Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week, your nice hosts put together a design document for a co-op game of corporate espionage. Martha wants to crawl through vents, Mark wants low stakes moral choices, and Stephen wants everyone to yell at everyone.On Wednesday this week, Mark presented a in-depth postmortem on the production of Widget Satchel for the April IGDATC monthly community meeting, held remotely on Twitch. You can "attend" the meeting ex post facto on the IGDATC Twitch channel!Prompt"How about an asymmetrical couch co-op game? Maybe it's meant to be played with a younger sibling, or maybe it's a teaching tool."Game typeDesign documentPlayer count2RulesPremiseTwo players, who are a team of freelance infiltrators. One player is out in the field doing their thing (1st-person perspective).One player is a hacker at home base, providing assistance to the field player (in VR).Spy theme, corporate espionage.Field player observes the scene, gathering information for the hacker so they can do the hacking.Field player does some deduction, but they are playing an action game, while the hacker player is playing a puzzle game..Hacker is doing their hax from a kind of holographic computer interface (Minority Report-esque perhaps). They do not see what the field player sees directly, but have many resources at their disposal (camera feeds, scanning tech, etc)Hacker manages resources and allocates mechanical abilities to the field player based on mission requirements and moment-to-moment events.Game is a series of missions, Hitman-style, selected in any order. Each mission contributes to a larger narrative of rival companies/factions.Pre-MissionPlayers see information about future missions, the team chooses the next mission, but the hacker player literally picks it, opening up potential conflict between players.Throughout the campaign, various moral choices can crop up. The team can choose their missions based on which client they support, or they can chose to become double agents, thwarting their client's goals.Example MissionInfiltrate a restaurant that actually is a complicated science lab to steal a secret recipe.First task: sneak past into the entrance of the lab: Hacker player needs to manipulate orders and customers so that few people see the field player.Field player observing the state of play in the restaurant and doing the actions.Second task: get past a bunch of lasers. Hacker player can take out some lasers and protect the field player using shields.Field player gets past the lasers through first-person platforming actions.Third task: get the recipe. Field player is sneaking past guards or other security obstacles.Hacker player is opening vault with the recipe and doing stealth gadget things.Getting to the recipe, do you steal the recipe or copy the recipe down? Do you want to simply defeat opponents, or destroy them?As with mission selection, one player (the field player in this case) literally makes the call, but the game encourages the team to choose their course of action together.Last task, get out of restaurant Option for field player: could sneak through vents, or take the same way out, or run past guards in a mad dash to escape.In the case of a "stealth fail state," hacker player must hacking frantically to resolve the situation quickly (i.e.: convincing the guards it was a false alarm, disabling the lights to give the field player time to hide, etc), while field player is explicitly avoiding conflict.

Your Nice Hosts are still recording remotely while we physically distance ourselves! We talk about our new normal and give each other advice on Working From Home and Games to Play while we stay inside. Stay safe out there, Nice Listeners! We are all in this together.How did Animal Crossing’s Isabelle and the Doomguy become best friends? - Julia Lee, Polygon0:09:00Working From HomeBecause Internet, a book by Gretchen McCullochCollaborate with Live Share (Visual Studio Code)0:34:14Games to Play While Social DistancingCharles made a HyperDot painting in Animal Crossing@DarkaysTGTwitterYour Complete Guide To The SimCity DisasterJason SchreierKotakuWe talked about Martha's love of 'safe zones' in this previous episode (#104):"Safety gone!"

This week, Stephen is crowned the new King of Transitions, Martha gets around to playing two games she'd been meaning to for awhile, and Mark briefly impersonates a saxophone.0:06:19UnlocksStephen's Unlock Taxonomy:Achievement-based: Do a thing, get unlock related to thing.Experience-based: Play the game, get a thing based on how much you've played.Loot-based: Play the game, get random thing.Currency-based: Earn in-game currency, pick an unlock to purchase.New Game Plus: Complete the game, get new content on second playthrough.0:39:26Case Study (Mutazione & Later Alligator)MutazioneLater AlligatorWe played though one of Martha's favorites in a previous video episode:Nice Plays: Pajama Sam 2 (1998)Dr. KatzWikipedia

Yes, yes, we know GDC was cancelled, but your nice hosts still had plenty of stuff to talk about, including how GDC itself adapted itself into a non-event, how some business still got done, and next-gen hardware news from Microsoft and Sony that was too big to be rescheduled.As part of an industry-wide effort to give people something to do while they're stuck inside, Mark gathered a few Twin Cities indiedevs to sell a bundle of their recent titles at a deep discount. It's the Twin Cities Indies Say Stay Inside Bundle! It includes 5 full games (Adjacency, Joggernauts, Newt One, Verdant Skies, and Widget Satchel), and it's available on Itch for the next two weeks at 84% off the normal price. Stay home and enjoy!Mark joked that the Summer Olympics would be the next thing to be postponed, and sure enough, a day after we recorded this episode, they were.0:12:40The GDC That Wasn'tGDC on TwitchGDC's channel on YoutubeGDCYouTubeGDC Summer is (currently) planned for August 4th-6thIGF Awards 2020: Finalists and winnersGDCA 2020: Finalists and winners0:39:52Next-Gen Console RevealsXbox Series X: A Closer Look at the Technology Powering the Next GenerationWill TuttleXbox WireThe Road to PS5: A talk by PS5 lead system architect Mark CernyPlayStationYouTube

