Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Recently, Mark appeared on an episode of the Star Trek interview podcast (and fellow Minnesota production) Enterprising Individuals to talk about Star Trek video games. It was a lively discussion and we're pleased to re-broadcast it here.Thanks to host Aaron Coker and producer Diane Blum for arranging the interview and allowing your nice hosts to re-post it as an episode of Nice Games Club.Enterprising IndividualsHappy Star Trek Day everyone! Wednesday of this week marked the 55th anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on television, and Paramount's marketing department celebrated the event with a multi-hour livestream of upcoming announcements and touching tributes.Star Trek games (from Enterprising Individuals)For show notes, check out the episode's page on the Enterprising Individuals website.

It's your nice hosts second live episode for 2D Con, Minnesota's biggest video game event.Stephen asks the audience to boo at him, Ellen knows the lingo, and Mark isn't making sense.Prompt"Chess 2" "Four-dimensional" "Welcome to Night Vale"Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count2Materials4x4 board.3 Pawn pieces per player.1 "Mayor" (King) pieces per player.An unspecified number of Glow Cloud (Queen), Librarian (Bishop), and Reverse Pawn pieces.SetupPlace or draw a 4x4 chess-style board.Arrange three Pawn pieces and one Mayor piece along the home row of each player, arranged left-to-right (from each player's point of view) in this pattern: Pawn-Pawn-Mayor-PawnRulesThe goal is to capture the opposing player's Mayor. Mayors move like Kings in Chess. Play proceeds exactly like Chess, with the following exceptions/additions:A player may, instead of making a move, "undo" their most recent move, as long as the space where their most recently moved piece previously was remains open. If the player's most recently moved piece was just captured on their opponent's turn, that piece still returns to it's previous position.When a Pawn reaches the opponent player's home row, that piece is promoted to one of three positions, randomly using a 6-sided die: Reverse Pawn (1-3): Same as a Pawn, but moving in the other direction. When a Reverse Pawn returns to the player's home row, they are not promoted but become a standard Pawn again.Librarian (4-5): Equivalent to a Bishop in Chess.Glow Cloud (6): Equivalent to a Queen in Chess.

It's a packed clubhouse for this special episode! Your regular hosts are joined by two guests: Peter Yang and Dale LaCroix. Peter is a game designer, creative director, and tabletop games agent based out of Minnesota. Dale, as you know, is just plain evil. The adventure of the day—pitching games to tabletop publishers. And Peter is our guide!Pitching Tabletop GamesMarketingPhysical GamesTabletopListen to the episode where GLOM first took shape (episode 210).GlomProtospiel MN (2020)Twin Cities Playtest with IGDA-TCGenConOrigins Game FairTabletop Simulator - notes on importing cards - Dale LaCroixThe Game Crafter - Print cards on demand with this website

This week, your nice hosts welcome creative director and all-around "VR Specialist" Dana Ware to talk about location-based entertainment, the incredible potential of VR during a pandemic, and where VR will be in 5 years.Designing for VRGame DesignIRLVR / AR / XRDark Slope StudiosThe Void - WikipediaMalls have a future: location-based entertainment - Kim Schaefer, VentureBeatCurtis Hickman - Speaker Biography - Future of StorytellingFacebook Horizon

It's that time again! Time for another episode, that is. Mark tries to convince his fellow hosts that games should include more bonus content—developer commentary, concept art, and so forth. Stephen talks about giving talks, even though he doesn't like to give talks. And Ellen finished a game!What should Ellen play next? A poll for you! - TwitterMy Boy! Emulator (Android app) - Google Play StoreIs this the episode in which Martha and Stephen tried to teach Mark about Pokémon?"How would I know that?"Too Many Choices: A Problem That Can Paralyze - Alina Tugend, The New York TimesHeader image: The fictional black hole, "Gargantua," from the film Interstellar (2014). Credit: Double Negative @ https://www.dneg.com/The "postroll funny" is a line from the poem "What Did?" by Shel Silverstein as published in the collection A Light in the Attic.0:12:16Bonus ContentGames mentioned in this segment included:Paper Mario: The Origami KingClosed Hands30 Flights of LovingSuper Smash Bros. UltimateBatman: Arkham seriesA previous NGC episode discussed the topic of "unlockables.""Please cheat, I don't care."‘Ask Iwata’ Book Review: A Much Needed Chronicle Of A Gaming LegendOllie BarderForbesWrinkles in Spacetime: The Warped Astrophysics of InterstellarAdam RogersWiredFirst Images of a Black Hole from the Event Horizon Telescope*Susanna KohlerAAS NOVAGame Changers (2019 exhibit)Science Museum of Minnesota* CORRECTION: The black hole in question is Messier 87, not "TON 68" as Ellen mentioned on the podcast. The designation of the black hole that Ellen thought she was referring to is TON 618. The black hole that's part of the TON 618 quasar is one of the most massive black holes ever discovered.0:45:29Giving TalksView recently-broadcasted talks from IGDA-TCTwitchResonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences (a book)Nancy Duarte

