Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week your Nice Hosts appear out of nowhere to discuss Stealth Games and Motion Controls! Mark shoots lasers, Stephen time travels and Martha joins a geriatric gang.Dishonored 2 cover art copyright Bethesda.0:01:30Stealth GamesBanana Bread (Griffin & Justin of Polygon play SpyParty)PolygonYouTubeGiant Bomb Plays Hitman Let's PlaysFly On The WallYouTubeWhy Fashion in (Most) Games Sucks, and Why You Should CareVictoria TranGDCOur Interview with Freya Holmér of Neat Corporation maker of Budget CutsSelf-education, et al.Spider-Man is (Definitely Not) Murdering PeopleBrian David Gilbert, PolygonYouTubeLevel Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Or, why Die Hard g…Jolie MenzelGDC0:28:52Motion ControlsSega ActivatorSega's Forgotton Motion GameRerezYouTubeMicrosoft "Microsoft announces an Azure-powered Kinect camera for enterprise"Brian HeaterTechCrunchRhythm Game Accessories on Wikipedia (including the Rock Band pro controller)Wikipedia

This week, your nice hosts talk about a pair of game genres that none of them are that wild about, and Mortho returns to brighten the proceedings!Our previous episode on "unloved" topics: “Try it once!”"Try it once."You Never Realized Fonts Could Be This Exciting - Mike Fahey, KotakuDonut County is the Anti-Katamari - Marcus Estrada, Hardcore GamerSlay the Spire is my favorite game to lose  - Jeff Ramos, Polygon0:16:46Designing Horror GamesDownload Stephen's horror game Infectious!How the Resident Evil 2 remake's Mr. X actually worksWesley Yin-PooleEurogamerThe Difference Between Horror Movies And Horror GamesHeather AlexandraKotaku0:44:37Designing Sports GamesMark couldn't find anything about the Minnesota professional basketball teams discussed in the episode, but he did find "Who wins a fight to the death, Lynx vs Wolf?" on Quora.Why Is Tennis Scored So Weirdly?Merrill FabryTimeMichael Chabon Will Showrun Star Trek: PicardJames WhitbrookIO9Anti-loot box bill poses a real threat to sports video gamesOwen S. GoodPolygon

All the news that fit to pod! Mark makes a Mario, Martha adds things to her wishlist and Stephen gets mad at his TV.Bulletin topic (Recent releases)Timecode0:00:42Super Mario Maker 2: Building On Success - Kyle Hilliard, Game InformerBloodstained: Ritual of the Night: The Kotaku Review - Joshua Rivera, KotakuThe making of Samurai Showdown (2019) - Alex Kane, PolygonCrash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled: No Rust On This Ride - Andrew Reiner, Game InformerCadence of Hyrule is the best Zelda spinoff ever made - Russ Frushtick, PolygonHarry Potter: "Wizards Unite" Improves On What Makes Pokemon Go Great" - Gita Jackson, KotakuBulletin topic (News)Timecode0:18:01Summer Games Done Quick raised over 3 million dollars for Doctors Without Borde…Devs hit by Steam promo confusion as games are pulled from Wishlists - Chris Kerr, Game DeveloperDr. Disrespect Doesn’t Seem To Be Taking His Twitch Ban Very Seriously - Nathan Grayson, KotakuTwitched app removed from Roku - RedditThe Human Cost of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - Jason Schreier, KotakuValve Index Review - The Enthusiast’s Choice - Ben Lang, Road to VRSomeone Turned Mario Into A Battle Royale, And It’s The Best Thing - Heather Alexandra, KotakuHere’s how to save up to $360 on Xbox Game Pass over 3 years (The article says … - David Carnoy, CNETWe might get a Myst movie, TV series, and even a reality show - Susana Polo, PolygonThe Mouse Guard Movie Is Officially Dead, But This Demo Reel Shows What Could’v… - James Whitbrook, GizmodoMicrosoft, Nintendo, and Sony say [the president]’s tariffs on China will hurt … - Charlie Hall, PolygonEpic says it’ll eventually stop pushing for exclusives - Tyler Wilde, PC Gamer

