Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

It’s Ellen’s 100th episode as a Nice Games Club host! And there’s no better way to celebrate a big day than with a Nice Games Jam. Dale gave us a prompt and you’ll never guess the theme. Can your Nice Hosts come up with a playable prototype in “ruffly” an hour? Enjoy live edits, goofs, special cubes, and piles of dogs taken to the logical extreme!Ellen's first episode as a permanent host."Click here for fleet operations.""Ameritrash" - Board Game GeekTexas Hold'em Poker - BicycleCan Dogs See Color? - American Kennel ClubPromptCreate a game that could be subtitled "The 100 Dog Days of Calendar Math."Game typeCard gamePlayer count2+MaterialsTwo standard 52-card decksSetupFirst, some additional prompt information. The objective is to get your dog pack to exactly 100 members (no more, no less) in 100 units of time. You decide how many dogs you start with, how you add or lose members, and what a "time unit" is. Because this is the special for Ellen, bonus points if the game has a dog or multiple dogs in it.Now, on to the setup:Shuffle both decks of playing cards togetherDeal X cards to each playerSet the remaining cards aside; this is the draft deckFor the first round, assign the "Pack Leader" indicator to the person who most recently played with a dogTermsTurn: One player's actionRound: Once around the table (each player takes an action)Draft Deck: The pile of dog cards you draw from each roundDogpile: This is where the dogs that you're able to recruit into your pack will end upPack Leader: An outdated term we're using to describe the First Player in each round First Player: The first player to lay their cards face-down next to the Pack Leader card in each round. The First Player status is indicated with a First Player token that rotates clockwise at the start of each round. Strays: The discard pile.RulesObjective: Get 100 dogs in 100 units of time!How to playDraw a card from the draft deck and place it face-up in the center of the table. This is the Pack Leader card.Without talking about what’s in their hands or what cards they’re playing, all players select cards to lay face-down around the Pack Leader. Each player lays their cards face-down in clockwise order, starting with the First Player.Players can lay down any number of cards up to the full complement of their hand.If a player decides to not lay down any cards (skipping their turn, essentially), then skip to Step 3 below. Remaining players’ turns are forfeit. After all players have put their selected cards face-down, all players reveal their face-down cards at the same time.Once all cards are revealed, determine whether the group of dogs join the Dogpile or if they become Strays. To join the Dogpile, the cards on the table, which include all players’ face-up cards and the Pack Leader, must not breach any compatibility constraints. As of the episode 272 recording, these constraints include:The cards taken together as a whole must form an uninterrupted sequence of numbers. Clear the table by placing the group of dogs in the Dogpile or in the Strays. Then, begin the next round.At the start of each subsequent round, players refresh their hands with newly-drawn cards. Draw until your hand reaches X cards.Continue steps 1-6 above until the timer rings. Did you get 100 dogs in your Dogpile? If so, you win! 

This week, we invite our first guest for Nice Thinking! Adam Clewes-Boyne is putting together an initiative for neurodiversity advocacy and education in the games industry, specifically focused on ADHD. It started as a meetup at a conference, and Adam wants to see where it can go next.Neurodiversity in GamedevEventsIRLAdam joined us, after a fashion, in a previous episode:Game Dev London does Nice Games JamCoffee with Butterscotch podcast - Butterscotch ShenanigansHow the Gender Gap Leaves Girls and Women Undertreated for ADHD - CHADDStrategic Planning for Nonprofits - National Council of Nonprofits

In this larger than normal episode, your nice hosts bring a lot to the top of the show with a bunch of exciting news. And there's still two topics to discuss after that! Mark brings his documentation A game, Stephen describes his time at SGDQ and Ellen has complaints to bring to the table.Summer Games Done Quick 2022 - YouTubeStephen and Charles walking across SGDQ on camera - YouTubeDall-E 2 - OpenAIHere's a collection of images that Ellen has generated using Dall-E 2!DALL·E 2 Preview - Risks and Limitations - OpenAI0:21:25Maintaining an Open-Source ProjectGit SubmodulesgitLDocSteve DonovanGitHubMarkdown GuideMark ConeThe Markdown GuideTyporaTypora0:49:50Should we design for Killers?Bartle’s Player Types for Gamification comes up in this previous episode."Mindworm husbandry."Bartle’s Player Types for GamificationJanaki Mythily Kumar, Mario Herger and Rikke Friis DamInteraction Design FoundationBartle's Taxonomy of Player Types (And Why It Doesn't Apply to Everything)Kyatrictuts+MUDWikipedia

Nina Marotta (and Kelso the cat) from High Moon Studios enters the clubhouse to talk about level and interaction design. She showers your nice hosts with bits of wisdom, such as:"Games are ugly for 90% of their development.""You have to live your life in order to be a good team member and a good designer."Level and Interaction Design Game DesignNina mentions the Geam Design program at Kent StateWe previously talked to Professor Chris Totten in episode 264Teaching Gamedev to Young People, Again!

