Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

In this interview episode, we talk with Lord President of the Game Design Club at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Rachel Peterson, to talk about how to go about getting an education in games. Your nice hosts also recount their own gamedev educational origin stories, and the episode closes out with a quick run though of all the advice! [Links] Rachel on Twitter Extra Credits Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Pong clone tutorial Rachel’s quick-draw portrait of Mark Rachel’s quick-draw portrait of Stephen Rachel's white-board self-portrait One Game A Month "On Game Schools - How to Find a Good Degree" - Extra Credits NYU Game Center University of Wisconsin - Stout Game Design Workshop (book) GDC Vault Unite Conference Game Maker's Toolkit

In this interview episode, we talk with Lord President of the Game Design Club at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Rachel Peterson, to talk about how to go about getting an education in games. Your nice hosts also recount their own gamedev educational origin stories, and the episode closes out with a quick run though of all the advice! Games Education Category Art IRL Extra Credits  - Watch Extra Credists- Because Learning Matters, You Tube Minneapolis Colledge of Art and Design Pong Clone Tutorial Rachel's quick-draw art Quick-draw portrait of Mark Quick-draw portrait of Stephen White-board self-portrait Educational Links One Game a Month On Game Schools - How to Find a Good School - YouTube Game Center - NYU University of Wisconsin -Stout Game Design Workshop - book GDC Vault Unite Conference - Unity Game Maker's Toolkit - YouTube Guest Rachel Peterson is President of the Game Design Club at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. External link https://twitter.com/IsNotShort

A day late but worth the wait! In this high signal-to-noise roundtable episode, each member of the club picks a topic that they are particularly passionate about: Stephen shares his wisdom and guidance about playtesting your work early and often, Martha helps you get your act together in a practical discussion about project management, and Mark tries to explain the obligation he feels as an artist, but picks a weird hill to die on as he wrongly insists that Portal 2 isn't really about anything. We're trying to make the show even better and we need your input! Be nice and visit our feedback form to tell us what you think! Intro Ice Cold Games @zacharyjohnson Nice Games Club feedback form [0:03:27] Demoing and Playtesting [0:33:26] Project Management Trello JIRA Agile development Waterfall development Kanban development "The Blue Yarn" - 99% Invisible "NUMMI 2015" - This American Life David Megarry's Three Questions all project managers should ask: “Do you have all the resources you need?" "Do you have any roadblocks or impediments?" "Are you on schedule?” “A project manager (PM) is more of a problem solver than anything else. If you don’t have the resources, the PM finds them. If there are roadblocks, the PM helps to find a way to get around them. If not on schedule, the PM alters it or adds more resources or changes scope. Above all, the PM communicates with management as to the state of the project so they can make proper decisions and not be blindsided or surprised.” -David Megarry [0:52:56] Messages and Meanings Summerland, a novel by Michael Chabon "A Closer Look At How Three Assassin's Creed Games Have Handled Slavery" - Kotaku "For Honor’s accidental alt-right connection" - Polygon

A day late but worth the wait! In this high signal-to-noise roundtable episode, each member of the club picks a topic that they are particularly passionate about: Stephen shares his wisdom and guidance about playtesting your work early and often, Martha helps you get your act together in a practical discussion about project management, and Mark tries to explain the obligation he feels as an artist, but picks a weird hill to die on as he wrongly insists that Portal 2 isn't really about anything. We're trying to make the show even better and we need your input! Be nice and visit our feedback form to tell us what you think! Ice Cold Games https://twitter.com/zacharyjohnson NIce Games Club Feedback Form Demoing and Playtesting 0:03:27 Stephen McGregor Category Production Project Management 0:33:26 Martha Megarry Category Production Tools trello Agile Development - Agile Software Development, Wikipedia Waterfall Development - Wikipedia Kanban Development - Wikipedia The Blue Yarn - 99% Invisible - The Blue Yarn, 99% Invisible NUMMI (2015) - NUMMI, This American Life David Megarry's Three Questions all project managers should ask: “Do you have all the resources you need?" "Do you have any roadblocks or impediments?" "Are you on schedule?” “A project manager (PM) is more of a problem solver than anything else. If you don’t have the resources, the PM finds them. If there are roadblocks, the PM helps to find a way to get around them. If not on schedule, the PM alters it or adds more resources or changes scope. Above all, the PM communicates with management as to the state of the project so they can make proper decisions and not be blindsided or surprised.” -David Megarry Messages and Meanings 0:52:56 Mark LaCroix Category Game Design Summerland - Michael Chabon, Novel A Closer Look at How Three Assassin's Creed Games Have Handled Slavery - Kotaku For Honor's accidental alt-right connection - Polygon

