Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week, your nice hosts look within themselves. Mark is afraid of falling off the tree, Stephen does the teeter-tottering he has to do, and Ellen doesn't struggle with this. Markey, Colleagues Reintroduce Bipartisan Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Per… Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery Animal Restaurant Learn Lua in 15 Minutes - Tyler Neylon Hungarian Notation Your Internal Battery 0:24:56 Ellen Burns-Johnson Gaming IRL Gamer Motivation Profile Your nice hosts talked about thier Gamer Motiviation Profiles in: "Will you be the best with me?" Evil Games Club also tackled thier Gamer Motivations Profiles in thier first outing: Evil Games Club! 5 Signs That You May Be an Ambivert - Rena Goldman, Healthline Nemesis Jam - CannibalInteractive, itch.io Finding Your Artistic Voice 0:48:12 Stephen McGregor Game Design IRL

A regular nice roundtable! In the first part this week's episode, Mark leads an examination of how fonts can support gameplay, worldbuilding, and immersion. In the second half, Stephen makes us think—really think—about the benefits of "janky" gameplay. Mark shares some font history facts, Stephen starts his manifesto, and Ellen takes on the case. Mark's new keyboard Chel Wong's charity album Press Reset (new gamedev book) - Jason Schreier Where to Start with Vlad Taltos (the book series that Ellen mentioned) - Stephen Brust, Tor Books Fonts 0:09:37 Mark LaCroix Misc. History and Evolution of Typography - Konstantin Kirilov; Nikolay Petroussenko, Font Fabric The history of fonts - Prepressure Popular Standards - International Organization for Standardization Mini Metro Destiny Night in the Woods VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action Jank 0:39:52 Stephen McGregor Game Design Balan Wonderworld is a strange game of furry musicality - Michael McWhertor, Polygon Balan Wonderland gameplay video  - Kinda Funny Gamescast, YouTube Bullet Witch on Steam Goat Simulator Human Fall Flat on Steam L.O.V.E.R.S in a Dangerous Spacetime INSIDE Overcooked

After a slightly longer than usual hiatus, your nice hosts (along with your nice guest host Dale LaCroix) return to the virtual clubhouse for the first new episode of 2021 to talk about what we did on our winter break! PLUS: Mark is a tax robot, Stephen hopes he’s not fired, and Ellen loves being right. Closed Hands, the interactive fiction game (directed by Dan Hett) that Mark worked on over the last few months, was released this week! Clsoed Hands at Twin Cities Playtest (January 2021) Show Your Work! - Austin Kleon Working Out Loud - Seth Godin What We Did On Our Winter Break (2021) Mark LaCroix Stephen McGregor Dale LaCroix Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design IRL Meta If you missed it, last week we re-ran our Roboston episodes: Roboston! (parts 1 and 2) Roboston: Game Rules Roboston: Development Session Notes Your nice hosts' hiatus "Working Agreement" We brought Roboston to Twin Cities Playtest in January... ...and again in February.

This Nice Replay is a two-parter! Part one: Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) Part two: Roboston! (part 2) #192 Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) Nice Games Jam Live Video 2020.09.17 Your nice hosts recorded a live Nice Games Jam episode at 2D Con 2020! You can listen to the edited audio of the recording here! You can find the video of the live recording right here! Prompt Create a game where you are working together to construct a robot, but each player has a secret task they are trying to get the robot to complete along the way. Game type Tabletop game Player count 3-8 Materials 1 Deck of Robot Parts 1 Deck of Player Roles 1 Deck of Objectives 1 Die Setup Deal out an even number of Robot Parts to each player, and one Player Role. Then draw the first card in the Objectives deck for the team's objective. Rules Each player has a Player Role, this is their victory condition. Example roles: Warmonger: have more offensive value than any other value AND complete the objective Scientist: have more intelligence value than any other value AND complete the objective Saboteur: cause robot to fail the objective On each turn, each player places a Robot Part of any type face down. There are limits to how many of each type of Robot Part will fit on a robot (in the episode we went with one body part, one processor and four limbs) Each part is simultaneously revealed once everyone has chosen their card. If each part can be placed with no conflict, start the next turn. If their are some parts in conflict, roll a die to determine who's Robot Part is used. Continue until there are no more available parts to place on the robot. Whoever has completed their victory condition wins!