How much of the culture around a game is rooted in its design? That's one of the questions that comes up as Mark takes us on a tour of curling—an Olympic sport that's described as "chess on ice." We examine its origins, the Spirit of Curling, and some specific rules that may have a big impact on how players behave towards one another. Later, Stephen considers some questions about off-ramps, the parts of a game that guide players as they end a play session. Should we as designers encourage players to take breaks? Gato Roboto by doinksoft (from Devolver Digital) - Steam0:10:15CurlingAbout CurlingWorld Curling FederationWhy is this Olympic Sport called Chess on Ice?by user "Pete"Chess.comCurling might be an antidote to our troubled timesKristen GelineauThe Detroit NewsGlossary of curlingWikipediaDeflategateWikipedia0:50:00Off-RampsHow Gaming Breaks Can Make You a Better Player... and Why They're ImportantMichael HarmanMake Use Of

It's part three of our unintentional "Gamedev in..." series! Your nice hosts speak with Daniela Gamarra about making games in Peru. Daniela shares her perspective on entering the industry, making progressive games in a conservative culture, and being asked "how much do you need to make this game?"Previous "Gamedev in..." episodes:We spoke with Ryan Sumo for:Gamedev in the PhilippinesWe spoke with "Game Devs Kenya" for:Gamedev in KenyaGamedev in PeruIRLProductionHow Creative Leaders Play the Long Game for Innovation - Ideo UIGDA PeruIGDA Peru - EducationLima Game JamLEAP Game StudiosBamtang GamesDirección Audiovisual, la Fonografía y los Nuevos Medios

Your nice hosts bring deep topics to the clubhouse this week! Listen in as Stephen forgets the name of the Uncharted lead character (but remembers the voice actor), Ellen brings up Mass Effect many, many times and Mark describes more interesting tidbits about Widget Satchel's development.Serious Play ConferenceLumbearJack - YouTubeSlayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer - SteamMax's award! - TwitterReed the Robotanist - SteamHere's a CableACE award.0:09:25Parasocial RelationshipsParasocial InteractionWikipedia“The Player’s Parasocial Interaction with Digital Entities” Katrine KavliIT University in Copenhagen“Is It Weird for Adults to Have Imaginary Friends?”Stephen Dubner and Angela DuckworthNo Stupid Questions“Tragic but true: how podcasters replaced our real friends”Rachel AroestiThe Guardian0:45:21Narrative Pacing"Kurt Vonnegut on the 8 'shapes' of stories"Stephen JohnsonBig Think

It's a packed episode this week, with birthdays, illnesses, and some Nice Thinking. Stephen, Mark, and Ellen discuss how the group might put on a tournament for local gamers, featuring locally-made indie games. How can one create a competition that involves many different games of widely different genres? Hopefully your nice hosts are up to the challenge. Either way, you're in for a treat! Plus, we get to finally hear Stephen's TRUE feelings about Star Trek.Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV - BBCThe Man Who Fell To Earth - ShowtimeStar Trek: Strange New Worlds - ParamountCOVID 19 Quarantine and Isolation Calculator - Centers for Disease ControlAlternate titles for this episode:"It finally got me""Lil' Baby Stephen"Episode artwork from RODNAE Productions on Pexels.0:13:12Nice ThinkingElemetals: Death Metal Death MatchWALLRIDESteamAstral GunnersSati BrosSteamHyperDotCharles McGregorSteamSummer Games Done QuickCombo Breaker TournamentEVO Tournament"Challenges and Strategies for Hosting Massive Independent eSports Events"James LampkinGDC

It's a sequel to last week's episode! This week, your nice hosts speak with Kent State University animation and game design professor Chris Totten about formal game design education. We get into the details of theory and practice, and discuss how teaching gamedev is both similar and different from other professional and artistic fields.Teaching Gamedev to Young People, Again!Game DesignIRLAn Architectural Approach to Level Design - Christopher W. TottenKudzu -  Pie for Breakfast Studios, itch.ioLa Mancha -  Pie for Breakfast Studios, Board Game GeekGDEX and Origins 2022, June 8-12

In this episode Truman Simpson joins us to talk about teaching game development to young people, through Gameheads, an organization for which Truman is a long standing volunteer. The clubhouse discusses the importance of seeing what is possible and what is achievable, and Stephen is jealous of today's youths.Teaching Gamedev to Young PeopleGame DesignIRLGameheadsTruman Simpson volunteers with Gameheads. Gameheads is an organization that teaches youth and prepares them for careers in game development. Gameheads is lead by Damon Packwood and operates out of Oakland and the Bay Area, CA, with possible expansions around the US.Gameheads WebsiteGameheads TwitterDamon Packwood's TwitterTruman Simpson's twitterTeaching and Games cross-pollinationEllen mentions that Teaching and Games is a cross-pollination that is a whole other episode, here are some Episodes on that topic from the archivesWe talked about educational institutions for game dev back in episode 16Games Education Ellen joined as a guest host way back in Episode 75Learning Through GamesWe also talked about teaching/learning durring the Redundancy topic in Episode 170"Stephen, his arms wide!" Project SuccessStephen is working with Project Success to design a learning curriculum for middle school aged youths.Project Success WebsiteStephen mentioned design pillars, as one of the learning topics in project sucess, see also episode 187"A way to farm notions."Soylent GreenSoylent Green is set in the year 2022 (that's this year!) and something we got distracted by on a tangent. Yes, soylent is a real product now.In 1973, 'Soylent Green' envisioned the world in 2022.  - George Bass, The Washington PostSoylent (the real productAnd, if the people from Soylent want to sponsor us, please reach out at contact@nicegames.club