This week, we try something new in the clubhouse with the very first Nice Thinking! In Nice Thinking, your nice hosts have a concept or idea that hasn't been fully fleshed out and we workshop it on air. This episode has Ellen bringing in the goal of encouraging parkgoers to throw away more garbage to take care of her neighborhood park. There's a lot of trash talk in this episode, listen to find out what your nice hosts come up with!Giblet the Trash CanGoogly-Eyed Trash Eaters May Clean a Harbor Near YouJackie SnowNational Geographic

Your nice hosts do their best to "attend" GDC 2021, and end up having a really good time. Mark imagines his business card, Ellen asks questions, and Stephen proves he's human. Game Developers Conference webpageGDC 2021 SessionsIndie SoapBoxGDCGlitch City LADemystifying Indie Publishing OffersAugust BrownGDCAugust joined us in a previous episode:Developer/Publisher RelationsAvoid an Identity Crisis as a Technical DesignerGDCA slide from "Avoid an Identity Crisis as a Technical Designer"Experimental Gameplay WorkshopGDCSchimHyperRogueKromaKristallijnL'Oeuf-SphinxAI DungeonDespeloteSpreadsheet Smarter Not Harder

In this episode, Mark gets defensive about his fair city, Ellen declares her love of Big Buttons, and Stephen almost forgets Fingeance, the game he worked on for seven years.0:14:00GamepadsThe Evolution of the Xbox ControllerAlessandro FillariGameSpotThe Evolution of the PlayStation ControllerAdam BankhurstIGN List of Nintendo controllersWikipedia0:54:54Nature in GamesMinneapolis Named Best City Park System in U.S. on Trust for Public Land’s Annu…Minneapolis Park & Recreation BoardMinneapolis slides to third in urban park rankings; St. Paul rises to second (2…Susan DuStar TribuneSpend Time Outside in Twin Cities Parks and LakesCinnamon JanzerExplore MinnesotaEndling: Extinction is ForeverHandy GamesFirewatchCampo Santo

Your nice hosts come together for their first Nice Games Jam in person in a very long time! Did seeing each other together result in even wilder game jam shenanigans than you'd expect? Listen to the episode to find out!PlayThinker Deck - The Game CrafterPromptWe used Ellen's PlayThinker Deck to make this game! Goal card was "Efficiency", interaction cards were "Combination", "Approach", and "Exploration".Game typeCard gamePlayer count2-4MaterialsBasic 52 card deck (no jokers)4 Meeples12 Powerup tokens (3 different colors)SetupShuffle deck and place cards in a 4 by 4 grid.Give each player one meeple to represent them.RulesPlayer can move onto any card on their side of the grid as their first turn.On their turn each player moves one card and reveals it, potentially giving you an abilityRevealing a face card gives you an item, which gives you one of the following abilities:One gives the ability to move one more space.One gives the ability to peek at one more card.One gives the ability to move diagonally.Getting three items allows you to take one turn to bank three items, losing those three abilities but giving you one point. Revealing an Ace removes all items that player’s have not banked. Bank your items to prevent losing a point!Revealing the four corners refresh all unrevealed cards except cards that a player is on.When the deck runs out, the game ends when all the board is revealed (no more refreshes, fill out the rest of the board with a shuffled discarded deck).Whoever has the most points after that last round wins the game!

Holly Harrison, aka "Best Friend of the Show," is back in the clubhouse! And we recorded this episode in person again! Can you tell? It probably comes through in the goofs...There's plenty of silliness in this week's episode, even though your Nice Hosts explore some serious topics. Holly asks us what we can do to become more ethical consumers (and developers) of games. Ellen examines the dynamics of grind. Stephen finally admits to something BIG, and Mark takes a break.Join Lobby - Video Game Culture Feed - Holly Harrison, InstagramHolly joined us for episode 40...Community Managment...and for episode 88...The Gaming Press...and for episode 89..."A mean secret that stays in this room."...and for episode 201..."Not like Beauty and the Beast."...and for episode 202!Business SpeakEllen's new laptop: Alienware M15R4Gris (a game, not a musical) - SteamNoble Engine - Mark LaCroixHere's episode 217, in which we discussed open source.Open Source SoftwarePhoto by Helmi Lutvyandi from Pexels0:13:06Ethical ConsumptionConflict minerals: Which gaming companies may have funded human rights abuses i…Rebekah ValentineGamesIndustry.bizIs There Really Such a Thing as “Ethical Consumerism”?Maya SingerVogueSummary of sexual and non-sexual allegations (megathread)Reddit0:47:59Grindr/truegaming: For those who like talking about games as much as playing them.RedditEllen’s take on grind: “Going through the same content multiple times as a means to progress towards an in-game goal that doesn’t pertain to the player’s skill.”