This week, we welcome friend of the show Matt Gravelle into the clubhouse to talk about the ups and downs of, and lessons learned from, the decade-plus history of his indie game company, Graveck Interactive.Topics include the early days of Unity, holding the top-selling spot in the iOS App Store for months(!), weird guidelines from film studios on licensed web games, creating VR experiences for medical applications, and more!Running An Indie StudioIRLGet Optica on Android, iOS, or Steam!OpticaGet Strata on Android, iOS or Steam!Strata

Stephen has been working on patches for Treasure Stack and Mark has been busy getting age ratings around the world for Widget Satchel so this episode is jam packed with knowledge! Mark tricks his parents, Martha hides from E.T. and Stephen balances the game.Game Devs of ColorBlack Mirror’s ‘Striking Vipers’ uses fighting games to flirt with the theme of… - Gretchen Felker-Martin, PolygonThe Black Mirror Fighting Game Episode was Out of Control - Gita Jackson, Kotaku0:15:29Patches and Add-on ContentTreasure Stack on Steam (check out the patch notes to see an example of the patches Stephen has been working on)Asset Bundles Unity DocsUnity0:15:29International Age Ratings SystemsPEGI Ratings (Europe + Israel)ESRB Ratings (USA + Canada)IARC Ratings  The IARC Rating system translates to many different international rating systems (like PEGI and ESRB) through surveys in digital storefront submission processes. Notable rating boards that do not participate in IARC are JERO (Japan) and GRB (Korea)

Stephen's back from E3, and brought back tales of standing in line, going out at night, and staying in on Thursday. But before hearing about all the unreleased games Stephen played while in Los Angeles, your nice hosts discuss all the news and announcements from the show.0:05:28Google Stadia at E3 20190:16:57Microsoft E3 2019E3 2019: ID@Xbox Shines the Spotlight on Amazing Independent GamesLisa TrottXbox WireThe SDK 'Power Mac G5' for the Xbox 360Soutenir le blogjournaldulapinUltra-high-speed SSD is 'the key' to next-gen PS5Anthony GarreffaTweakTown0:22:49Bethesda at E3 2019"How to make a perfect E3 press conference (or drinking game)" PolygonYouTube"Deathloop: Everything we know so far" Heather WaldGamesRadar0:34:50Square Enix at E3 2019"Marvel's Avengers: Is it Connected to Spider-Man PS4?"Rob LeaneDen of Geek0:38:27Nintendo at E3 2019"The Story of Zelda: Link's Awakening" Gaming Historian YouTube"Everything We Noticed From The Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Sequel Teaser" Joseph StanicharGame Informer0:54:37Others at E3 20190:56:03Stephen’s Travelogue!That shop in Little Tokyo Stephen visited was Retro Game Camp LA.When the power went out at E3, Nintendo was preparedMichael McWhertorPolygon

This week is another Nice Games Jam! We got a prompt from Martha's Boyfriend Dylan to "make a puzzle game that includes a written document that updates as you play." You can play the game we came up with in the episode using the rules in the show notes below!PromptMake a puzzle game that requires a text/readme file or some other sort of text thing that you have to use as a guide to figure out the game. Then as the level progresses, the guide changes, to be harder to understand, or to tell a story, or to taunt.Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count2MaterialsSome set of blocks (we used 10 cubes), different colorsPencil/PenPaperSetupThe Codemaker comes up with sequence of blocksRulesThe Codemaker creates a list of four rules to help the Codebreaker player guess the sequence Rules cannot specifically place a cube in a place in the sequenceRules can only involve one relationship between two sets of cubesRead first rule, and the Codebreaker creates a pattern based on ruleIf the sequence is not correct, read the next rule and have the Codebreaker make a new pattern based on the revealed set of rulesRepeat until the player has created the correct patternIf the Codebreaker needs more than the four rules, the code maker then makes a new rule immediately, and the Codebreaker makes a new sequence with these rules.The Codemaker can call for a mulligan up to 3 times total in the game so the player can make a new pattern with the same sets of rulesScored based how many rules are needed before the code breaker solves the sequenceSome example rules: 1. No same colors touching2. If a sequence of colors appears in the line, it must appear again in reverse3. Green cubes appear before yellow cubes4. Pink cubes appear in-between red cubes5. Any brown cube must touch a dark green cube6. A brown cube may not touch a red cube or a yellow cube7. Light versions of colors come before dark versions of colors

