Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week, Martha fills the clubhouse with tales of her trip to the League of Legends Spring Split event in St. Louis, Mark gets to talk about another of his wonky "nonsense topics," and Stephen can't quite explain what he doesn't like about a thing.“Long Lost ‘Zork’ Source Code Uploaded to GitHub, But Few People Understand It”  - Nicole Carpenter, MotherboardThe Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy - 30th Anniversary Edition for free0:09:21Video Game Events“Out of traffic, into a ditch” Rachel KrausMashableCity Museum Wikipedia“The Overprotected Kid”Hanna RosenThe AtlanticMartha took pictures at the 2019 League Championship Series event she attended in St. Louis“My Hunt For The Mysterious Man Or Machine Controlling The Blizzard Arena's Lig…Maddy MyersKotaku0:32:58Color Theory“A Bullet Hell Set In Hell That's Heaven To Play” EThan GachKotaku“Color Harmony: Why Hulk Wears Purple Pants” RikardZeven Design“Stop This Absurd War on the Color Pink” Michael MoyerScientific AmericanAdobe Color is a free tool to help you create color palettes for your projects.Widget Satchel UI (many colors, lower contrast)Metro Nexus UI (fewer colors, higher contrast)Check out our recent episode where we discuss accessibility, including designing for color blindness."I definitely thought of that ahead of time."

This week on Nice Games Club we talk all about Resource Management in Games and Boss Battles! Join us as we discuss mana, cooldowns, super meters and how to make boss battles unique but not frustrating. Martha takes the train, Stephen takes a test and Mark wonders what the appeal is.0:07:58Resource Management in Games0:35:12Boss BattlesShadow of the Colossus speed runGames Done QuickYouTubeThe Phatom Train (Final Fantasy VI boss)Fandom

Join us in the Nice Games Clubhouse/Newsroom to hear the latest and greatest news from the video game world. Mortho makes a return (and another and another), Stephen doesn't want to say "git gud," (but...), Mark wants to press all the buttons, and (STOP THE PRESSES!) Martha likes board games now.Bulletin topic (Recent releases)Timecode0:01:15“Needle Felting Gives Us All the Feels”  - Ashley Little, Bluprint“Islanders is a bite-sized palate cleanser of a civilization builder” - - Cass Marshall, Polygon“‘Super Mario Odyssey’ and ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ are both getting VR supp… - Jacob Siegal, BGRLabo VR kit launches April 12th, Mario/Zelda support coming April 25th.“The Division 2 has a lot to say, but it’s very hard to hear over all the gunfi… - Charlie Hall and Cass Marshall, PolygonLessons learned creating UI for the Division - Christian Savoie, GDCIn related news, this week a lot of new free content from GDC 2019 became available on the GDC vault: https://www.gdcvault.com/free/.Bulletin topic (News)Timecode0:10:02“She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off.”  - Siobhan Roberts, The New York Times“Wingspan review: A gorgeous birding board game takes flight”  - Aaron Zimmerman, Ars TechnicaSpeaking of board games, Minnesota developer Leder Games just made 1.7 million dollars(!!!) on Kickstarter for “Root: The Underworld Expansion.”“EA Lays Off 350 People In Marketing, Publishing, And More”  - Jason Schreier, Kotaku“How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong”  - Jason Schreier, Kotaku“BioWare Boss Addresses Studio Issues, Vows To 'Continue Working To Solve Them'… - Jason Schreier, Kotaku“All the latest details on the new Borderlands game”  - Harry Shepherd, PCGamesN“Borderlands 3 On PC Is Exclusive To Epic Games Store Until Early 2020”  - Tamoor Hussain, GameSpot“Review-bombed Borderlands 2 is the first to have user scores thrown out by Ste… - Owen S. Good, Polygon“Lawsuit alleges Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford improperly siphoned $12M for perso… - Charlie Hall, Polygon“Google Stadia has a lot of ‘last mile’ challenges”  - Jeff Grubb, VentureBeat“The Nintendo Switch in Japan offers a peek at the cloud gaming future”  - Sam Byford, Polygon“'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' and the debate over difficulty vs. accessibility”  - Adam Rosenberg, Mashable“An Easy Mode Has Never Ruined A Game”  - Joshua Rivera, Kotaku

