Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Back in March, Mark created a game engine in an unfamiliar programming language for an unreleased console... and in June he explained himself in a presentation at IGDATC's Gamedev Meeting.The full video presentation of Mark's talk"So, you made a game engine?"Noble Engine, a li'l game engine for PlaydateNoble RobotGitHubNoble Engine Project TemplateNoble RobotGitHubPlaydate consolePlaydate developer portal

Starting an indie studio is hard, starting a worker-owned cooperative is harder. This week your nice hosts interview longtime friend of the show Reese Valentine and their fellow co-founder Mackenzie Denker, both of Amelore. It's co-ops 101, which happens to be exactly the info Stephen needs right now!Amelore Coop websiteAmelore on TwitterReese previously visited the clubhouse for one of our earliest episodes, in early 2017:Games Education Co-op StudiosIRLProductionThe 7 Cooperative Principles - The National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA InternationalMission Statements - Adam Schwartz, The Cooperative WayCo-ops in Spain’s Basque Region Soften Capitalism’s Rough Edges - Peter S. Goodman, The New York TimesEmbracing the Co-Op Studio Model in Indie Games - Scott Benson, Ted Anderson, Steve Filby, Ian Thomas, Bethany Hockenberry, GDC

This week, Mark talks about Star Trek, Stephen wants to talk more about Star Trek, and Ellen hypes the website.We made the papers!Dreams: Awake - Charity EP Jam, BandcampItch.io Palestinian Aid bundle raises over $900,000 - Danielle Partis, GamesIndustry.bizSerious Play Conference0:10:00StorytellingThe Game Debate: Video Games as Innovative StorytellingMelissa SomerdinThe Oswald ReviewThe Importance Of Video Game NarrativeAdeyemi ThompsonSliced Bread AnimationThe Unique Storytelling Power of Video GamesAnthony JondreauMedium3 approaches to storytelling in gamesSimon K JonesMedium0:36:36ExploitsWavedashing in Super Smash Bros MeleepahlzInstructables8 of the Most Notorious Video Game Exploits of All TimeBrandin TyrrelIGN What's the biggest game exploit you'll admit to using?PC Gamer

Your vaccinated hosts return to the clubhouse to record their first in-person episode in over a year. This one's for us, but you might like it, too.There was a lot of hugs before the recording.Charity EP Jam (the new album drops June 11th!) - Chel WongIndie bundle for Palestinian Aid - Alanna Linayre, itch.ioMark's "Widget Satchel II" was featured in Panic's E3-style announcement video.Special In-Person SpecialSouth Korea’s COVID Success Stems From an Earlier Infectious Disease Failure Jiyeon Kim and Neil RichardsSlate

Can games be used for therapeutic purposes? Absolutely! In this episode we talk with Adam Davis, therapeutic Game Master, and a co-founder and executive director of Game to Grow, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The organization is focused on "the use of games of all kinds for therapeutic, educational, and community growth."Adam shares his experiences from over a decade in therapeutic play—how Game to Grow began, how he thinks about games as part of therapeutic experiences, and how he once managed SEVEN tabletop RPG campaigns simultaneously. We hope you enjoy our inspiring conversation with this really cool guy!Helmet nachos! Source: Target Field Eats on Twitter https://twitter.com/tfeats/status/1039672499892576256Therapeutic GamesGame DesignTabletopGame to Grow blogCritical Core on KickstarterDrama Therapy - North American Drama Therapy AssociationWheelhouse WorkshopIndividualized Education Plan (IEP) - Understood.comCollaboration vs. cooperation: What's the difference? - The Ripple Team, Ripple IntranetGame to Grow Keynote at the 2018 Washington Therapy Conference  - Adam DavisNo Thank You, Evil: The Award-Winning Game of Make-believe for Creative Kids an…

This week in the clubhouse, your nice hosts discuss the not so-intuitive nature of novelty, and the novel method of using intuition in games. Featured in the episode: Ellen reveals secrets of her home, Stephen relates a topic to fighting games for the 218th time, and Mark brings up the best parts of the Mass Effect trilogy.Matias Ergo Pro KeyboardEllen mentioned screen burnout, a topic we've covered in this episode."Empty the bucket."Tweet on writing 'structure'12:27Novelty45:19IntuitionEducating IntuitionThe University of Chicago PressJason Silva on IntuitionBrain GamesNational GeographicIntuition, Expectations and Culture: Learning from Psychology to Build Better G…Ara ShirinianGame DeveloperNumerical IntuitionBrain GamesNational GeographicThe unique power of games in building intuitionBryan Braun

There's a second Mark in the clubhouse! This week we're joined by Mark Mandel, who is involved in many things worth mentioning! Mark is a Developer Advocate at Google Cloud for Games, leading the Developer Relations team; he founded Agones, a game server hosting platform; he has a dog. What else? Listen to find out.During this episode, Mark talks about open source software in the gamedev scene—why it's important, what developers can gain from supporting open source, tips for participating in open source projects, and more. Open Source SoftwareProgrammingToolsOpen Source DefinitionDemo video of Veloren, an Open Source MMORPG - Open Source Games, YouTubeZero D, an open source game"Standards" (#927) - xkcdEmbark StudiosAdobe BracketsAwesome Open SourceTo Do GroupFree Open Source Compliance Course for Developers - The Linux FoundationCode CovenantRust Programming LanguageBevy, a "refreshingly simple data-driven game engine built in Rust"