This week in the clubhouse, Stephen wants do more with less, Mark wants to do more with more, and Martha wants to do less to more."Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language"  - Gretchen McCulloch, book"Your conference is too damn big"  - John Pavlus, Fast Company"The Game Design Studio on a Boat"  - Clinton Nguyen, ViceEvil Games Club co-host Dale is now tweeting for us! Follow us for behind-the-microphone goodness: @nicegamesclub.We're always trying to get feedback, but it's hard! So Dale is encouraging gamedevs to start using #FeedbackFriday on Twitter as a way for to get opinions from their peers on things they're working on. Try it out this Friday!0:07:06Extra Modes"Assassin's Creed Isn't Necessarily Done With Multiplayer" Jordan RaméeGameSpot"Why City Trial is the most memorable part of Kirby Air Ride" Chris HovermaleDestructoid"Fortnite Battle Royale Took Two Months to Develop and Launch" Derek NicholsGameRant"Riot got rid of League of Legends’ URF mode because it made people stop playin…Ali JonesPCGamesN"Threading the Needle: The Making of Quake Team Fortress" David CraddockShacknews"The making of Gwent" Phil SavagePC Gamer"Where Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker came from" Michael McWhertorPolygon0:41:31Unit Testing"Unit testing with Jasmine: The very basics" Aurel Kurtuladev.toTesting Unity Projects ilkinulasGitHubNUnit framework"Unit Testing Tutorial: What is, Types, Tools, EXAMPLE" Guru99Guru99.com"What is Unit Testing, Why We Use It, and Sample Test Cases" Lets Build That AppYouTubeTesting Computer Software, 2nd edition Cem Kanerbook"The 100% code coverage problem"Jeroen Mols

This week we have Beth Korth of Howling Moon Software back to talk about Narrative Design and her process for designing and writing Verdant Skies! We talk all about the creative process from creating ideas in her head to writing in a markup language Andy created so she could control the game as she wrote dialogue and cut scenes.Narrative Design NarrativeBeth's NotebookNaming the gameDesigning Heart Events:More on "Verdant Skies"Verdant Skies WebsiteVerdance Skies on SteamVerdance Skies on Itch.ioVerdance Skies on Humble StoreVerdance Skies on Kartragehttps://www.kartridge.com/games/HowlingMoonSW/verdant-skiesSteam GreenlightVerdant Skies Code CommentCode Comment: "Verdant Skies"Martha plays Verdant SkiesNice Plays: "Verdant Skies" (2018)

This week in the clubhouse, Stephen breaks the ice, Martha dreams of writing passwords, and Mark makes a Jurassic Park reference (@ us if you recognize it!).Our pal Abdiwak Yohannes is making Boji:Boji theme song on Soundcloud! - Abdiwak YohannesBoji in action! - @heyglitch, TwitterBoji Animated! - @heyglitch, TwitterRegular news"Super Mario Maker 2 news dump"  - Sam Machkovech, Ars TechnicaMark "invented" the Semi-Automatic Mario level genre for the original Super Mario Maker! It did not catch on...We played the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for one of our Nice Plays video episodes. Martha hated it.Nice Plays: Super Mario Bros. 2 [Japan] (1986)0:13:08Game Length"Assassin’s Creed Odyssey really picks up after the first 15 hours" Ben KucheraPolygon"Length Matters" Ben LindberghThe Ringer0:44:41Saving and Loading Systems"Saved, But Not Forgotten: The evolution of saving in video games" Mark ChristianTedium"In Dishonored, You're Either a Cheater or a Serial Killer" Chris Kohler and Chris BakerWiredLOVE, a “challenging but fair platformer.”Nintendo.com"How to Hack Your Game Saves: A Basic Guide to Hex Editing" Alex WongNull ByteWe talked with Andy Korth about how he developed forward compatibility for the save system in Verdant Skies (among other topics) on an episode of Code Comment.Code Comment: "Verdant Skies"We talked with Andy Korth about how he developed forward compatibility for the save system in Verdant Skies (among other topics) on an episode of Code Comment.Code Comment: "Verdant Skies"