Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

It's story time this week in the clubhouse. Featuring updates on projects from Martha, endless family game fights with Stephen, and Mark's shady past as a rhythm game DJ (he needed the money, but there was no money)."Unpacking" is planned for a late 2020 release.0:04:49Multi-Generational GamingYoshi’s Crafted World dev comments on the game’s difficulty@NE_BrianNintendo EverythingSingle-player Canfield Solitaire has "a very low probability of winning"Wikipedia0:32:44Noble FailuresI, Robot (arcade game)WikipediaPreservationists Are Racing to Save Ouya's Games Before They DisappearNicole CarpenterViceHere's a video of the RBN Megamix project for Rock Band Network that Mark worked on and "DJ'ed." If you have Rock Band 4, you can still download it here for Xbox One, although it's no longer free (sadly, Mark doesn't get royalties for it).

"HONK!" It's time for another Nice Games Bulletin! We talk about recent releases, game industry news...and also Star Trek news because we can't help it.Bulletin topic (Recent releases)Timecode0:05:51Untitled Goose Game Review - The Joys Of Goosing Around - Kimberly Wallace, Game InformerThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is the perfect Zelda for younger fans - Russ Frushtick, PolygonShould Your Boyfriend Play Legend of Zelda: Link’s Untitled Goose Game? - Girlfriend Reviews, YouTubeHow Gears of War changed to become Xbox Game Pass’ biggest launch - Owen S. Good, PolygonWhat the Golf?Return of the Obra Dinn docks on consoles this month - Owen S. Good, PolygonJohn Wick HexRing Fit AdventureLuigi's Mansion 3Bulletin topic (News) Star Trek NewsTimecode0:29:24Star Trek NewsStar Trek: Picard NYCC Trailer - CBS All Access, YouTubeStar Trek: Discovery - Season 3 NYCC Teaser Trailer - CBS All Access, YouTubeStar Trek: Short Treks Q&A Trailer - CBS All Access (Video) - CBS All Access, YouTubeBulletin topic (News) Video Game NewsTimecode0:34:59Video Game NewsUnion NewsMonument Valley developer Ustwo threatened with legal action over union busting - Chris Kerr, Game DeveloperKickstarter Union (Twitter)Troy Baker Says He Didn’t Voice Rhys In Borderlands 3 Because "They Wouldn’t Go… - Cecilia D’Anastasio, KotakuOther NewsDifficulty is about trust and communication, not "hard" vs. "easy" - Jennifer Scheurle, PolygonRocket League is Replacing Loot Boxes With "Blueprints" - Luke Plunkett, Kotaku

Your nice hosts catch up on all the game releases that gamedev Twitter was going on about during the last few weeks. We then talk about how it all comes together, and revisit an old topic, now that nearly three years have passed and so much has changed.The latest game trailer to submit to the #StephenTest is "Reginald Does His Thang" by Gibrian Foltz. Available now on Steam and Itch!Stephen is working on a new game, the just announced Rhythm Rumble!Apple Arcade: Game Developers Still Don’t Have Answers They Need - Nate Swanner, DiceDevelopers Cash In By Selling Their Switch Games For Pennies - Stephen J. Bronner, Kotaku0:20:11Holistic Game Design0:49:10Work/Life Balance

It's our 150th episode! To celebrate we finally have Martha's dad David R. Megarry on the show to talk about designing board games and specifically designing the fantasy adventure board game Dungeon! We get to hear the inspiration behind some of the now iconic game mechanics, unexpected lessons he learned along the way and why community is so important to a game designer. We even hear some stories Martha didn't know before!Board Game DesignGame DesignTabletopSecrets of Blackmoor documentaryDungeon!It's sold many places including Powell’s bookstore in Portland, OR.On the Board Game Geek page for Dungeon! you can see pictures of many different editions of the game- including different iterations of the board, cards and player pieces.A historically accurate version of the game made a cameo on an episode of Stranger Things! [ADD PHOTO HERE]Pentantastar

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.

This week Martha just got back from the XOXO Festival and Conference in Portland! She gives a run down of all the cool video game related content and what it was like to be there. Then Stephen talks all about Randomization and how you can use it to enhance or detract from your game. Stephen manipulates the RNG, Mark doesn’t understand loot color coding, and Martha just wants to sort things.0:19:53XOXO FestivalXOXO websitePIG (Portland Indie Game Squad)Rose City GamesSmallbü animationLater AlligatorBrian David Gilbert of Polygon’s “Unraveled” video series about ridiculous vide…Here are the instructions and character sheets for calculating your pet’s HPEmma Kinema of Game Workers UniteHundred Rabbits0:52:05RandomizationProcedural generation episode"Mutual butt-kicking." Loot episode"There's loot in your DNA!"“If Your Office was an RPG”Rooster Teeth