Mark and Dale are at GDC so Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us to talk all about Team Building and Game Identities! Join us for this chill evening recording session and discuss the more existential side of game development. If you change a game completely is it still the same game you started with? Stephen builds a house, Ellen is a game feedback therapist and Martha gets lost in the waveform.Mark and Dale are at GDC! The episode of their adventures actually came out *last* week (calendar math) so you can listen to it RIGHT NOW if you haven’t alreadyGDC 2019 Special0:01:57Team BuildingDicer and Clasp: Dungeon SkedaddleStephen's Global Game Jam TeamGGJClaw BreakerSteamOur episode on topic on Game Writing"Steal this episode."Cat CribEllen's Global Game Jam TeamGGJ0:22:37Game IdentitiesProducer Bootcamp: How Saying 'No' Can Help You Make a Better GameRuth Tomandl, Oculus ResearchGDCRuth Stone, Poet who caught poems on the windWikipedia

Mark (and special guest Dale!) got back from GDC on a red-eye flight, took a quick nap, then immediately joined Martha and Stephen in the clubhouse to recap the year's largest gathering of game creators.Nindies (Nintendo Indies) Showcase Spring 2019 - Nintendo, YouTube"Developer Is Making an Official Zelda Game"  - Tom Marks, IGN Music from Eric Fullerton - Eric Fullerton MUSIC, YouTube0:08:06GDC 2019 SessionsGDC on YouTubeYouTube#notGDCnotgdc.fungamedev.worldIndiepocalypse 14 v 18"Valve redesigns Steam game library, adding Steam Events"Michael McWhertorPolygon0:25:17Dale Makes GDC MagicAmir’s game about anxiety: @unboxedexperience@unboxedexperienceTwitterKate Compton’s “Illegal zines.”@GalaxyKateTwitterThe Full GWU @ GDC 2019 Schedule!Copenhagen Game Collective's "The Undie Game"Schell Games Unveils Virtual Reality Sword Fighting Game ​‘Until You Fall’0:49:05The MIX 2019Untitled Goose GameFalcon AgeAway: The Survival SeriesBeast PetsThe Sojourn0:53:56Mark Does GDC BusinessGame Connection America"Developer/Publisher Relations (with Kongregate’s August Brown)" Nice Games Club episode is a good episode to learn about meeting with a publisherDeveloper/Publisher Relations2019 Digital Media and Video Game Conference1:11:16Game Workers Unite!"Tim Schafer Talks Unionization, Streaming, And The Future Of Double Fine" Maddy MyersKotaku SplitscreenGame Workers Unite

In this episode your Nice Hosts talk all about two important aspects of game design that can help more people play your games- Localization Systems and Accessibility! Stephen drives in the snow, Martha gets her nails done and Mark tries to get the baby to go to sleep.NOTE: The CVAA law that Martha talks a lot about in this episode applies -only- to chat systems in games not to game play. She didn't realize this at the time of recording- but all the things we talk about are still things to strive for in every part of your game!Photo credit: Microsoft0:07:03Localization Systems“What languages to localize your game into?”Jacob StempniewiczGame Developer0:46:30Accessibility“About CVAA: US legislation affecting communications functionality in games, ne…IGDA Game Access SIG“CVAA for Fostering Innovation and Change”Sarah HortonThe Paciello Group“2018's Accessibility Advances”Ian HamiltonGame DeveloperAble GamersGame Accessibility"What It's Like To Play Games When You're Colorblind”Cameron GidariKotakuXbox Adaptive Controller“Designing for Disabilities” Video SeriesMark BrownGame Maker’s ToolkitWikipediaKaren Stevens, EA Sports Accessibility Lead