#185 "Empty the bucket." Roundtable 2020.07.28 Your nice hosts are tired, then get energized. Stephen is thinking about it, Mark brought a few unlikely examples, and Ellen is also thinking about it. Here's a fun new thing: We've recently started a Discord channel for listeners to discuss the show with each other. It's part of the Twin Cities Gamedev Discord server, but you don't need to be a Twin Cities gamedev to partisipate! Get directly to the Nice Games Club discussion channel via https://nicegames.club/discord Burnout 0:06:43 Stephen McGregor IRL Burn-out, an "occupational phenomenon" - World Health Organization Teacher Burnout: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How You Can Prevent End-Of-Yea… - Waterford Toxic management cost an award-winning game studio its best developers - Megan Farokhmanesh, The Verge Asynchronous and Asymmetric Gameplay 0:46:39 Mark LaCroix Game Design Asynchronous Multiplay: Futures for Casual Multiplayer Experience - Ian Bogost, Georgia Institute of Technology Relaxed Hardcore: Why Asynchronous is the Next Big Thing in Core Gaming - Ian Hardingham, GDC Why an Asymmetric Board Game Pissed Off Me and My Friends - Kyle Rogacion, Goomba Stomp Are Asymmetrical Multiplayer Games Becoming a Major Trend? - Micah Shapiro, GameRant

#170 "Stephen, his arms wide!" Roundtable 2020.04.14 Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us once again in the virtual club house to discuss Redundancy and Arcades! Ellen teaches us about how we learn, Mark balances the game, Martha only plays the best character, and Stephen has a revelation. Photo Credit: Michelle Bruch, from this Southwest Journal Article about the Donutron Redundancy 0:13:01 Mark LaCroix Game Design UI / UX The Forgetting Curve hypothesis by Hermann Ebbinghous - Wikipedia The Distributed Practice learning strategy - Wikipedia Arcades 0:50:39 Stephen McGregor Gaming IRL Why You Can't Call It a "Barcade" - Brenna Houck, Eater Dino Dash -  Abdel Shahied, YouTube The 'Donutron' Arcade at Glam Doll Donuts in Minneapolis

#176 Gamedev in the Philippines Interview 2020.05.26 Your nice hosts interview Ryan Sumo, Art Director and CEO of Squeaky Wheel Studio, an independent developer and publisher based in the Philippines. Topics include community building, conferences, becoming a publisher through serendipity, and the benefits of being transparent with your development practices. Plus jokes! Gamedev in the Philippines Misc. The Top 50 mobile games of 2006 - Stuart Dredge, Pocket Gamer Spacechem - Steam GDAP (Game Developers Association of the Philippines) IGDA Philippines Manila ESGS conference on Instagram Bit Summit conference (Japan) Level Up conference (Kuala Lumpur) Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder  - Steam Ryan's posts on Gamasutra - Ryan Sumo, Game Developer Ryan Sumo Guest Ryan Sumo co-founded the studio Squeaky Wheel. Visit their site at http://www.squeakywheel.ph/ and follow them on social media (links below). Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryansumo and check out Squeaky Wheel's upcoming game Academia: School Simulator. Squeaky Wheel is also getting into publishing with the title Ruinarch, an "evil overlord" game by developer Maccima. External link Squeaky Wheel on Twitter Squeaky Wheel on Facebook Squeaky Wheel on LinkedIn Squeaky Wheel on YouTube