This week on Nice Games Club, we talk about Naming Things and Rhythm Games! Stephen lays down a beat, Martha brings up fuzzy math, and Mark uses every excuse to talk about Star Trek.We mentioned the previous Train Jam episode (#17):GDC 2017 Special (Part 1)0:17:47Naming ThingsGoogle Trends0:52:45Rhythm GamesHarminix's next music-making game puts your DJ skills to the testChristine FisherEngadgetEpisode where Mark talks about his Rock Band experience (#153):"She also cheats a lot."Ape Out - Arcade Mode GameplayIGNYouTube

Your nice hosts finally get around to some classic topics in this week's episode. Mark explains why Widget Satchel takes longer to download than he'd have liked, Stephen is worried that you might learn the wrong lessons, and Martha disagrees.It took some sleuthing, but Mark found proof that Crunch, the mascot for the Minnesota Timberwolves, was named for the Nestle candy bar.0:02:48Day-One PatchesWhy 'Day-One Patches' Are So CommonRami IsmailKotakuThe Switch patch for Widget Satchel that Mark mentioned working on just passed though Nintendo's lotcheck system and was released today. Pick up a copy it if you haven't already!0:42:22Crunch'Anthem' is proof that crunch can't save AAA gamesJessica CondittEngadgetVideo Game Delays Cause More CrunchJason SchreierKotakuBook Review: If You Want to Write by Brenda UelandJoel FriedlanderThe Book DesignerCrunch Time: How Indies Are Falling Victim To Launch Day PressuresKate FanthorpeThe Indie Game WebsiteStudio MDHR delays Cuphead DLC to 2020, in bid to avoid development crunchAaron MamiitDigital TrendsMark referenced how Mr. Scott maintains his reputation as a miracle worker.

Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us in the club house to discuss the latest in game dev news! We talk about the latest releases, GDC getting "postponed", Kickstarter unionizing and more. Be nice and have a listen!Bulletin topic (Recent releases)Timecode0:05:34HyperDot is a local game by Stephen's brother Charles! Buy it!Bulletin topic (News)Timecode0:20:22Important GDC 2020 Update - GDCTrain Jam is still on!Wings Fund is providing GDC relief funding.Plan B Project has an event page on Facebook.AltGDC will have conference talks and panels that will be recorded.#notGDC is an annual, free, online event that runs concurrently every year.​​​​​​​COVID-19 information from the World Health Organization.Google's ambitious push into gaming is floundering, and it's due largely to too… - Ben Gilbert, Business InsiderKickstarter employees vote to unionize, relieving tension among game developers - Charlie Hall, Polygon

We're back! This week, your nice hosts talk about what they did over their winter break, from taking up residence in a new clubhouse, to developing a new logo and website, and more! But in the end, everything is still nice.Highlights of this extra-long special episode:Martha proposes a Nice Games Club IDE color theme......Dale joins the show to point out that making a logo for a podcast is harder than making a logo for a game......and after all the redesign work, Stephen makes a late pitch to rename the show "Hot Takes Games Club."Plus, the entire clubhouse goes back and forth making promises (setting expectations) on the new website. It's an iterative process, people!What We Did On Our Winter Break (2019-20)Nice Games Club Logo DevelopmentHere's a Nice Game Club "Bug" concept that was rejectedLogo Option #1: StarsLogo Option #2: Git TreeLogo Option #3: Coding BracketsStephen and the Fingeance team talk about their love of "choice #3" in one of our "Code Comment" episodes:Code Comment: "Fingeance"Iteration on Logo #3 (brackets)Logo in multiple color contexts, including the "Valentine" themeVariations on the "logo on a cartridge" conceptWe made our new site using Drupal, a VERY open source web development tool.December 2019IGDATC's monthly meetingsDale talked about developing Reravel, which was first developed during a Nice Games Jam episode:Reravel: A Backwards Storytelling GameJanuary 2020ProtospielHyperdot, a game by Stephen's brother Charles McGregor was released this month on January 31st. It is available on Xbox, Steam, itch.io and Windows PC. You can buy it now.Global Game Jam 2020The Global Game Jam 2019 keynote (aka: the best keynote ever) starts at 04:00The Global Game Jam 2020 keynoteWe mentioned Rachel, the head of GLITCH's Discord, who we have had on a previous episode:Games Education Mark worked with Scott Lembke for GGJ 2020. We interviewed Scott on a previous GGJ episode:"Steal this episode."Mark's logo for his team's GGJ 2020, with character art by teammate KissiKissi worked on a few games during the jam!Screenshot from "Super City Mayor," Mark's GGJ gameYou can play Dale and Beth's GGJ game, "Corporate Espionage" right in your brow…February 2020Mark and Dale saw David Byrne's American Utopia!American Utopia on BroadwayAmerican Utopia: Full Cast AlbumSpotifyNew York Transit MuseumDale in a very old subway car at the transit museumDale in a moderately old subway car at the transit museumNYU Games Center has playtest events every Thursday