It's still Wednesday in the clubhouse, which means an extra-long meta section where your nice hosts discuss showing off games at the recent 2DCon convention, Martha maturing both as a person and a culture, and what it feels like to have your words translated into Japanese.Oh, and we talk about designing rumble for your game, and close out the show with a great discussion about making games designed for unique spaces, including perhaps a preview of a future Nice Games Jam.Widget Satchel in being translated into Japanese! Neat!Adobe's page about Source Han Serif, one of their open-source CJK fonts.Source Han Sans on GitHub!Martha and Mark both missed TypeCon!0:21:27RumbleSony's first rumble controller was the PlayStation Dual Analog Controller (in J…WikipediaNintendo's HD Rumble will be the best unused Switch feature of 2017Sean BuckleyEngadgetRead about the lawsuit which was the likely cause of the lack of rumble in the …Wikipedia0:47:04Making Games for SpacesRead about the Riddle Mia This installation.Our previous episode on Game Instalations."Ugly and hard to use."Our previous episode on Physical Games."We should go outside!"Our previous episode on Escape Rooms (with Art Allen)Puzzle/Escape Rooms"Seattle Immersive’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ has audiences on their feet"Misha BersonThe Seattle Times

It's Nice Games Bulletin time! We bring you all the news from the video game world leaving no stone unturned. We’ve got news in all varieties- Nice News, Medium News, Bad News and Dad News! So much news! Join your Nice Hosts as we sort it all out.Photo credit: Foam Sword Games- Knights and Bikes promo screenshotBulletin topic (Recent releases)Games:Knights and BikesMan of MedianControlRemnant: From the AshesAstral ChainTelling LiesAncestors: The Humankind OdysseyMonster Hunter World IceborneNBA 2K20Gears of War 5Anodyne 2Local game! Listen to our interview with Marina Kittika here to learn all about how she created the game’s lo-fi aestheticBulletin topic (News)Timecode0:16:10PAX stuff is happening/has happened!Friend of the show Beth Korth was on a panel at PAX DEV about diversity consulting but since there doesn’t seem to be a way to watch it yet check out our interview with her about Narrative Design!Bulletin topic (News) Not Nice News :( Timecode0:17:29Not Nice News :( Game Informer layoffsPeople you should totally hire because they are amazing:Matt Bertz Elise Favis Javy GwaltnyKyle Hilliard Imran KhanJeff MarchiafavaSuriel VazquezContent Warning: sexual assault and abuse- if you don’t want to hear discussion about these topics please skip from [19:59] to [23:50]New allegations of sexual assault surface against established game devs - Kris Graft, Game DeveloperContent Warning: transphobia, homophobia, sexism - if you don’t want to hear discussion about these topics skip from [23:50] to [28:41]Ion Fury Developer Backtracks, Says It Won’t Remove Gay Joke Because Of ‘Censor… - Nathan Grayson, KotakuBulletin topic (News) Medium News :/Medium News :/“Two People Who Didn’t Work At Telltale Games Say They’re Bringing Back Telltal… - Jason Schreier, KotakuBulletin topic (News) Nice News Now :)Timecode0:30:01Nice News Now :)“A Remaster Of Disney’s Classic Lion King and Aladdin Games Is Coming In Fall” - Mike Fahey, Kotaku“Dungeons & Deceptions: The First D&D Players Push Back On The Legend Of Gary G… - Cecilia D’Anastasio, Kotaku“Hey, remember When Star Trek Did Galaxy’s Edge, 20 Years Before Star Wars?” - James Whitbrook, IO9GDC Summit talk submissions are open August 29-September 30, 2019. Submit your …“Play retro 8-bit sports in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020” - Samit Sarkar, Polygon

This week your nice hosts are joined in the clubhouse by visual artist and games UI designer Jajeev Nithiananda. He talks the good and bad of game UI, working with demanding clients and argumentative co-workers, and explains how function and form must work together to create a good experience for the player.User InterfacesArtUI / UXPGA TOUR Golf Shootout on Google Play and iOS App Store.UI Breakdown: Metroid Prime - SYH, MediumThe Long, Desperate Search To Understand Poise In 'Dark Souls 3 - Patrick Klepek, ViceLessons Learned Creating UI for The Division - Christian Savoie, GDC

This week your Nice Hosts break open Power Fantasies and Indie Game Trailers and analyze what makes them work! Can boredom be a game mechanic? Is the age old storytelling rule "show don't tell" actually bad advice for indie game trailers? Can a power fantasy game really ever have too many explosions??Picture credit Gearbox SoftwareIf you have a trailer for your game and want to get some feedback on it send us a link on Twitter to see if it gets the "Stephen Would Actually Watch This" Seal of Approval!Game Devs of Color Expo TalksFriends of the show gave talks! Aubrey Scott talks at 49:57 and Evva Kraikul is on a panel at 4:07:54.Swimsanity (If your team includes two brothers it has to be sea themed)Worker Bee is publishing Widget Satchel in Japan!The Ooblets team is amazing and you should plan on buying the game on the Epic …(Ooblets was going to be published by Double Fine until Double Fine was bought …0:18:08Power FantasiesMonster Den was a game store/event space in Minneapolis where Martha first played Halo- there is a different game store there now called Dreamers Vault Games0:43:27Game TrailersWidget Satchel Trailer