#180 Dark Star Nice Games Jam 2020.06.30 No, your nice hosts aren't pitching an adaptation of the 1974 film of the same name, but returning guest host Sarah Seember Huisken counts it as an inspiration for the solo-play tabletop RPG we workshopped in this episode. Immerse yourself a galaxy of corporate factions, fluid allegiances, and space pirates! Scum and Villainy The 5 best solo board games - Rafael Cordero, PC Gamer Prompt Workshop existing solo-play TTRPG concept. Game type Tabletop game Player count 1 -? Materials Player dossier (player character/ship sheet, notes) Dice (how many? which type? we didn't figure that out!) Module booklet (includes blank pages for journaling/recordkeeping) Setup Sarah's draft ship systems sheet: Rules Each adventure module is an "assignment," which consists of a multi-page booklet. Page 1 - Summary: Provides the “goal” for the player as defined by “quest-giver.”   Page 2 - Assignment parameters: Player reward (and possible advance payment) Assignment type (Cargo, Escort, Espionage, Assassination, etc.) Constraints (time budget, stealth requirement, equipment restrictions, etc) Supplies (mission-specific resources such as maps, documentation, etc) Risks and Opportunities: These are facts about the assignment's setting and characters that will impact the player differently depending on their alignment, ship condition, and other stats.   Pages 3+ - Story Acts Generally, each act should fit on one booklet page, providing all the narrative and mechanical information required to play though it. Acts may have alternate versions, each with its own page. Act I: A introduction/setup to the story, giving the player hints they can use to make preparations for the assignment. The player can spend actions in this act to tune their ship / Equip thier character / recruit NPC pals/crew, etc. Story events may include NPC conversations, skill checks, or other light gameplay. This act may be wholly different depending on which "class" the player is aligned with. Act II: A conflict or mechanical gameplay sequence, usually related to ship functions. Examples include ship battles, navigational challenges, serious malfunctions, etc. The outcome of the sequence changes the narrative ending of this act, expanding or limiting the player's options. The outcome of this act will also frequently alter ship stats, player inventory, etc. Act IIIa, Act IIIb (c, d?): The player character must make a choice in the narrative, which determines which scene will end the story. The outcome of Act II may inform or limit this choice. Each scene plays differently, one might be a daring escape, while the other might be a diplomatic resolution.   Final Page - "To Be Continued In...": A list of other modules/assignments for the player to choose from in order to continue their character's story. Options may be limited depending on the version of Act III selected, the player's stats, Act II outcomes, class alignment, or other factors. Example Assignment: “The Asset” Summary: Email from corporation: “Take this large crate from planet Kittytail to planet Puppydog in time for the big corporate gala. Don't be late, and don't look in the crate!"   Parameters Reward: Standard rate, no advance! Assignment type: Cargo Constraints Time limit: Must reach destination without taking too many actions. NDA: can't run with other players or NPCs, can't stop for supplies. Supplies “Papers” needed to pass planetary customs. Fuel stipend (whatever you don’t use, you can keep) Risks: Planet Puppydog is not friendly to scruffy types. Certain player stats might cause issues/delays at customs. Opportunities: Access to future assignments on planet Puppydog (only available to “good dogs”).   Act I: "Pick up the cargo" Learn a bit, experience some glitches, spend/waste some time Some random events, die roll checks   Act II: "Oh no, it's pirates!" Battle type: targeted attack, pirates intend to board your ship, not destroy it Pirates attack random(?) stat, over a certain number of turns (5?). Player can react with actions, depending on stats and prep actions. Actions spend the player's time budget. Can attack, evade, etc. Can call for help, but if your comm stat is low, your general distress call might violate your NDA. On battle failure (some stat threshold): Pirates board your ship Player can choose to hide, reveal, or protect cargo, costing actions. If pirates discover the cargo, they open the box! If they are fended off, player can get curious, and open the box! The cargo: “It’s clearly important…” but you don’t have any idea. It’s some kind of mysterious artifact maybe?   Act III-A: "Deliver the cargo" Did you arrive on time? No? Corp docks your pay Gotta get though customs. Conversation/diplomacy mechanic. Audited for inspection? If you don’t have a lot of time, you can make risky moves to speed things along. Once you get though, you deliver the cargo to secret folks in bio-suits. Oooo, mystery vibes that will pay off in a future module, no doubt! Story ends at the gala! Enjoy a cocktail at the expense of the corp!   Act III-B: "Steal the cargo!" Escape the system with the mysterious cargo! Stealth check! Get caught? It's time for a second battle! Make it out of the system? Story ends with a tease: what is this thing and what do I do with it? Get caught by the corp? Go to corporate jail. Do not pass GO.   Possible "To Be Continued" modules: Check out the Puppydog job board! Investigate the artifact by following your mysterious client to a hidden lab on planet Puppydog. Escape with the artifact and take it to this crackpot scientist you met once. Corporate jail break!

#186 Mental Health Interview 2020.08.06 Your nice hosts are joined by nice guest Alanna Linayre, founder of the indie studio Team Toadhouse. Alanna (rhymes with "banana") guides the gaming world towards healthier work practices and personal habits. We asked her a lot of questions about best practices in mental health, and about Team Toadhouse's upcoming game Call Me Cera. Also, Mark has a mission for artists, Ellen names a canary, and Stephen learns about "hustle culture." Mental Health IRL Production Alanna’s guidelines on depicting mental illness in games: Ask yourself why you’re putting mental health issues in your game. Make sure to have correct definitions, and not promote stigmas. Try not to use triggering content for the audience you’re serving. Avoid harmful tropes. Mental Illness: The Bio-Psycho-Social Spheres of Influence - Allan Schwartz, MentalHelp.Net I’m a “Spoonie.” Here’s What I Wish More People Knew About Chronic Illness - Kirsten Schultz, Healthline Stoicism - Wikiwand Radio calisthenics - Wikiwand Daylio mood tracker and micro-diary You can get an hourglass similar to Alanna's Alanna Linayre Guest Alanna (she/her) is very passionate about self care, healthy mental habits, and video games. She's a public speaker on healthy mental habits and discusses her experiences with PTSD, anxiety, and bipolar disorder in an effort to end the stigma surrounding mental illness. Alanna focuses on sustainable practices to avoid crunch and encourages a healthy attitude about mistakes being a necessary and unavoidable part of improving. External link https://twitter.com/Tybawai https://twitter.com/TeamToadhouse https://twitter.com/CallMeCera Alanna's "Cozy Streams" on Twitch Team Toadhouse Discord server All the places Team Toadhouse hangs out online!