#149Buttons and Triggers and Sticks, Oh My!Nice Games Jam2019.09.25This week's episode is sponsored by Codecks, the project management tool for game developers, by game developers! Sign up for free at http://codecks.io/nicegamesclub to let them know we sent you!It's another Nice Games Jam! This time, our boyfriend Dylan sent in a particularly interesting challenge, asking your nice hosts to design a game where the player's load-out impacts the game's controls.After an aborted attempt to make it into a game consisting of physical props, we came up with a very strange concept for a video game where you equip and battle a bunch of different controllers as if they were Pokémon or something!PromptDesign a game where the player's load-out impacts the game's controls.Game typePaper prototypePlayer count2-4MaterialsA controller of your choosingPieces to "slot" to your controller's buttonsSetup"Buttons and Triggers and Sticks, Oh My!" (Prototype)In this game, you control a "battlebot" vehicle that you configure using equipment and weapons that are auctioned off between players before the match. The twist is that your bot is a vehicle shaped like the actual controller you play the game with, and its capabilities are determined by the physical configuration of the input elements. Want a different bot, you gotta plug in a different controller!ControllersEach controller, from a knock-off Xbox 360 controller to a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, has a list of "inventory slots" which line up with the physical controller's buttons and input elements. Items placed in these slots are "attached" to the in-game representation of the controller.Each controller also has general properties such as hull strength and overall weight, and controllers with special properties like rumble, motion controls, or expansion ports would have additional in-game potential. Additionally, wired controllers would have different properties than wireless controllers, etc.EquipmentEach piece of equipment has the following characteristics:TypeMovementEnginesRanged weaponsMelee weaponsTraps/environmentShieldsBonus/special itemsStats: depends on type. Engines would have speed/power stats and weapons would have damage stats, for example.Input compatibility: Which set of buttons, sticks, and/or triggers can this equipment be attached to? For example, the Z button on a Saturn controller is a face button, but it's a trigger on a Nintendo 64 controller. A machine gun might be placed on a trigger, or it could be placed on an analog stick and work as a turret! Maybe certain items can only be placed on controllers that have a "Select" button, etc.RulesAuctionPlayers configure their loudouts from stratch before every match, at the same time, using an auction system. Pieces of equipment comes up for auction one-by-one.First, players are given vague information about the next item up for bid, and may pre-bid for it, gambling that it will be something useful to them.If no player pre-bids for the item, it is fully revealed and players bid normally for it. Certain items will be incompatible for certain controllers, but a player may wish to bid on it anyway to deny it to another player (maybe they can then "melt down" the unwanted piece of equipment for some other resource).This process continues either until all players are out of resources, or all the items (some subset of the total items in the game) have been put up for auction.Resources could be limited, meaning that high-bidding contests would result in weaker players and more tactical, less chaotic matches (since all equipment would be expensive). Alternately, resources could be plentiful, providing players with lots of options, and any left over resources could be used to power and/or upgrade equipment, providing some motivation not to overspend for equipment.GameplayBattles would be essentially multiplayer deathmatchs, where each player operates the equipment they've equipped to thier vehicle by using the input element they've assigned it to.Battles would be heavily focused on targeting other players various equipment, in order to disable or destroy them.Play could work using a 3rd person "Mario Kart/Twisted Metal battle mode" style of skill-based play, or perhaps it could use a Fallout VATS style targeting system where players would need to assign targets in real-time but would only need to hit the other player (letting an RNG system determine how successful the hit was)The game might include other genre staples like item pickups (energy, ammo, etc).Campaign/Progression?Outside of regular matches, perhaps players could run campaigns where the results of each match would provide winnings that they can later use to upgrade their vehicle or purchase new equipment.

#118"It's Black History Month, y'all!"Roundtable2019.02.26In this episode, your nice hosts make sure you know that Treasure Stack, the game Stephen "is paid to work on," is coming out Friday, March 1st!Mark then gives a primer on some audio basics that will help you understand how sound works, and works in your game. Even if you're bored by that, be sure to stick around for a discussion Stephen leads about representation in games."Treasure Stack Reveals Launch Date With a Trailer Powered By Artisanal, Locall… - Hardcore GamersAudio Basics0:05:32Mark LaCroixAudio"MP3 'died' and nobody noticed: Key patents expire on golden oldie tech" - Andrew Orlowski, The RegisterDigital Audio Basics: Sample Rate and Bit DepthTurns out, there is a ".2" in certain surround sound setups.Get free sounds on freesound.org!The reduction in audio dynamics in pop music is a result of the so-called Loudn…Representation in Games0:41:57Stephen McGregorIRLProductionKey & Peele - Black Republicans"Here's a good argument for a black Batman" - Dan Neilan, AV Club"Hopi-less: How Kachina Became Donut County" - John Walker, Rock Paper Shotgun"What It's Like To Write About Race And Video Games" - Gita Jackson, Kotaku