It's the finale of our double-sized GDC 2017 special, recorded on the final day of the Game Developers Conference. Martha and Mark were joined once again in San Fransisco by "Special Reporter" Dylan Skerbitz to talk about the back half of the conference, while Stephen joins in remotely from Glitch HQ to talk all about the Nintendo Switch! [0:02:40] GDC Sessions “Sid Meier tells Civilization’s origin story” - Ars Techinca “Double Fine's Digital Archaeology” - Gamesindustry.biz “Ladykiller in a Bind review” - Polygon "Double Tap" - Ste Curran Meet your heroes. [0:19:48] Nintendo Switch “Unreal Engine 4.15 supports Nintendo Switch” - Ara Technica “You can expect a Super Smash Bros. game for Nintendo Switch” - CNET Friend of the show Adia showing off some new wares. [0:34:46] Flash Games Postmortem “How Flash Games and Newgrounds Foretold Today’s Indie Experimentalism” - Waypoint [0:36:32] Experimental Games Workshop “'Multibowl’ Is the First Real Video Game Mixtape” - Motherboard [0:38:22] Micro-Postmortems Christine Love’s summary - Twitter [0:39:31] Outro

It's the finale of our double-sized GDC 2017 special, recorded on the final day of the Game Developers Conference. Martha and Mark were joined once again in San Fransisco by "Special Reporter" Dylan Skerbitz to talk about the back half of the conference, while Stephen joins in remotely from Glitch HQ to talk all about the Nintendo Switch! GDC 2017 Sessions 0:02:40 Martha Megarry Category Events Sid Meier tells Civilization’s origin story, cites children’s history books - Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica Martha meets her Hero, Sid Meier   Double Fine's Digital Archaeology - Brendan Sinclair, GamesIndustry.biz Ladykiller in a Bind Review - Allegra Frank, Polygon Double Tap - Ste Curran Nintendo Switch Launch 0:19:48 Stephen McGregor Category Gaming Hardware Unreal Engine 4.15 supports Nintendo Switch, HDR, and AFR for Nvidia SLI - Mark Walton, Ars Technica You can expect a Super Smash Bros. game for Nintendo Switch - cnet Friend of the show, Adia, showing off some new wares   Flash Games Postmortem 0:34:46 Mark LaCroix Category Events How Flash Games and Newgrounds Foretold Today’s Indie Experimentalism  - Kate Grey, Vice Experimental Games Workshop 0:36:32 Mark LaCroix Category Events 'Multibowl' Is the First Real Video Game Mixtape - Zack Kotzer, Vice Micro-Postmortems 0:38:22 Mark LaCroix Category Events Christine Love's Micropostmortems summary - Christine Love, Twitter

Martha and Mark were in San Fransisco for the Game Developers Conference, and there was so much to say we had to split it into two episodes! While Stephen was holding down the fort back home, we were joined in San Fransisco by Nice Games Club's in-house "special reporter" Dylan Skerbitz. [0:00:58] Train Jam Train Jam Train Jam participants heading to GDC 2017 anxious about ‘Muslim ban’ - Polygon [0:13:13] Train Jam Interviews Arvind Raja Yadav made Zombies on Demand More from Arvind: Pyrodactyl Games Andrew Shouldice made Uncomfortably More from Andrew: Secret Legend Kate Gray made Post Birb More from Kate: hownottodraw.com Kate Compton made Travels in Od More from Kate: galaxykate.com Alex Carlson made Ultimate Train Fighter 2600 More from Alex: acwd.me Creatrix Tiara made What The $!#&@! Do They Need Now? More from Tiara: creatrixtiara.com Matt Findlater made Flashlight Flashbang More from Matt: @justattackgames Stefan Lopuszanski made Time Twins More from Stefan: stexe.com [0:24:21] Day of the Devs at Alamo Drafthouse Day of the Devs at GDC 2017 Ooblets RiME Mineko's Night Market Knights and Bikes Pyre Tacoma [0:35:06] GDC Sessions Khronos Group WebVR Turbo Button’s “TButt” framework Revisiting “Games Should be Games Again” [0:52:27] Adventures in conference scheduling [0:55:35] BONUS: Martha listens to Mark and Dylan gush over Star Trek: Bridge Crew [1:03:40] Outro

Martha and Mark were in San Fransisco for the Game Developers Conference, and there was so much to say we had to split it into two episodes! While Stephen was holding down the fort back home, we were joined in San Fransisco by Nice Games Club's in-house "special reporter" Dylan Skerbitz. Train Jam 0:00:58 Martha Megarry Category Events Train Jam Train Jam participants heading to GDC 2017 anxious about ‘Muslim ban’ - Charlie Hall, Polygon Train Jam Interviews 0:13:13 Dylan Skerbitz Category Events Arvind Raja Yadav made Zombies on Demand More from Arvind: Pyrodactyl Games Andrew Shouldice made Uncomfortably More from Andrew: Secret Legend Kate Gray made Post Birb More from Kate: hownottodraw.com Kate Compton made Travels in Od More from Kate: galaxykate.com Alex Carlson made Ultimate Train Fighter 2600 More from Alex: acwd.me Creatrix Tiara made What The $!#&@! Do They Need Now? More from Tiara: creatrixtiara.com Matt Findlater made Flashlight Flashbang More from Matt: @justattackgames Stefan Lopuszanski made Time Twins More from Stefan: stexe.com Day of the Devs at Alamo Drafthouse 0:24:21 Mark LaCroix Category Events Day of the Devs at GDC 2017 Oovlets Rime Mineko's Night Market Knights and Bikes Pyre Tacoma GDC 2017 Sessions 0:35:06 Martha Megarry Category Events khronos.org Web VR Turbo Button's "TButt" Framework - Gitbub Games that should be Games again - Rami Ismail Adventures in Conference Scheduling 0:52:35 Mark LaCroix Category Events Star Trek: Bridge Crew 0:55:35 Dylan Skerbitz Category Gaming VR / AR / XR

Two-thirds of the Nice Games Club are in San Fransisco this week for the Game Developers Conference, and we're recording some segments for a special episode while we're here. Let Mark tell you all about it... It's a bay area dutch angle!

