Welcome back Ellen! Mark and Dale are at GDC! The episode of their adventures actually came out *last* week (calendar math) so you can listen to it RIGHT NOW if you haven’t already Nice Games Club is on the GLITCH Discord! [0:01:57] Team Building Dicer and Clasp: Dungeon Skedaddle Claw Breaker Our episode on Game Writing Cat Crib [0:22:37] Game Identities “Producer Bootcamp: How Saying 'No' Can Help You Make a Better Game” -Ruth Tomandl, Oculus Research (GDC Vault Video) Ruth Stone, Poet who caught poems on the wind

Mark and Dale are at GDC so Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us to talk all about Team Building and Game Identities! Join us for this chill evening recording session and discuss the more existential side of game development. If you change a game completely is it still the same game you started with? Stephen builds a house, Ellen is a game feedback therapist and Martha gets lost in the waveform. Mark and Dale are at GDC! The episode of their adventures actually came out *last* week (calendar math) so you can listen to it RIGHT NOW if you haven’t already GDC 2019 Special Team Building 0:01:57 Stephen McGregor IRL Production Dicer and Clasp: Dungeon Skedaddle - Stephen's Global Game Jam Team, GGJ Claw Breaker - Steam Our episode on topic on Game Writing "Steal this episode." Cat Crib - Ellen's Global Game Jam Team, GGJ Game Identities 0:22:37 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design Producer Bootcamp: How Saying 'No' Can Help You Make a Better Game - Ruth Tomandl, Oculus Research, GDC Ruth Stone, Poet who caught poems on the wind - Wikipedia