This week, August Brown (senior producer for Kongregate Publishing) enters the clubhouse to reveal the secrets of successful developer/publisher relationships!Your nice hosts learn what publishers expect from a pitch, how forming a relationship with a publisher isn't always strictly business, and that publishers also think you're not charging enough money for your game.Developer/Publisher RelationsProductionKongregate PublishingSelf-publish on KartridgeMartha mentioned the Sokpop Collective.August brought up The Flash Games Postmortem that his colleague John Cooney pre…

Your nice hosts are big fans of video games, video game makers, and podcasts. So in this episode we talk all about both sides of the creator-fan relationship and how to create perfect balance in both communicating with fans and telling them to go away so you can work on balancing your game design- our second topic. Stephen shows us how balancing multiplayer and single player games are the same thing, Martha isn't as unique as she thinks she is and Mark gets 7th tier internet famous. Sorry, he won't take direct fan mail- please send all your letters to Stephen.Photo credit: Nintendo of AmericaTreasure Stack (the game that Stephen gets paid to work on) is out now! It is a…Video Games and Music Convention (Formally Gamers Rhapsody)Our episode on game soundtracks"All that and a bag of chips." "Google is holding a mysterious gaming press event at GDC next month" - Tom Warren, The VergeDrake and Josh “Its spherical!” VideoMark is Internet Famous now0:16:50FanbasesMy Brother, My Brother and Me (MBMBaM- pronounced “muhbimbam”) (The McElroy’s f…Listen to this podcast when...0:41:00Game Design BalanceButterscotch Shenanigans podcast"Alien isolation's Artificial Intelligence Was Good... Too Good"GB BurfordKotakuPerfect Imbalance Extra Credits video

In 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 Gamers0:05:32Audio Basics"MP3 'died' and nobody noticed: Key patents expire on golden oldie tech"Andrew OrlowskiThe 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…0:41:57Representation in GamesKey & Peele - Black Republicans"Here's a good argument for a black Batman"Dan NeilanAV Club"Hopi-less: How Kachina Became Donut County"John WalkerRock Paper Shotgun"What It's Like To Write About Race And Video Games"Gita JacksonKotaku

Extra Extra! Hear all about it! All the news that's fit to podcast! Join us in the Nice Games Clubhouse/Newsroom to hear all about the latest and greatest news from the video game world- at least latest and greatest from our vantage point in the past. Mark takes Valve to task, Martha makes a case for golf being interesting and Stephen is only here for the mechanics not the entertainment.It's an episode full of releases, re-releases, spiritual successors, and "Epic" fails!Bulletin topic (Recent releases)GamesKingdom Hearts 3 (finally)Apex LegendsGod Eater 3WargrooveResident Evil 2Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (a rerelease)New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on SwitchBury Me My LoveWalking Dead Final Season Episode 3Pic-a-Pix PiecesCrackdown 3AnthemFar Cry New DawnMetro ExodusBulletin topic (News)Valve Says It's 'Unfair' That Metro Exodus Is Exclusive To Epic Store - Nathan Grason, KotakuAxiom Verge's free Epic Game Store version has a funny Steam bug - Allegra Frank, PolygonAnthem: 19 changes from the demo to the live game - Ryan Gilliam, PolygonActivision Blizzard Lays Off Hundreds Of Employees - Jason Schreier, KotakuThe Fallout Of Activision Blizzard's Massive Layoffs - Jason Schreier, KotakuNintendo Exec Says 'A Very High Number' Of Its Designers Are Women - Jason Schreier, KotakuAmazon's questionable MMO has you colonize the 'new world' - Colin Campbell, PolygonSuper Smash Bros. Melee Events in Four States Ban Wobbling After Tennessee Ruli… - Ian Walker, KotakuCaptain Marvel website