Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Ellen spoke with this week's guest, Filament Games' chief partnerships officer Jennifer Javornik, at the 2023 Serious Play Conference in Toronto, Canada about game-based learning, but also about commercializing serious games, growing the game development industry in the midwest US, and a whole lot more.Game-based LearningEventsGame DesignProductionSerious Play ConferenceWisconsin Games AllianceFilament Games

Earlier this autumn, Ellen visited Toronto to attend the Serious Play Conference. It's an event for people who design, develop, and study so-called "serious games" — that is, games used for education, training, therapy, and more. Ellen reports on her experiences in the city and at the conference, and shares some clips from conversations she had with some speakers at Serious Play. Also, Stephen and Mark talk about the weather.(Note: There were some audio issues with the recordings taken on-site at the conference. We've done our best, but it's not great. Our apologies!)Page One CafeMelanistic squirrels in TorontoSerious Play Conference - Main SitexAPIFilament Games (Madison, Wisconsin)The Red Bull Gaming Hub at TMUGeoffrey Lachapelle - LinkedIn0:28:07Excerpt from a conversation with Dr. David ChandrossDr. David Chandross at TMUMaslow's Hierarchy of NeedsWikipediaJohn Dewey (educational psychologist)Kurt Vonnegut on the 8 “shapes” of storiesBig ThinkBloom's Cognitive TaxonomyUniversity of Central Florida0:45:07Excerpt from a conversation with Roz HussinRoz HussinLinkedInAbout MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)edXRoutineFlow AppWalkr App

We welcome Trenton Greyoak into the clubhouse to talk about the vast topic of megagames! Trenton provides a huge amount of insight into the development and play of these games in this slightly more mega-sized than normal episode.MegagamesGame DesignGamingPhysical GamesMegagame - WikipediaModel United Nations - United NationsWatch the Skies! - South West MegagamesOrigins of Megagames - Jim Wallman, No Game SurvivesMegagame Makers - Megagame Makers UKSU&SD PLAY… A GODDAMN MEGAGAME - Shut Up & Sit DownVery Large Huge Games - Very Large Huge GamesCan Horses Climb Stairs? Can Horses Go Up & Down Stairs? - Katie Plakson, Horse Bonding SuccessDread - Erik Schmidt, Unpossible JourneysDen of Wolves - South West MegagamesMansa Musa - WikipediaThe National Security Decision Making Game - Rex Brynen, PAXsimsMegagame Coalition - Megagame CoalitionMegagame Assembly - Megagame AssemblyAssets and Images of Deephaven and other megagames

In this week's episode, Mark teaches us to cast polymorph, a 4th level transmutation spell. Just kidding! But Mark does put his high INT score to work helping us understand polymorphism, a useful feature of object-oriented programming. Later on, Stephen talks about the pattern of "save scumming" and considers how it might influence how designers create games. Ellen noodles on things.Noodle demo game - Ellen Burns-Johnson, The Training Arcade0:04:48Polymorphism31:57:0Save ScummingShepard. Wrex. Grunt.YouTube

Nice Games Club continues to celebrate the Spooky Season with the second-ever “Nice Games Panel”. Our panelists include creators known for their work on horror games: James Pratt, TorpalDork, and Max Kunze. We discuss the using humor and using nostalgia in horror games and if clowns have ever not been scary.Horror Games 201Game Design

The hosts dive into the woes of Unity and the elegance found in game design. They discuss the innovative word puzzle game Noodle and the challenges of composition over inheritance in coding. With humor, they compare programming practices in Unity and Godot. The conversation shifts to how elegance is perceived across different fields, using amusing anecdotes. They also explore the balance between simplicity and complexity in games, advocating for the appreciation of 'jank' as a valuable design aspect.

It's the first-ever "Nice Games Panel," in which we invite multiple guests on the show to discuss something interesting! Our panelists today include multiple creators who are known for their work on horror games: Schera Wyss, Conner Rush, Henry Hoare, Samuel Guglielmo, and Nick F. We discuss the fundamental nature of horror as a genre (or maybe a theme or an "orientation"), and what devs should consider if they're looking to make horror games that haunt players long after the end credits roll.Photo credit - Andrea Piacquadio, PexelsHorror Games 101Game DesignDreadXP SCP Foundation: Secure, Contain, Protect - collaborative fiction, Wikidot

Mark is back from Toronto, and guest host Holly Harrison is back in the clubhouse! Holly completes a topic, Stephen likes that part, and Ellen reads half a book.Talking Heads Take Over TIFF As ‘Stop Making Sense’ Reunion Has Crowds Dancing … - Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline'Lost Ladies' Review: Kiran Rao’s Delightful Hindi Comedy Swings and Wins - Proma Khosla, IndieWire'Robot Dreams' Review: A Beautiful Tale of Friendship and Love in the Hand-Draw… - Tomris Laffly, The Wrap0:09:09CompletionismConfessions of a Semi-Reformed Video Game CompletionistMatthew GaultViceResearch on the Effects of MediaDouglas GentileComposition with Red Blue and Yellow (Piet Mondrian)WikipediaHieronymus Bosch painted sheet music on a man's butt and now you can hear itSarah DoughertyThe World0:52:56Educating IntuitionEducating IntuitionRobin M. HogarthThe University of Chicago PressDoorway effectWikipedia

Guest Freya Holmér, Unity Insider, joins the hosts to discuss Unity's controversial runtime fee policy. They cover the update to the policy, lack of trust and communication, revenue splits in game development, frustration with Unity, and the importance of accountability and trust in companies.

We continue the recent production talks this week as we welcome Julia Keren-Detar into the clubhouse! The discussion topic is "working on a bigger team" but we also somehow talk about rain water barrels at some point? It's relevant, I swear.Mushroom 11 -  Untame, SteamWorking on a Bigger TeamProductionWork: A deep history, from the stone age to the age of robots - James Suzman, Penguin Random HouseAn example of what Ellen brings up during the episode, probably.