Our Co-op Recap episodes feature one or more guests to discuss the topic of that month's Co-Op Talk group discussion at Glitch HQ. On this Co-Op Recap episode, we welcome developer Lane Davis and writer Felix Foster, who were the co-facilitators of the Glitch Co-Op Talk about Transmedia and Intellectual Property. Also, friend of the show Adia Alderson returns to fill in for Martha, who we all missed very dearly, but you wouldn't know it by how lively our conversation was. We really get into it! Lane and Felix, commanding the room. Felix on Twitter: @Felixxx244 Lane on the web: escapeindustries.net [Mentioned in the episode] I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream Zelda CYOA books "Why Are There No Good Video Game Movies? - Extra Credits Mortal Kombat chess Mortal Kombat Tetris Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy [Additional material] http://www.awn.com/animationworld/how-transmedia-made-lego-most-powerful-brand-world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnP2boSC-FM https://comic.playoverwatch.com/en-us/tracer-reflections  

On this Co-Op Recap episode, we welcome developer Lane Davis and writer Felix Foster, who were the co-facilitators of the Glitch Co-Op Talk about Transmedia and Intellectual Property. Also, friend of the show Adia Alderson returns to fill in for Martha, who we all missed very dearly, but you wouldn't know it by how lively our conversation was. We really get into it! Transmedia Category IRL I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream Zelda CYOA books "Why Are There No Good Video Game Movies?" - Extra Credits Mortal Kombat chess Mortal Kombat Tetris Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy How Transmedia Made LEGO the Most Powerful Brand in the World - Animation World Network Overwatch Comic - Tracer - Blizzard Entertainment Guest Felix Foster is a writer and narrative designer. He is on the board of Twin Cities Pride. External link @felixxx244 Felix is on Instagram @felixxx244 Guest Lane Davis is Game designer/developer and friend of the show. He develops Fingance with Stephen McGregor and his brother Charles McGregor, and is one of the favorite fans of the club. External link Escape Industreis

Developer, pixel artist, and YouTube vlogger Will Tice joins the club to talk about building his own game engine, and what it's like to go solo. Will's game Atmocopter just launched on Steam Greenlight. If you're nice, you'll download the demo and vote YES! unTied Games - untiedgames.com Atmocopter on Steam Greenlight Star Reaction unTied Games on Twitter unTied Games on Facebook unTied Games on YouTube unTied Games on Patreon Libgdx "It's official: XNA is dead" - IndieGames.com unTied Games devlog unTied Games - Speed Sprinting video

It's an episode packed to the gills, hosted by two manatees and an otter! Your hosts each talk about their time with Glitch's Immersion program, and Mark shares what he learned about its most recent cohort, which he filmed for an upcoming documentary. We then bum ourselves out talking about how we never have enough time to work on our projects, but things pick up for the final segment as we gab about some of our our favorite gamedev tools, including a bunch of suggestions from listeners. Be sure to browse the links below to learn more about them! Intro Martha’s Voxel Art! (link) (link) [04:00] Glitch’s Immersion Program [18:22] Work/Life Balance [32:33] Tools of the Trade Version Control SourceTree Gitkraken Unimerge Unity Assets Unity Asset Store Super Fast Soft Shadows Rewired Graphics Software MagicaVoxel Blender 3d Studio Max Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe Animate Pyxel Edit User Forums Stack Overflow Unity forums Game Engines Unity Construct Superpowers Citrus Engine Ink/Inkle RenPy Sound and Music BFXR Reason GarageBand Reaper Project Management Trello Visual Understanding Environment Code Editors / IDEs Visual Studio Code SublimeText Visual Studio MonoDevelop JetBrains Rider Flash Builder FDT FlashDevelop Notetaking Google Keep Evernote OneNote Other Resources Humble Indie Dev Bundles Midwest Game Jam Resources

Once a month, the Twin Cities chapter of the International Game Developers Association holds a public meetup, where all are welcome to view presentations, plug their projects, and network with others. As chair of the IGDA-TC, Ryan Foss coordinates and hosts the meetup, and his example helps foster a welcoming and supportive environment for Twin Cities gamedevs. In this episode, we talk to Ryan about what it takes to maintain an "extracurricular activity." The next IGDA-TC meetup, mentioned in this episode, takes place Wednesday, Feb 8th. Details here. [Links] International Game Developers Association, Twin Cities Minnesota Virtual Reality and Human-Computer Interaction Group IGDA-TC podcast