This week, we talk about the core interactions that games are made of with Allan Rust, creative director of The Game Agency. We've been wanting to have Allan on the program for a long time, and it was worth the wait!Ellen and Mark's Ludum Dare 48 game, Sonder (a story) can now be played in a web browser from its Itch.io page!Stephen (and company)'s game Fingeance is still hot off the presses. Go download it and reclaim the sea!Gameful UXGame DesignUI / UXThe Training Arcade"Jeopardy!" TV Challenge DemoAn 'Overjoyed' LeVar Burton Welcomes Chance To Guest-Host 'Jeopardy!' - Bill Chappell, NPRWhat is a Lottie?Howler.jsWhat is middleware?Adobe XD

Oh dang, Fingeance is out! In this episode, Stephen talks about finally releasing his long-in-development game that's been a big part of Nice Games Club history, too!Hear about the game's unique development history, why now was the right time to put it out into the world, and learn a bit about how you might want to to approach your own long-gestating projects.Fingeance on itch.io (download for free)!Escape Industries on TwitterFingeance PortmortemBack in 2018, we peeked inside Fingeance for a video episode of the show:Code Comment: "Fingeance"In 2019, we did a postmortem-ish episode for Widget Satchel:"Space ferrets lift off!" Widget Satchel Special

Sound the alarm, it's the second half of Evil Games Club's latest nefarious reign over the clubhouse! This time, Adia, Dylan and Dale take their misdeeds to new heights with an "Evil Games Jam." Can they invent a playable game and test it in a single episode? What maddening mechanics will be unleashed from these malevolent minds? Take shelter under your headphones and listen if you dare!The Interactive Fiction CompetitionSpring Thing Festival of Interactive FictionLudum Dare 48NaNoReNO JamOST JamPromptCreate a game you might find in a casino, where the house always wins.Game typeCard gamePlayer count3MaterialsStandard deck of 52 playing cardsSetupIn this game, the Patrons and the Dealer oppose each other. In the spirit of the prompt, the idea is that the Dealer needs to win against the Patrons, but keep them interested enough to keep playing.The Dealer wants to win against the Patrons.The Patrons will work with each other to make more matches than the Dealer—while having fun!Setting up the game:Decide who will be The Dealer. The Dealer shuffles the deck and deals each player 5 cards, face down.The Dealer deals themselves 5 cards, face down.Play starts with the person to the Dealer's left and proceeds clockwise.RulesGOALPatrons want to create more sets of matching 4 cards than the Dealer before the deck runs out. A set = 4 cards of the same number.Heads up! Here are some important notes:The Dealer's rules are slightly different than the Players' rules. The differences are noted below in line with the regular rules.The discard pool is not the same thing as the discard pile. A discard pool is created during each round and then merged into the discard pile at the start of the Dealer's turn each round.PLAYER TURNSOn each player's turn, they will take the following steps in order:Draw cardsSwitch cardsDiscard(Dealer only) Before you draw cards, move the cards in the discard pool from that round into the discard pile.1: DRAW CARDSOn their turn, each player takes one of the following actions:Draw up to 2 cards from the deck and place it face up in front of them Draw up to 2 cards from the discard pool and place it face up in front of them (Dealer only) If the player is the Dealer, they can pick up to 2 cards from any of the Patrons' hands and put them face up on the table OR put them directly into their hand2: SWITCH CARDS The player may then swap cards from their hand for cards they just drew, maintaining a hand of 5 cards. Patrons can only switch "like for like"—cards of the same color or number. Examples:Swap the Queen of Spades for the Five of ClubsSwap the Four of Diamonds for the Four of SpadesThe Dealer doesn't have to follow the "like for like" rule. They can switch whatever cards they want. Unfair? Yep! That's the point.3: DISCARDThe player should now have 5 cards in their hand and 2 cards leftover—either ones that were switched out, or ones that were drawn and not switched. The player must do one of the following before the end of their turn:Discard the leftover 2 cards into the discard pool.(Dealer only) Hand the leftover 2 cards to the Patron from which you drew your cards in step 1 of this turn.MAKING A SETA set is created when a single player holds 4 cards of the same number in their hand. When a player creates a set, they place all four cards on the table, then draws back up to a 5 card hand. PLAYING TO WINPlayers take turns, clockwise, until the deck is expended. If the Dealer has made the most 4-card sets by the end of the game, the Dealer wins. If the Patrons have more 4-card sets than the Dealer, the Patrons win!SHARING INFORMATIONPatrons can share information about their hands with each other by placing their hands face-up on the table. If you do this, know that the Dealer will get to see what's in your hand, too!That's all the rules that we're allowed to talk about. If you try out the game, let us know what you think!