#179 Anarchitects! Nice Games Jam 2020.06.16 Two architects of wildly different philosophies share an office space and compete to influence the design of their client's latest project. It's an excellent sitcom premise, but it's also the subject of our latest Nice Games Jam! Photo Credit: Ian Samkov on Pexels News Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality ends with a stunning $8.1m raise… - Wesley Yin-Poole, Eurogamer For a major Star Trek fan like Mark, this episode is a rather special, if unusual, milestone. When Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode count surpassed the original Star Trek in its 80th episode, it paid homage by including a subtle reference to the 79th (and final) episode of that series. As Star Trek: The Next Generation itself ran for 178 episodes, it felt fitting to make reference to that bit of TV trivia in this episode, our 179th. MURAL - Online Collaboration List of architectural styles - Wikipedia Black Lives Matter Black Game Developers directory The #drawingwhileblack directory - Abelle Hayford Justice for Breonna Taylor - gofundme Prompt "Make a 2D fighter with no combat." Game type Design document Player count 2 Rules

#182 "I will not threaten you with a noogie." Roundtable 2020.07.10 Guest host Charles McGregor starts the episode by getting REVENGE. The group talks a bit about the state of the growing "serious games" industry and what it's like to work alongside family members. Also, Stephen does a good transition, and... no one mentions Star Trek?! In his intro speech, Charles references episode #37: "Ugly and hard to use." The last days of Mixer - Mikhail Klimentov, The Washington Post Twitch Reckons with Sexual Assault as it Begins Permanently Suspending Streamers - Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge Twitch bans popular streamer Dr Disrespect - Michael McWhertor, Polygon Twitch temporarily bans President Trump - Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge Serious Play Conference 2020 0:16:00 Ellen Burns-Johnson Events Serious Play Conference Home Page Serious Play Conference Schedule New Metaari Forecast for Worldwide 2020-2025 Game-Based Learning Market Shows N… - Serious Play Wire Stop & Think: Teaching Players About Media Manipulation in Headliner - GDC, YouTube MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research (PDF) - Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek, Northwestern University MDA Framework  - Wikipedia 5 Reasons Why Game-Based Learning Should Matter to Organizations - Karl Kapp, Allen Interactions Gamification vs Games-Based Learning: What’s the Difference? - Halden Ingwersen, Capterra Blog Working with Family 0:42:09 Stephen McGregor IRL Mark mentioned the Nice Games Jam episode that started Reravel (#157): Reravel: A Backwards Storytelling Game Ellen and Eric took blacksmithing at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center

#155 Agile Development Interview 2019.11.05 This week's episode was edited by our social media manager (and Mark's wife) Dale LaCroix. Big thanks to her for stepping in while Mark was busy being crushed under the weight of prepping Widget Satchel for release later this month! With Mark still away, Ellen returns to in the clubhouse for another episode! This week, she invited her husband, strategy consultant / Agile coach / Scrum Master Eric Johnson, to discuss Agile Development and iterative workflows. Agile Development Production Why people still believe in the Waterfall model - Tarmo Toikkanen An Agile Approach to Launching the Nordstrom Sunglass Application - Nicoli Sinclair, Temple University Eric Johnson Guest Eric Johnson is an Agile coach and Advanced Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM). He also makes delicious homemade sauerkraut. You can find him on LinkedIn here.

#175 "Kapow?" Roundtable 2020.05.19 Your nice hosts talk big picture and get deep into the weeds this week. Mark runs Flash at 60fps on the Switch, Ellen makes a Star Trek reference, and Stephen wants more games that aren't fun. Hey you! If you're porting a project, whether it's just to a new Unity build target, or to a whole new codebase, we want to hear about it! contact@noblerobot.com or @NiceGamesClub. GDC’s summer event will be digital only - Megan Farokhmanesh, The Verge Neat things that Star Trek Online did with Star Trek lore - Eliot Lefebvre, Massively Overpowered Fun in Games 0:11:09 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Is Bringing Back The Instakill Hidden Blade, In A Sig… - Stephen Totilo, Kotaku Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Developers Say Breaking Series Traditions Made For A B… - Stephen Totilo, Kotaku 15 things you can do to make Breath of the Wild feel new again - Patricia Hernandez, Polygon Raph Koster's Theory of Fun, ten years on - Leigh Alexander, Game Developer Solaris (1972) - trailer Porting Your Game 0:44:11 Mark LaCroix Hardware Programming Your Indie Game on Console: A Practical Guide to Porting - Thomas O'Connor, GDC OUYA works with Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers - Rik Henderson, Pocket-lint Microsoft Windows Astoria bridge for Android is dead - Jan Vermeulen, MyBroadband Haxe (programming langauge) - Wikipedia Post-Mortem on Transitioning from Flash to Haxe - Doug Pearson, GameDaily Connect C-- (programming language) - Wikipedia Introduction to OpenFL - HaxeFlixel documentation Epic Games' Unreal Engine Heads To Flash - Kris Graft, Game Developer Adobe Flash Player Export in Unity 4.0 - Ralph Hauwert, Unity Sunsetting Flash - David Helgason, Unity Development of Duke Nukem Forever - Wikipedia

This wasn't a normal year, so in addition to your nice hosts' annual tradition of celebrating the year's "Nicest," and looking forward to the games and the gamedev in the coming year, we do another pandemic check-in, and reflect on the how the show has been one of the stabilizing forces in our lives. PLUS: We reveal this year's hiatus project! Local Releases (2020) 0:20:56 News HyperDot Elemetals Widget Satchel (in Japan) Color Jumper (on Switch) Death Drives a Bus Astral Gunners (in Early Access) Flailure Nicest (2020) 0:32:46 Mark LaCroix Stephen McGregor Ellen Burns-Johnson Nicest Ellen: Ellen played 2019's Baba Is You on Switch this year. Ellen played 2019's Borderlands 3 at the beginning on the pandemic. Ellen is staring down the HUGE pile of games from 2020's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. Mark: One of Mark's Nicest was "new consoles," which we talked about in: "Not like Beauty and the Beast." Paper Mario: The Origami King is a laugh-out-loud funny RPG on the Switch - Andrew Webster, Polygon Stephen: Civilization VI didn't come out in 2020, but with all the new content, it sometimes feels like it! Nioh 2 Most Anticipated (for 2021) 0:48:39 Mark LaCroix Stephen McGregor Ellen Burns-Johnson Nicest Ellen: Endling The Medium Boyfriend Dungeon Mark: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Away: The Survival Series Stephen: Baldur’s Gate 3 Deathloop Gamedev Resolutions (for 2021) 1:01:29 Mark LaCroix Stephen McGregor Ellen Burns-Johnson Nicest What We're Working On (in 2021) 1:12:17 Mark LaCroix Stephen McGregor Ellen Burns-Johnson Nicest

Everybody's favorite nice host emeritus, Martha Megarry, returns once again to the program to talk with Stephen about 4X games, Ellen delivers a book report, and Mark is disadvantaged as a player. 4X Games 0:05:08 Martha Megarry Stephen McGregor Game Design Gaming What Makes a 4X Game - "Micah ""Marlowe"" Dutro", Explorminate Welcome to CivAnon - 2K, YouTube The Best Scenarios in Civilization 6 - Sam Woodrick, GameRant 'Civilization' and Strategy Games' Progress Delusion - Gabriel Soares, Vice Colonialism is Fun? Sid Meier’s Civilization and the Gamification of Imperialism - Nick Pullen, Imperial & Global Forum Actionable Gamification by Yu-kai Chou 0:40:44 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design Tools Yu-kai Chou: Gamification & Behavioral Design Our evil counterparts went deep on Gamer Motivation Profiles in thier first takeover of the show: Evil Games Club! Bartle’s Player Types for Gamification - "Janaki Mythily Kumar, Mario Herger, and Rikke Friis Dam ", Interaction Design Foundation The 4 Keys to Fun - Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign Did eBay Just Prove That Paid Search Ads Don’t Work? - Ray Fisman, Harvard Business Review